NATURE STUDY MADE EASY 45 



The Maple* 



Oh, tenderly deepen the woodland glooms, 



And merrily sway the beeches; 

 Breathe delicately the willow blooms, 



And the pines rehearse new speeches ; 

 The elms toss high till they reach the sky, 



Pale catkins the yellow birch launches, 

 But the tree I love all the greenwood above 



Is the maple of sunny branches. 



Let who will sing of the hawthorn in spring, 



Or the late-leaved linden in summer; 

 There's a word may be for the locust tree, 



That delicate, strange newcomer; 

 But the maple it glows with the tint of the rose 



When pale are the springtime regions, 

 And its towers of flame from afar proclaim 



The advance of winter's legions. 



CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS. 



LESSON XV 



THE SUGAR MAPLE 



Maples make beautiful shade trees, and some species grow to a 

 large size. For these reasons we plant them along our avenues 

 and streets and grow them in our parks and public resting places. 



* From Poems by C. G. D. Roberts, copyright, 1901, by Silver, Burdett & CoJBy 

 courtesy of L. C. Page & Co., the present publishers. 



