INTRODUCTION. xxvii 
magnificent scenes are startled occasionally into an ap- 
preciation of their beauty; how then to us who had 
not seen for years a great tree seemed the forest! It 
was beautiful beyond description, and even the children 
clapped their little hands and cried out, “Oh, mamma, 
see the pretty trees!” I saw a squirrel leap from the 
gvass and run up the trunk of a gnarled oak that per- 
haps kept silent watch over the grave of some sav- 
age warrior, who in his day had been a mighty man. 
There were great gothic forest aisles, and through the 
grained and graceful roof of leaves millions of sunbeams 
shimmered down, lighting up the dark recesses of the 
woods until the whole resembled some vast cathedral 
pile. 
I compared this scene with those. which I had wit- 
nessed a thousand times in my boyhood and yet thought 
nothing of them. It was then I realized fully, possibly 
for the first time, the beauty and value of woods and 
mountains. Ever since then I have been pleading, 
“Oh, woodman, spare that tree, 
Touch not a single bough; 
In youth it sheltered me, 
And [ll protect it now.” 
Not only did I determine to become the friend of 
the bannered giants that lift their heads to the sky, 
but to urge the planting of new forests everywhere, 
and, if possible, cover the barren plains of the West 
with woods. 
Many writers had preceded me, but they all seemed 
defective in not pointing out how forest-trees could be 
reproduced. These writers were eloquent in their de- 
nunciation of forest destruction, but pointed out no reme- 
dy for the evil. I said I will study the lives of the trees, 
