TREE LORE 



Which one appeals to you the most? to the time of planting our corn; when 



Have you thought of it ? You have your the leaves are the size of a mouse's ears, 



favorite flower, your choice book, your then it is time to put the seed in the 



especial friend — which then, of all tiiese ground." 



tender leaved beings with their hundred The Indians* request was granted and 



thousand whispering tongues, touches the tree, afterwards becoming the cus- 



the deepest chord in your consciousness ? todian of the lost charter, became famous 



The flood of pink and white blossoms for all time. "King Edward's Oak" in 



from the fruit trees, the sweet odors Central Park, New York, planted by the 



from the oozing pines, the lofty jets of king many years ago when he visited us 



foliage of the elms, which Dr. Holmes as the Prince of Wales, caused a good 



says come nearer to having a soul than deal of comment oyer all the world 



any other vegetable creature among us, when at the time of the recent illness of 



which sets in vibration higher notes than the king it too sickened to remain so 



any to which your inward sense has be- until its convalescense was coincident 



fore responded? Trees have been loved with that of the human monarch. 

 and venerated for centuries. The When one looks through a long, dou- 



curious myths and traditions that among ble row of elms, he beholds " a temple 



many nations gravely ascribe the de- not built with hands, fairer than any 



scent of man from trees are very fasci- minister that ever grew in stone with all 



nating reading. You remember in the its clustered stems and fluttering capi- 



''Odyssey" the disguised hero is asked tals." A winter beauty too, when 



to state his pedigree. "For," says his stripped like an athlete for its contest 



questioner, "belike you are not come of with the winds and storms of winter, 



the oak, told of in old times, nor of it discloses the secret of its grace, its 



the rock." weakness or its strength, the sinewy vig- 



And in our school "Aeneid": or of the trunk is most evident and the 



These woods were first the seat of sylvan ^,^^ spray of its delicate branches stands 



powers, clear cut in exquisite tracery against 



Of nymphs and fauns and savage men who the sky. One member of the elm family 



_^ . took ' is mentioned as the "Lotus" of the 



bom^'oakT"" *'"""^' °^ *'^^' ^""^ '^"^" ancients. Homer has Ulysses tell us 



of the lotus eaters who gave him of the 

 The old Celts and Britons, worshipped lotus plant to taste — sweet food which 

 the oak. "Jove's own tree" Virgil calls whoever tasted once, wished not to see 

 it. It shaded the Druid's sacred fire and his native country more, nor give his 

 has at all times been the emblem of friends the knowledge of his fate, 

 grandeur, strength and duration. They Even the Nature blind among us, 

 are the patriarchs of their kind — in En- must appreciate the grace and beauty of 

 gland to-day we are shown noble old our beeches. Have you noticed them re- 

 oaks which were old in the time of cently? The pearly white of their small- 

 William the Conqueror. The famous er branches and twigs fairly challenging 

 Charter Oak of Hartford, Conn., was the prime of their sturdier limbs. They 

 believed to be several hundred years old. have been the shining mark of lovers 

 When the first settlers were clearing the from earliest days: 



land the Indians besreed that it mie^ht be r^ ^.t. ^t, u u - a ^u • ^ ^ 



, «Ta. 1 11 • 1 r On the smooth beechen rmd the pensive dame 



spared. It has been the guide of our Carves in a thousand forms her Tancred's 

 ancestors for centuries," said they, "as name. 



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