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without the protecting trees ! While the plain old clumsy 

 farm-house on the other side, with the great elm sweep- 

 ing over the fresh, green yard before it, fanning the 

 scented breezes through the open windows, — how pic- 

 turesque, how beautiful it is ! llow all the dear home 

 faiiies, that we remember in childhood, seem to be clus- 

 tering there ! I know a great ancient thick-settled town, 

 wealthy, and full of taste and cultivation, with many fine 

 houses, yet that is almost wholly destitute of trees, and 

 my eye grows weary, and my mind and soul are sad and 

 lonely and dried up within me, it is so ugly, so desolate 

 a scene to look upon, — even to ride through ! I wouldn't 

 live there for the price of the town ! But, I know another 

 village, through the musical shadow of whose dear old 

 elms I first looked up to the glancing sunlight, the an- 

 cient village, I greet again to-day, and, despite its sim- 

 ple dwellings and all, how fair and pleasant and homelike, 

 nestling and slumbering among the shadows, is old Ded- 

 ham, now and forever. And Deerfield, her child, that 

 wandered away to plant herself in the far Connecticut 

 valley, it is worth a long journey only to visit her mar- 

 vellously magnificent elms and maples ! Oh, how every 

 sense and soul itself sighs among the barren, denuded 

 hills and shadeless roads, for the fzesh waving branches 

 of the kindly trees. Over the bare dusty streets and toil- 

 some ascents, the weary steed looks round with sad, be- 

 seeching look, as he panis for the cooling shade ; the 

 melancholy oxen, with lolling tongues, gaze sorrowfully 

 on the burning ground, and the patient cow, as she drops 

 her heated milk, m her hurried homeward march, lows 

 for some umbrageous shelter from the August sun. Then 

 plant the elm with its waving, fanning tresses, and the 

 maple with its leafy, beneficent branches ; let the walnut 

 and linden flourish, and the old oak, the pride of centu- 

 ries, stand ! And the lover of dear nature and the beau- 



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