"Che Conservative *
amidst tumultuous and emulative ap-
plnuse.
"It is the duty and pleasure of your
committee , gentlemen of the Mississippi
Valley Horticultural Society , in har
mony with this line of reflection , to
bring before you the character and ser
vices of the recently deceased Dr. John
A. Warder , of Ohio. His naturally
strong mental faculties were led out and
trained , in school and college , to a full
and vigorous stature. His chosen pro
fession of medicine , in the earlier years
of his manhood , occupied his entire
thought and stimulated him to untiring
labor of mind and body , and , at the
same time , gave him also that culture
of the heart which , through his refined ,
emotional nature , was ever incarnating
itself in delicate acts'of kindness and
generosity toward those who needed
sympathy or friends.
"But he turned at last from his pro
fessional studies from the books in his
library to those broader investigations
of the mysteries of life and growth of
flowers , fruits and forests , to which the
fields , orchards and wild woods of Ohio
ever allured him. His childhood and
youth had passed amidst the rustic
scenes of a home in the country , on a
farm ; and as the seashell , though ever
so long and far away from its home in
the surf , will , when placed to the ear
always moan of its ocean home , so his
great and tender soul ever yearned for
a life among the flora and sylva of
youth. His brave and benignant spirit
explored all avenues of knowledge which
led into flowering fields and orchards.
To his eye every blossom was a poem ;
to his quick perception every tree a
book full of useful and agreeable teach
ings. And to the study of these volumes
these continued annuals fresh in new
binding , embellishment , and gilding
every summer and autumn , Dr. Warder
devoted the choicest years of his mature
manhood.
"It is the enthusiast of a cause who
gives vitality and propulsive power. Dr.
Warder was an enthusiast in horticul
ture and in forestry. To advance the
race in those two vocations no labor was
too great for him to undertake , no sacri
fice too severe for him joyfully to make.
At his own expense he went into fresh
territories and states , preaching , as a
missionary of a new gospel , the im
portance and necessity of orcharding
and tree planting. His thoughts were
strewn , like precious seeds , among the
dwellers on the prairies of Nebraska ,
Dakota , Wyoming , Minnesota , and the
Northwest. And they took root , so that
the concepts of thousands of groves and
orchards , which now stand as living
monuments to his useful life , came
from his own philanthropic brain. In
his mind miniature forests grew on every
prairie , and golden fruit flashed in the
autumn sunlight of ever hillside. He
knew no limit to his love of horticul
ture and arboriculture. He was earnest ,
10 was active , sincere , and his vit jograph
s written wherever flowers bloom ,
fruits ripen and forests wave all over
; he country ho loved so well and served
so modestly , efficiently and faithfully.
"His example is worthy of the emula
tion of our sous and of their sons. And
standing at his grave it is meet and
proper for this society to recall his noble
services to its cause , to wish that , with
each recurring year his memory may ,
like the flowers and foliage ho studied
so well , bo clothed in new verdure and
its fragrance perpetuated as a grateful
perfume.
"RESOLVED : That the Mississippi
Valley Horticultural Society deplores
the death of its friend and active mem
ber , Dr. John A. Warder , of Ohio ;
that our sincere condolence is extended
to his family , and that wo recommend
to kindred societies throughout the
Northwest the planting of memorial
trees and groves to commemorate his
labors , his achievements , and his philan
thropy as a skilled orchardist and
forester. "
A QUESTION FOU CHUISTIA.NS.
WHEREAS , the custom of destroying
young and tender trees for holiday fes
tivities is on the increase among Chris-
tiaus.
WHEREAS , the object of this destruc
tion is a double one ; first , to enable
these Christians , adult and juvenile , to
enjoy a mere childish and temporary
pleasure , and second , to foster a long
standing delusion that the Father in
Heaven is pleased to witness a thwarting
of His efforts and a destruction of His
works on earth.
WHEREAS , the trees lived on this
earth before man did are not beholding
to him for their lives and could live , if
man and all his works were swept off
the earth.
WHEREAS , man did not live on this
earth until the trees enabled him to dose
so , and could not continue to exist with
out their aid.
RESOLVED , that man , the ignorant
ingrate and dependent pauper upon the
bounty of the trees , is not only acting
the part of an unreasonable fool in his
treatment of the trees , but he is acting
the part of progressive suicide as well ,
for the trees are not only a couserver of
the water , but a couserver of the air as
well , and if man increases his mining
and mechanical operations in the future
the same as he has been doing in the
past , the time will come where the Ass
will be unable to live on the earth at
all. Hark , ye people , if it were possible
for the trees to assemble in a conven
tion and pass some such resolution ,
would it not be a true indictment of
man ? Is it not a fact that man has re
paid with the basest of ingratitude the
friendship of the trees ? Is it not a fact ,
that when man opened up the bowels of
the earth for exploration , that he simply
7'
opened up a Pandora's box out of which
las come , and will continue to come ,
all sorts of imps , demons , and devils in
the forms of poisonous gases that are
jocoming stronger every day , until some
day they will rise up and strangle man
their liberator ? Is it not a fact that
man , while he has the power to liberate
this demonic gas from the bowels of
; he earth , has no power to control or
absorb it ? Is it not a fact , that the
trees , that man is so ruthlessly sweep
ing from the face of the earth , have got
; ho power to control and absorb these
gases ? Is it not a fact then , that the
growth of the trees on the mountain
tops must keep pace with the growth of
man in the valleys ? Finally people , I
laim , that you are not only acting con
trary to your own material interest in
your treatment of the trees but you are
acting contrary to the Bible as well.
( Gen. I , XXIX. ) "And God said : Beheld -
hold , I have given you every herb bear
ing seed which is upon the face of all the
earth , and every tree in which is the
fruit of a tree yielding seed to you it
shall be for MEAT. " Reason furnishes a
connecting link between that verse and
several important facts. First , if God
inspired men to write the Bible , he must
have inspired the man who wrote that
verse ; therefore , the man who wrote
that verse knew exactly what he was
writing and said so , and if the reader
failed and fails to understand what the
writer said and says , then the fault lays
with the readers and not the writer.
Next , as short as that verse is it covers
the whole of the vegetable kingdom.
Next , the writer says plainly and
squarely , without any beating about the
bush , that the said vegetable kingdom
shall be used for meat , meaning , of
course , edibles in all forms. Next ,
edibles in any form are certainly not
utilities in any form , such for instance
as boats , bridges , houses and such ;
neither are they ostentatious prodigali
ties in the form of holiday trees. And
the next most important and last fact is
that the people who claim the right to
carry the Bible to the heathens of all
lands , including this , will have to ex
plain away the restrictive clause this
verse contains. Accept the restriction
or repudiate the Bible. A. TREE.
A careful investigation by a trained
detective shows that the sixteeen-to-one
democracy in the neighborhood of the
grave of the senatorial boom of Gilbert
M. Hitchcock , of the World-Herald , is
neither annexing new recruits nor ex
panding as to its influence.
Thursday , January 4 , 1900 , the com
missioners of Otoe county make the
estimate for its expenses during the
next year. Tax-payers should attend
that meeting. Estimates should be en *
smalled. Bo at the court house 1
