A Word for the Axe 



Scores of people seem to have nothing to do 

 but watch for the superintendent's axe and, 

 when they see it gleam, protest to him or 

 his workmen, to the park-commissioners, or 

 to the public through the newspapers. Often 

 they protest on general principles, professing 

 to know nothing of trees except that they 

 should never be cut down. Sometimes they 

 are a httle more explicit ; they know the 

 names of certain trees, they like to lounge 

 out of doors in pleasant weather, and so 

 they call themselves lovers of Nature and 

 explain at length how their feelings have 

 been outraged. 



I have heard and read a multitude of such 

 protests. I have never met with one which 

 recognized that a park is an artistic organ- 

 ism, a complex thing of beauty, and that, 

 therefore, if it is to be kept beautiful, other 

 things than the intrinsic excellence of this 

 tree or that must be considered. I have 

 never met with one which gave a valid rea- 

 son why any ^^slaughtered tree should not 

 have been slaughtered, while I have never 

 walked through either of our parks with a 

 person who knew anything of art or any- 



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