THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



general as taught in schools may be as "dry as dust," 

 but the salient historical facts appertaining to the 

 commonplace things of every-day life and acquain- 

 tance are rich in interest. And, moreover, their 

 teaching is not without its direct value in present- 

 day affairs. Our ancestors sought food for the body 

 and things of beauty to delight the soul even as we do 

 to-day. We enjoy the results of their labours, and it 

 is our bounden duty to hand them on, and in in- 

 creasing worth, to the generations that succeed our 

 immediate own. Whether this is done through 

 selfish or altruistic motives it matters not at all 

 in the practical results which accrue. And it will be 

 done though in a measure unconsciously. Improved 

 strains of wheat, pulse, cotton, of Roses and new 

 flowers, of everything which increases the food re- 

 sources or ministers to the soul have to-day, as 

 they always have had and must ever have, not only 

 immediate but progressive value to the human 

 race. 



As we realize what our forbears did under adverse 

 conditions the question as to what we are doing 

 naturally presents itself. After all the present gene- 

 ration is not a slothful, heedless one; selfish and 

 thoughtless it may be but the fault is not deliberate on 

 its part. Ignorance is not yet eradicated neither is it 

 ineradicable, but instruction is needed to-day just as 



122 



