PREFACE 



TREES. 



Trees are the arms of Mother Earth lifted up in worship of her 

 Maker. Where they are, beauty dwells; where they are not, the land 

 is ugly, though it be rich, for its richness is but greasy fatness and its 

 gaudy raiment is but cheap imitation of forest finery. 



Trees are the shelter of man, beast and bird; they furnish the roof 

 above us, the shade about us and the nesting places of love and song. 

 They call children out to play ; they entice sweethearts into leafy coverts 

 to seal their vows with fond caresses; they console and gratefully reward 

 old age. They are the fittest ornaments of wealth and the inalienable 

 possessions of the poor who can enjoy them without having title to 

 them. They are the masts that fly the flags of all nations and the 

 sails of all seas; they are the timbers that bridge forbidding streams; 

 they bear the wires of the world's intelligence; they hold the rails that 

 carry the traffic of the continents; they are the carved and polished 

 furnishings of the home; they cradle the young and coffin the dead. 



Trees are nature's prime sources of food; their fruits and nuts gave 

 sustenance to the first tribes of men and are the sweetest and most 

 nourishing of the earth's products. 



Trees herald the spring with glorious banners of leaf and bloom; 

 they clothe the autumn in garments of gold and royal purple; bared 

 to the winter's cold, they are the harp of the winds and they whisper 

 the music of the infinite spaces. 



Before the earth could be peopled, it was set thick with trees; and 

 when man has run his course and the race we know has disappeared in 

 the completeness of its mission or perishes in the destruction of its 

 trees, the earth will spring up again with new forests to shelter and 

 sustain a new race of men and beasts and birds to work out a greater 

 destiny. Perhaps if we are wise enough to replenish our wasting for- 

 ests and to make ourselves worthy of the gift of trees we may be per- 

 mitted to accomplish that greater destiny which the Mighty .Forester, 

 the Perfect Orchardist, the Loving Father, requires in the fulfillment 

 of His sublime purpose. 



CLARENCE OUSLEY. 



