20 ARBOR DAY 



of doing what each of us can to preserve the soil's 

 ferti' ! ty, aH to prevent, as long as possible, the 

 earth, frcm which we have our being, from becom- 

 ing worn out and wholly bald and bare. And we 

 do this by planting of any sort, if only by making 

 two blades of grass grow where but one grew before, 

 and by learning to preserve vegetation. We give 

 solemnity to this observance by joining in it on an 

 appointed day, high and low, old and young, together. 



HE WHO PLANTS AN OAK 



BY WASHINGTON IRVING 



HE WHO plants an oak looks forward to future ages, 

 and plants for posterity. Nothing can be less selfish 

 than this. He cannot expect to sit in its shade nor 

 enjoy its shelter; but he exults in the idea that the 

 acorn which he has buried in the earth shall grow 

 up into a lofty pile, and shall keep on flourishing 

 and increasing, and benefiting mankind long after 

 he shall have ceased to tread his paternal fields. 

 The oak, in the pride and lustihood of its growth, 

 seems to me to take its range with the lion and the 

 eagle, and to assimilate, in the grandeur of its 

 attributes, to heroic and intellectual man. 



With its mighty pillar rising straight and direct 

 toward heaven, bearing up its leafy honors from 

 the impurities of earth, and supporting them aloft 



