XIV 



S it true that those who make a 

 nation's songs influence it more 

 than those who make its laws ? 

 I am tempted to think so when- 

 ever I hear a Hne of " Woodman, spare that 

 tree;" and also to think that songs, like 

 other forces, may work most vigorously in 

 unprescribed directions. This homely lyric 

 has not softened the hearts of our woodmen, 

 and we might wish it daily sung to most of 

 our public officials, from the congressman 

 down to the village highway-commissioner. 

 But I am sure that it has softened thousands 

 of hearts which ought to have been steeled 

 instead. I am sure it excuses to themselves 

 thousands of owners of trees which are worth- 

 less, or w^orse than worthless, and yet are 

 piously preserved. I am sure it has helped 

 to deepen the popular feeling that a tree, as 

 such, is a sacred object, and that to cut one 

 •down which might be preserved is to com- 



291 



