30 THE TREE FOLK 



LOVE of the Tree Folk has always been strong in the 

 hearts of all lovers of beauty. Egyptian artists drew 

 trees upon the walls of the palaces of the Pharaohs, and 

 trees adorn the universal history of art the world around, 

 from Japan westward to the Golden Gate. They have 

 inspired poets. There are poems about trees in all lan- 

 guages from the Aryan to modern English. Do you 

 know "Wilderness Songs'' by Grace Hazard Conkling? 

 That is one of the latest books saturated with a love of 

 Nature, and one of the best. 



Among the literature inspired by the Tree Folk is 

 a fine Psalm of Friendly Trees by Henry Van Dyke. 

 He is moved to adoration and prayer: 



How fair are the trees that befriend the home of man, 

 The oak, and the terebinth, and the sycamore, 

 The fruitful jBg-tree and the silvery olive. 

 In them the Lord is loving to his little birds, — 

 The linnets and the finches and the nightingales, — 

 They people his pavilions with nests and with music. 



Lord, when my spirit shall return to thee, 



At the foot of a friendly tree let my body be buried, 



That this dust may rise and rejoice 



Among the branches. 



Another poem to be treasured is by Joyce Kilmer. 

 With the generous permission of our friend, the Author, 

 now happy by the banks of the river clear as crystal, 

 where the Tree of Life yields its twelve manner of fruits 



