ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 
291 
TREES OF HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY. 
A 
YOUTH once rode into a forest, and asked of the trees: 
“ O, if ye have a singing leaf, 
The music of seas far away; 
I pray you give it me.” 
Only the Aspen pattered 
With a sound like the growing rain, 
But the trees all kept their counsel, 
They said neither yea or nay ; 
Only there sighed from the Pine tops 
That fell fast and ever faster, 
Then faltered to silence again. 
Tennyson tells us of the talking Oak, but to us, who are less forfunate in 
poetic imagery, the trees are speechless: if the birds understand the language 
-of rustling leaves, they keep it a secret from us, who would fain open and read 
this page in nature’s volume. 
Sacred history is full of allusions to trees in their various stages of growth 
.and abundance. The first sin of our common mother was in partaking of the 
forbidden fruit from the tree in the garden of Paradise. At the foot of Mount 
Lebanon eight gigantic Cedars stand as the only representatives of the once 
immense forests. The prophecy concerning them has come to pass, “ They 
shall be few that a child may count them.” The Olive, the Fig and the Oak 
are likewise often referred to in the sacred Scriptures. We read of the righteous 
as representing a tree of life, and they are declared to be like a tree planted by 
the rivers of water, while the wicked are likened to a Green Bay tree, and the 
ungodly to an Oak whose leaf fadeth. The Green Bay tree is a species of 
Laurel. Pliny collected and recorded the information and opinions concerning 
it current in his time. It was held sacred to Apollo, and used as a symbol of 
victory. It was used by the Romans to guard the gates of Caesar, and that 
worn by Augustus and his successors had a miraculous history. The grove at 
the Imperial villa having grown from a shoot sent by Livius Drusilla from 
heaven. 
Among the Indians of Brazil there is a tradition that the whole human race 
sprang from a Palm tree. It has been a symbol of excellence for things good 
and beautiful. Among the ancients it was an emblem of victory, and. as such, 
was worn by the early Christian martyrs, and has been found sculptured on their 
tombs. The Mohammedans venerate it. Certain trees, said to have been propa¬ 
gated from some originally planted by the prophet’s daughter, are held sacred 
and the fruit sold at enormous prices. The day upon which Christ entered 
Jerusalem, riding upon the colt of an ass, is called Palm Sunday, being the first 
day of the Holy Week. In Europe real Palm branches are distributed among 
the people. Goethe says : 
“ In Rome on Palm Sunday, 
They have the true Palms, 
The cardinals bow reverently 
And sing old psalms. 
Elsewhere these songs are sung’mid Olive branches; more southern climes 
:must be content with the sad Willow. 
