12 ARBOR DAY 



the leading element in this work. Young people 

 are mostly inclined to sow only where they can soon 

 reap; they prefer the small crop in hand to a great 

 harvest long in maturing. But when they are led 

 to obtain a taste for trees, the grandeur of thought 

 connected with this important line of husbandry 

 will convince them that a speedy reward is not always 

 the most desirable motive in the pursuits of our life, 

 and is not worthy of aspiring men. For patiently to 

 work year after year for the attainment of a far-off 

 end shows a touch of the sublime, and implies moral 

 no less than mental heroism. 



ARBOR DAY IN SCHOOLS .* 



BY B. G. NORTHRUP 



J. STERLING MORTON, once Secretary of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, originated Arbor 

 Day in Nebraska in 1872. His able advocacy of 

 this measure was a marvelous success the first year, 

 and still more each succeeding year. So remark- 

 able have been the results of Arbor Day in Nebraska 

 that its originator is gratefully recognized as the 

 great benefactor of his state. Proofs of public appre- 

 ciation of his grand work I found wherever I have 

 been in that state. It glories in the old misnomer 

 of the geographies, "The Great American Desert," 



* Reprinted from the Independent. 



