304 TREES. 



destructiveness, gets excited, how sadly men's better feelings are 

 warped and smothered. Thus, old soldiers sweep away ranks of 

 men with as little compunction as the mower swings his harmless 

 scythe in a meadow ; and settlers, pioneers, and squatters, girdle 

 and make a clearing, in a centennial forest, perhaps one of the 

 grandest that ever God planted, with no more remorse than we have 

 in brushing away dusty cobwebs. We are not now about to de- 

 claim against war, as a member of the peace society, or against plant- 

 ing colonies and extending the human family, as would a disciple 

 of Dr. Malthus. These are probably both wise means of progress, 

 in the hands of the Great Worker. 



But it is properly our business to bring men back to their bet- 

 ter feelings, when the fever of destruction is over. If our ancestors 

 found it wise and necessary to cut down vast forests, it is all the 

 more needful that their descendants should plant trees. We shall 

 do our part, therefore, towards awakening again, that natural love of 

 trees, which this long warfare against them this continual laying 

 the axe at their roots so common in a new country, has, in so 

 many places, well nigh extinguished. We ought not to cease, till 

 every man feels it to be one of his moral duties to become a planter 

 of trees ; until every one feels, indeed, that, if it is the most patriotic 

 tiling that can be done to make the earth yield two blades of grass 

 instead of one, it is far more so to cause trees to grow where no 

 foliage has waved and fluttered before trees, which are not only 

 full of usefulness and beauty always, but to which old Time himself 

 grants longer leases than he does to ourselves ; so that he who plants 

 them wisely, is more certain of receiving the thanks of posterity, 

 than the most persuasive orator, or the most prolific writer of his 

 day and generation. 



The especial theme of our lamentation touching trees at the pre- 

 sent moment, is the general neglect and inattention to their many 

 charms, in country towns and villages. We say general, for our 

 mind dwells with unfeigned ielight upon exceptions many beautiful 

 towns and villages in New England, where the verdure of the loveliest 

 elms waves like grand lines of giant and graceful plumes above the 

 house tops, giving an air of rural beauty, that speaks louder for the 

 good habits of the inhabitants, than the pleasant sound of a hun- 



