EVERGREEN LIVE O 
BEST SHADE TREE 

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Live Oak — The Shade Tree of The South 

TREE AND MAN 
By Edgar A. Guest 
Poor man must roam the world afar 
And give his strength to many needs; 
Pride, pomp and place of pity are 
Forever spurring him to deeds. 
Not only must he suffer pain, 
But God has fashioned him so fair 
That none may cry to him in vain. 
Even a stranger’s hurt he’ll share. 
The oak tree never quits its place 
To ask about a neighbor’s care. 
A thing of majesty and grace, 
Whose leafy arms seem raised in prayer, 
It stands two hundred years or more 
Against the storms of winter stout, 
While man is broken down before 
The sands of seventy years run out. 
The span of mortal life is brief. 
The oak tree long outlives us all, 
Yet better ’tis to suffer grief; 
To weary oft at duty’s call; 
To wear our strength and courage out 
Against the tides of human fears 
Than live and never ask about 
The cause of sorrow’s blinding tears. 
From the first moment of its birth 
Until a rotted log it dies, 
Its roots draw sweetness from the earth, 
Its leaves draw nectar from the skies. 
Patient, untroubled and serene, 
A tree, with age in splendor grows, 
Because on it no grief has been 
Such as the fretted mortal knows. 
Dedicated To 
WALTER C. GRIFFING, Lover of Live Oaks. 
RIFFING NURSERIES 
BEAUMONT, TEXAS 
