ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 
323. 
ARBOR DAY. 
N OW a strong, fair shoot, from the forest bring, 
Gently the roots in the soft earth lay; 
God bless with His sunshine, and wind and rain, 
The tree we are planting on Arbor Day. 
May it greenly grow for a hundred years ; 
And our children’s children beneath it play, 
Gather the fruit and rest in the shade 
Of the tree we are planting on Arbor Day. 
So may our life be an upward growth, 
In wisdom’s soil every rootlet lay, 
And every tree bearing precious fruit, 
Like the tree we are planting on Arbor Day. 
ARBOR DAY AND THE CHILDREN. 
E XTRACT from an address delivered at Lancaster, Pa., April 16, 1885, by 
Hon. E. E. Higbee, late State Superintendent of Public Instruction of 
Pennsylvania : 
While we would by no means neglect on such an occasion to call attention to 
the great economic use of forests, the perils attending their wanton destruction, 
the necessity of prompt and watchful care lest through the rapid march of civi¬ 
lization we bring upon ourselves the very evils we seek to avoid, and consume- 
what earth so freely gives us without any thought that she may be so impover¬ 
ished at last as to seek alms of us — for the growth of forests requires years, 
but their destruction scarcely a day — while we would not neglect reflections: 
such as these, and would keep up from year to year a spirited and concerted 
action against our dangers by planting along roadsides, in parks and yards, and 
around every school building, trees, and shrubs, and vines, and flowers ; yet we 
would, with special emphasis, call the children to a wholesome converse with 
Nature herself; would withdraw them from the restraints of books and recita¬ 
tion tasks, and woo them to her shady haunts, her valleys and hills, to deepen., 
in their souls a sense of her life and a delight in her beauty, and some clear and 
sympathetic feeling of perpetual companionship ; * * * they should learn 
to love Nature with such tender reverence as never to abuse or profane h.er; 
and, inspired by such love, they should seek her help in making home, or 
school, or village, or city, a comforting delight, a culturing power, a presence 
of beauty through life. 
“Jock, when ye hae naething else to do, ye may be sticking in a tree ; it will 
be growing, Jock, when ye’re sleeping.” 
Highland Laird of Scotland. 
