i8 
TREES AS GOOD CITIZENS 
found ease and inspiration in shaded nooks, and the writer 
of to-day turns likewise to the shelter of his favorite tree. 
One of the beauty spots of the world is the site of the 
tomb of Virgil, overlooking the Gulf of Naples. This 
tomb marks the great poet’s favorite retreat during his 
last years of life, and it was there, according to tradition, 
that he wrote his undying epics. The visitor to Posilippo 
finds it easy to understand why these wooded slopes, over¬ 
looking the blue Mediterranean, held such charm for the 
poet and made him choose this spot for his final resting 
place. In the same way, a visit to Cambridge shows 
why our own Longfellow sought the soothing shade of his 
beloved Elms for the writing of poems no less enduring 
than those of Virgil. For each of them, as for all man¬ 
kind, the shade trees held irresistible charm. 
Trees have had their part in history no less than 
in literature. In modern warfare the great generals 
pitched their tents and held their councils under 
the trees, as did the captains of Carthage, Greece and 
Rome. The Cedars of Lebanon and the trees of Gethsem- 
ane have deathless place in man’s memory. It was under 
an Oak that Abraham received the angel, and it was in 
the shade of a tree that Socrates and Plato held discus¬ 
sion. Turn where one may, in the pages of history or in 
the life of to-day, the shade tree makes constant appeal to 
the imagination and to the sense of romance because of its 
unchanging role as man’s faithful friend. Through all 
the ages the sheltering tree has had no rivals. “The 
Groves were God’s first temples,” and man’s apprecia¬ 
tion of their use and beauty gives them everlasting place 
in his affections. 
This permanent kinship entitles the shade tree to a 
foremost place on the bookshelf. Shade trees merit the 
