From the grave of the eastern nations comes the tree monition to the
western. The occident like the orient would expire with the
destruction of all its forests and woodlands.

Twenty-five thousand acres of woodland are consumed by the railroads,
the manufactories, and the homes of the United States every
twenty-four hours. How many are planted? To avert treelessness, to
improve the climatic conditions, for the sanitation and embellishment
of home environments, for the love of the beautiful and useful
combined in the music and majesty of a tree, as fancy and truth unite
in an epic poem, Arbor Day was created. It has grown with the vigor
and beneficence of a grand truth or a great tree. It faces the future.
It is the only anniversary in which humanity looks futureward instead
of pastward, in which there is a consensus of thought for those who
are to come after us, instead of reflections concerning those who have
gone before us. It is a practical anniversary. It is a beautiful
anniversary. To the common schools of the country I confide its
perpetuation and usefulness with the same abiding faith that I would
commit the acorn to the earth, the tree to the soil, or transmit the
light on the shore to far off ships on the waves beyond, knowing
certainly that loveliness, comfort, and great contentment shall come
to humanity everywhere because of its thoughtful and practical
observance by all the civilized peoples of the earth.

J. STERLING MORTON.


[Illustration]

LEAVES, AND WHAT THEY DO.