Introduction 
T HIS book had its inspiration in an acknowledged reverence for Nature, 
an admiration for trees and forests, an interest in the establishment 
and development of Arbor Day and its purposes, and a desire to furnish 
teachers and others with suitable material, carefully selected, in convenient 
form for the preparation of programs for Arbor Day exercises. Such 
exercises very properly accompany the planting of trees. 
One cannot engage in the preparation of such a work without constantly 
growing more and more in touch with Nature and the great lessons which 
she teaches. Interest and reverence go together. One is also deeply im¬ 
pressed through it all with the earnestness and tenderness of the beautiful 
thoughts which authors in all ages, and especially American authors, have 
given our literature in their studies of Nature as revealed in trees, forests, 
flowers, birds and children. 
We are carried back in memory by studies like these, to the careless days 
of youth, to enjoy again the unselfish companionship of the trees, the silent 
sentinels about the old home, in whose leaves we have tried to read our 
fortunes. We recall the handsome butternuts which clasped hands across 
the roadway near the homestead, the graceful maples in the grove, the 
orchards and the forests, associated with all of which are so many of the 
truest joys of life. The stately elm too, which still stands on the hill, a 
guide for miles around, the pride of the community, is remembered with all 
the associations which are inseparable from it. 
Arbor Day is rapidly becoming one of the most interesting and one of 
the most extensively observed of school holidays. Originating in Nebraska 
in 1872, it is now observed with more or less enthusiasm in nearly every 
State of the Union, and many millions of trees have been planted. It 
cannot be expected that all that can be done on Arbor Day in this direction 
will counteract in a great degree the waste constantly going on in our 
forests, but it is hoped that the observance of the day will do something to 
excite a reverence for Nature in the study of her great works. Wanton 
destruction of trees may be prevented, or stayed, and children may learn, by 
simple exercises, some of the uses and beauties of trees, and of the value of 
