MORAL VALUE OF FORESTS. 
phase of the question of forest 
destruction is brought out in a 
book called ‘‘ North American 
Forests and Forestry,” by Ernest 
Bruncken, a prominent western for- 
ester. The author incidentally dis- 
cusses the part which our forests have 
had in shaping American character 
and our national history. This phase 
of the matter is interesting both asa 
historical study and as a suggestion of 
the moral as well as economic loss 
which must come with the denudation 
of our forest areas. 
All thinking Americans know that 
the forests are an important factor in 
our commercial life,and Mr. Bruncken 
makes an impressive statement of the 
way in which the lumber industry per- 
meates all the nation’s activities. But 
the part played by the vast primeval 
forests in creating American character 
is not so generally realized. From the 
earliest colonial times the forests have 
had a moral and political effect in 
shaping our history. In the seven- 
teenth century England was depend- 
ent upon Norway and the Baltic prov- 
inces for its timber for ships. This 
was In various ways disadvantageous 
for England, so the American colonists 
were encouraged with bounties to cut 
ship timbers, masts and other lumber 
for European export. This trade, how- 
ever, was found to be unprofitable on 
account of the long ocean voyage, so 
the American lumbermen began to 
develop a profitable market in the West 
Indies. This was straightway inter- 
dicted by the short-sighted British 
government, and the bitter and violent 
opposition of the colonists against this 
tyrannical policy ceased only with the 
end of British dominion. 
From that time to the present the 
forests of America have exercised a 
ay COMPARATIVELY untouched 
most important influence upon the 
nation, especially in creating the self- 
reliance which is the chief trait of the 
American character. The trappers, 
hunters, explorers and backwoods 
settlers who went forth alone into the 
dense forests received a schooling such 
as nothing else could give. As the 
forest closed behind the settler he 
knew his future and that of his family 
must henceforth depend upon himself, 
his ax, his rifle,and the few simple 
utensils he had brought with him. - It 
was a school that did not teach the 
graces, but it made men past masters 
in courage, pertinacity, and resource- 
fulness. It bred a new, simple, and 
forcefultype of man. Out of the midst 
of that backwoods life came Abraham 
Lincoln, the greatest example of Ameri- 
can statesmanship the nation has pro- 
duced. In him was embodied all the 
inherent greatness of his early wilder- 
ness surroundings, with scarcely a trace 
of its coarser characteristics. 
As Mr. Bruncken says, mere remem- 
brance of what the forests have given 
us in the past should be enough to in- 
spire a wish to preserve them as long 
as possible, to stop wanton waste by 
forest fires, and even to repair our 
losses by planting new forests, as they 
do in Europe. The time has gone 
when the silence and dangers of the 
forest were our chief molders of sturdy 
character, but it is undeniable that the 
pioneer blood that still runs so richly 
in American veins has much to do 
with causing the idea of Philippine 
expansion to appeal so powerfully to 
the popularimagination. The prophets 
who see in the expansion idea the 
downfall of the nation forget that the 
same spirit subdued the American wil- 
derness and created the freest govern- 
ment and some of the finest specimens 
of manhood the world has ever seen. 
EASTER LILIES. 
Though long in wintry sleep ye lay, 
The powers of darkness could not stay 
Your coming at the call of day, 
Proclaiming spring. 
Nay, like the faithful virgins wise, 
With lamps replenished ye arise 
Ere dawn the death-anointed eyes 
Of Christ, the king. 
—John B, Tabo. 
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