the red Indian are made from the ma- 
terials of the forest. Ash strips are 
pounded skillfully and readily sepa- 
rate themselves in flat strips suitable 
for weaving into receptacles for carry- 
ing the berries of the forest shades or 
the products of the soil, whose rich- 
ness came by reason of the long-stand- 
ing forests which stood above it and 
fell into it for centuries. 
Whoever has tried to stopper a 
bottle when no cork was at hand knows 
something of the value of one sort of 
trees. He who has lain upon a bed of 
fever without access to quinine knows 
more of the debt we owe the generous 
forests that invite us with their cooling 
branches and their carpeted, mossy 
floors. The uses of rubber to city peo- 
ple are almost enough to induce one 
to remove his hat in reverence to the 
rubber tree; the esteem we have for 
the products of the sugar maple and 
the various products of the pine in 
their common forms of tar, pitch, and 
turpentine, as well as in their subtler 
forms, which are so essential to the 
arts and sciences, contributing to our 
ease, comfort, and elegance, should 
cause us to cherish the lofty pine and 
the giant maple with warmest grati- 
tude. 
Perhaps the most refined of the 
pleasures of man is found in the play- 
ing of musical instruments. There is 
not one of the sweeter-toned of all the 
vast family of musical instruments that 
is not dependent on the sympathetic 
qualities of the various woods. The 
violin shows the soul of this material 
in its highest refinement. No other 
instrument has so effectually caught 
the tones of the glorious mountain and 
the peaceful valley as has the choicely 
selected and deftly fashioned shell of 
the fiddle. It awakens all the fancies 
of a lifetime in one short hour, it 
brings gladness to the heart and en- 
livens the whole frame, and when the 
master hand brings out from its deli- 
cate form the deeper secrets of its na- 
ture the violin brings tears to our eyes 
and inspires within us an earnestness 
of purpose which is a perpetual tribute 
of the soul of man to the heart of the 
forest. 
I took a spring journey once from 
the heart of old Kentucky through 
some of the northern states around to 
the eastward to Virginia. The dog- 
wood was in blossom south of the 
Ohio. The forests and hillsides were 
set forth here and there in bridal array 
by the glad whiteness of myriads of 
these delicate flowers. Through Ohio 
and Indiana the peach trees were put- 
ting forth their delicate pink blossoms 
that sought us out in the cars and de- 
lighted us with their rare fragrance. 
In Pennsylvania we passed out of the 
peach region, and I thought the moun- 
tains could not give flowers to match 
the loveliness experienced on the two 
preceding days, but when we were 
running adown the "blue Juniata river" 
there burst upon me the purple radi- 
ance of the ironwood that I had en- 
tirely forgotten as a flowering tree of 
beauty. Brighter than the peach and 
softer than the dogwood it stood out 
against the foliage of the stream and hill- 
side. It followed the railway all down 
the Susquehanna across the line into 
Maryland, and gave me joy until it was 
lost again as the warmth of the south- 
ern sun poured itself again before my 
eyes upon the purity and simplicity of 
the snowy dogwood. 
And in the fall I once passed through 
the hills of New York and Massachu- 
setts. It was Thanksgiving Day. The 
matchless American forests were then 
in their greatest glory. Every hill 
seemed to have brought out its choicest 
holiday garment and was calling for 
admiration. So richly blended are the 
reds, the yellows, and the greens that 
one cannot see how people can do 
business with such delights for the eye 
spread out before them. Why they do 
not come en masse and join in this 
holiday of the trees is more than I can 
understand. It seems as if the Crea- 
tor of heaven and earth had reserved 
for the home of liberty the most gor- 
geous colorings that prismatic light is 
susceptible of bearing, and thrown 
them all down in luxurious profusion 
for the delectation of the people who 
should shake off the man-serving spirit 
and come here to breathe the air of 
freedom and rejoice with nature through 
the ten days of her gorgeous Thanks- 
giving time. 
235 
