Trees ; their General Character a7id Advantages. 345 



vividly to the fancy while looking upon their beautiful forms, 

 the variety of colors unfolded to the sight, during the devel- 

 opment of their foliage, from the first tender plaited leaves of 

 April, with their hues of yellow and purple, to the dark green 

 hues of summer, and the gorgeous splendor of autumn that 

 precedes their final decay. 



In Avoods we delight to ramble in early youth, charmed 

 with their pleasant seclusion, with the variety of flowers and 

 plants in their undergrowth, the soft carpet of moss that cov- 

 ers their knolls, and the many peculiar sounds that to the ear 

 of childhood are striking and romantic. In later years the 

 wood becomes an enchanted spot, where we are, as it were, 

 carried back to the days of our youth by the general influ- 

 ence that is breathing around us. Here is the theatre of the 

 pleasures of many a holiday ; the trees under whose boughs 

 we have watched the gambols of the squirrels and the flit- 

 ting of birds, or listened to the murmurs of their lofty branch- 

 es when swayed by the winds. 



It needs, therefore, no elaborate argument to prove that on 

 the character of our trees and woods depends a great portion 

 of the happiness of the people. In them resides, in a high 

 degree, that quality which lends a moral influence to land- 

 scape. To them are we indebted for what is most beautiful 

 in prospect, and most agreeable in a rural walk. Trees are 

 like so many old friends, each possessing a different character, 

 and speaking to us a different language of pleasant and sad 

 remembrances. How does the weeping willow awaken the 

 tender melancholy that attends us in a country churchyard, 

 and as it waves its branches to the wind we seem to listen to 

 the sighs of some invisible watchers over the silent slumber- 

 ers. The gracefulness of the poplar, with its green tremu- 

 lous leaves, the grandeur of the wide-cpreading oak, and the 

 majestic beauty of the elm, are each calculated to inspire the 

 mind with serene, lively, tender or sublime emotions, and are 

 so many aids to us in our efforts to recall the pleasant memo- 

 ries of the past, or in cherishingpHiose feelings that elevate 

 the mind with aspirations for something better, than the plod- 

 ding business of life. 



VOL. XIX. NO. Till. 44 



