THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



CHAPTER I 

 THEIR ANCIENT LINEAGE 



FROM the earliest glimpses preserved to us of 

 the development of the human race we find 

 that trees have exercised a beneficent influ- 

 ence on man's character and uplift. They figure 

 prominently in the records, written and oral, of '^I 

 religious systems in all parts of the world. Indeed, 

 the connection of trees with religion is as old as the 

 conception of the deity itself. North and south, 

 east and west, we find the same idea. In the most 

 universally prized of all the books, the Bible, trees 

 are ofttimes mentioned. In Genesis, chap. II, v. 9, 

 "And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow 

 every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for 

 food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, 

 and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." All 

 are familiar with the biblical story of man's fall and 

 banishment from the Garden of Eden through dis- 

 obeying God's commands in reference to these trees. 



3 



