378 BRISTOL SOCIETY. 



tree was the chosen emblem of life, knowledge, beauty, con- 

 stancy, fruitfuhiess, patience, wisdom, power and victory. 



The palm, the cedar, the fig, the almond, and the olive 

 tree, were all deemed worthy of dignity and honor, while the 

 " pine, the fir tree, and the box together," were chosen to 

 beautify and adorn the place of the sanctuary. 



And what more worthy object of admiration can be found 

 among nature's loveliest productions, than a perfect and well 

 formed tree — whether we behold it as a single cone, with its 

 exact and symmetrical form, and neat trim outline, or as spread- 

 ing its wide and umbrageous head in graceful lines, and sweep- 

 ing curves, or bending its boughs to the earth, laden with bright 

 and golden fruit — whether standing by itself in solitary beauty, 

 in a fertile, grassy plain, or grouped in an affectionate and har- 

 monious cluster with artistic grace and skill — or ranged in 

 more formal order, by the dusty road side, refreshing the weary 

 traveller on his sultry way, at once with nourishment and shade 

 — whether budding forth with the fresh and joyous green of 

 spring, — or decked in the rich and gorgeous robes of autumn, 

 — or clad with the icy vestments of winter, glittering in the 

 bright sun with the matchless splendor of a diamond mine — 

 everywhere, in all places, and under every aspect, a perfect, 

 well-formed tree is an object of beauty and admiration. 



" The sayling pine, the cedar proud and tall, 

 The vine-propp elm, the poplar never dry, 

 The builder oake, sole king of forests all. 

 The aspine, good for staves, the cypress funerale," 



have all received the homage of a poet's pen, while the painter's 

 pencil has vied with the sculptor's chisel in embodying and 

 preserving their various forms of beauty and grace. The cul- 

 tivation of ornamental trees is the cause and the effect, the 

 antecedent and the consequent, the sign and the produce, of a 

 love for the beautiful and true, in nature. It is justly entitled 

 to be classed with the fine arts, and ever tends to elevate, 

 humanize and refine mankind. What traveler, as he passed some 

 humble, modest, neat-looking cottage, with its well-trimmed 

 grass plot and overhanging elm, has not felt that there must be 

 the abode of refinement, contentment and peace? 



