e policy of the respective munici- 
ities. Each year an appropriation 
r this purpose should be made. It 
ight not to be left for public sub- 
ription. 
A beginning has been made at 
everly Farms around the School- 
ouse. Here a public-spirited citi- 
sn bore the expense of planting and 
srsonally supervising it and the 
ty furnished the trees. What the 
ory of foliage is may be readily 
iderstood by comparing the shade- 
ss Mystery Islands with the beauti- 
| drives on the mainland. It is 
e tree that make the shore val- 
ible. Why neglect this wealth? 
is suicidal to denude the wooded 
ads and there is nothing gained by 
obbing the road side of a beautiful 
ee to enrich a _ private estate. 
; Vhile there is an intensive system 
f developing the private estates to 
heir best advantage there ought to 
‘the highways. The centres of Man- 
hester, Magnolia and _ Beverly 
ms should be planted with trees 
jy their respective municipalities as 
“part of the public policy. What is 
he price of a few trees compared 
vith the expensive concessions made 
yy the City of Beverly to induce the 
United Shoe Machinery Company to 
ocate in Beverly? 
Validity of Wills. 
, The bill introduced by Honorable 
Albert E. Pillsbury into the Massa- 
chusetts legislature seeks to assure 
he maker of a will that his desires 
and wishes will be accurately exe- 
euted after his death. So many 
eases of contested wills have ha- 
‘rassed the benefited ones named 
therein it seems wise that provision 
shall in some way be made so that 
man’s wishes may be respected 
nd that his will be executed as 
written. The bill provides for an 
opportunity to anyone to question 
‘the soundness of mind of the will- 
writer or to present charges of un- 
due influence. When the court de- 
cides that the will-maker knows that 
he is of a sound mind and not un- 
duly influenced, no contest can arise 
fter his death. If enacted the bill 
will prevent two evils, undue influ- 
ence upon the individual by un- 
scrupulous attendants, financial 
gents or field secretaries before the 
decease of the individual, and it 
would obviate contests after death. 
Japanese American Treaty. 
The final ratification of the Ameri- 
can Japanese treaty puts an end to 
‘the yellow newspaper threats of 
e a corresponding development of: 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
war with our neighbors across the 
Pacific Ocean. The cordial greeting 
which was handed to Ambassador 
O’Brien for President Taft at the 
luncheon tendered to him as a diplo- 
matic courtesy augers well for the 
future relations of the countries. 
The opening of the ports of Japan 
to the world by Commodore Perry 
in the last century and this treaty 
are two of the most important 
events in the history of Japan. It 
is a matter of national moment 
when two great nations can come to 
so amicable an agreement. The 
threatening causes for muisunder- 
standings on our Pacific Coast are 
at an end. The Japanese people 
owe much to the United States and 
her institutions. The future will 
mean more as year after year the 
Japanese students return from their 
education in the best institutions of 
the United States. 
Peary and His Office. 
An Admiral’s title or a degree 
from a reputable college is an honor 
to any man: but its value rests upon 
the worth and content of the work 
done to attain the title or degree 
and not upon the degree. No one 
doubts the ability and pluck of 
Lieutenant Peary but it is a just 
question, is an exploit of discovery, 
however great, to be rewarded in 
terms of naval service?. Peary. is 
worthy of honor for what he has 
done but the title given him should 
represent the quality and character 
of the work done. A naval title of 
high honor should be reserved for 
naval prowess and ability. 
After all it is the man that counts. 
There are too many varieties. In 
the old days it was ribbons and in- 
signia, now it is degrees and titles. 
A degree should represent work weil 
done. Only a few years ago a-group 
of ministers punctured a well laid 
scheme of a college to grant Doctor 
of Divinity degrees. For something 
like forty dollars. they discovered 
these degrees were available. Need- 
less to say, the sham was exposed 
and in this day and generation it is 
the souree of the degree and the 
man that counts, not the degree. 
If Congress hands out naval: hon- 
ors for discovery work, the titles 
will be belittled and with it the rank 
and standing of every possessor of 
the title. The American public is 
no longer deceived by titles that 
mean nothing. Who is the greater 
Abraham Lincoln, plain unadorned 
American, or an obscure individual 
with many degrees to his name?’ A 
good name is rather to be chosen 
17 
than great degrees. Great degrees 
will come to a good name and honor 
them, but great degrees will not make 
great names. Lieutenant Peary, 
D.N.P. (Discoverer of North Pole), 
gives him a distinction no other man 
can hold. Let him be content with 
his great and well won laurels. 
-The New Fire Department Ordi- 
nance. 
The new Beverly Fire Ordinance 
reduces the executive department 
from five to three. There is a chief 
and two assistants. One of these is 
specified to be stationed at Beverly 
Farms. This assures the retention 
of J. M. Publicover in his © official 
position as member of the — official 
board of the department. The Bey- 
erly Farms incumbent has shown 
himself as a leader worthy of the 
confidence which the city has be- 
stowed upon him. 
David Starr Jordan on Life. 
Some say idly that religion is los- 
ing her hold in these strenuous days. 
But she is not. She is simply chang- 
ing her grip. The religion of this 
century will be more practical, more 
real. It will deal with the days of 
the week as well as with the Sab- 
bath. It will be as patent in the 
marts of trade as in the walls of a 
cathedral, for a man’s religion is 
his working hypothesis of life, not 
of life in some future world, but of 
life right here today, the only day 
we have in which to build a life. It 
will not look backward exclusively 
to ‘‘a dead fact stranded on the 
shore of the oblivious years,’’ nor: 
will its rewards be found alone in 
the life to come. The world of to- 
day will not be a ‘‘vale of tears’’ 
through which sinful men are to 
walk unhappily toward final reward. 
It will be a world of light and color 
and joy, a world in which each of 
us may have a noble though a hum- 
ble part,—the work of the ‘‘holy life 
of action.’’ It will find religion in 
love and wisdom and virtue, not in 
bloodless asceticism, philosophical 
disputation, the maintenance of 
withered creeds, the cultivation of 
fruitless. emotion, or the recrudes- 
cence of forms from which the life 
has gone out. It 4s possible, Thor- 
eau tells us, for us to ‘‘walk in 
hallowed eathedrals,’’ and this in 
our every-day lives of profession or 
trade. It is the loyalty to duty, the 
love of God through the love | of 
men, which may transform the 
workshop to a cathedral, and the 
life of today may be divine none 
the less because it is strenuous and 
