London to John C? Groat's. 251 



membered branches ; the frightened flight of leaves ( 

 and dust, and all the other distractions of that hour 

 of death and destruction. Look upon that ruin ! The 

 wealth, genius and labor that could build a hundred 

 Windsor Castles, and rebuild all the cathedrals of 

 England in a decade, could not rebuild in two centuries 

 that elm to the life and stature you levelled to the dust 

 in two hours. 



Put, then, the man who plants trees for posterity 

 with him who, "passing through the valley of Baca, 

 maketh it a well." Put him under the same blessing of 

 his kind, for he deserves it. He gives them the richest 

 earthly gift that a man can give to a coming gene- 

 ration. In a practical sense, he gives them time. He 

 gives them a whole century, as an extra. If they 

 would pay a gold sovereign for every solid inch of oak, 

 they could not hire one built to the stature of one of 

 these trees in less than two centuries' time, though 

 they dug about it and nursed it as the man did the 

 vine in Scripture. Blessed be the builders of these 

 living temples of Nature ! Blessed be the man, rich or 

 poor, old or young, especially the old, who sets his 

 heart and hand to this cheap but sublime and priceless 

 architecture. 



Let connoisseurs who have seen Memphis, Nineveh, 

 Athens, Eome, or any or all of the great cities of 



