WILLOWS AND POPLARS 



in rows is wrong ; and I say 

 this as an innocent offender 

 myself. In boyhood I lived 

 along the banks of the broad 

 but shallow Susquehanna, 

 and enjoyed the boating pos- 

 sible upon that stream when 

 it was not reduced, as graph- 

 ically described by a dis- 

 gusted riverman, to merely 

 a heavy dew. Many times I 

 lost my way returning to the 

 steep bluff near my home 

 after the sun had gone to 

 rest, and a hard pull against 

 the swift current would en- 

 sue as I skirted the bank, 

 straining eyes for landmarks 

 in the dusk. It occurred to 

 me to plant six Lombardy 

 poplars on the top of the 

 bluff, which might serve as 

 easily recognized landmarks. 

 Four of them grew, and are 

 now large trees, somewhat 

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