A Word for the Axe 



yet, because he 'Moves his trees," they must 

 remain. If he really loved trees, and really 

 cared for beauty in general, it would hurt 

 him more to see a tree palpably out of place 

 than not to see it at all. 



If this super-sentimental feeling protected 

 only fine trees one could at least compre- 

 hend its existence. But quite as often it 

 protects the most feeble, ill-grown, and ugly 

 specimens. Hundreds of Norway spruces, 

 for instance, and of exotic pines, so far de- 

 cayed that they are all but dead, disfigure 

 our parks and cemeteries. No one professes 

 to admire them or to think that they may 

 improve. Yet there is sure to be an out- 

 cry if their remnant of life is threatened. 

 They are trees, and therefore sacred ; their 

 sanctity is not impaired by the fact that they 

 are moribund, any more than by the fact 

 that, even if they were flourishing, the gen- 

 eral effect of the scene would be better with- 

 out them ; whatever they are, however they 

 stand, he is a heartless vandal who says. Cut 

 them down. And it is the same in private 

 grounds : one daily wonders why this or 

 that perishing tree is preserved, and accepts 



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