10 "Che Conservative.
ARBOR-DAY MUSINGS.
How expressive is nature in all her
various f onus and features ; how eloquent
are her many voices !
The soul of William Cullen Bryant
was keenly responsive to all her breath
ings and romantic mystery. What deep
insight had he into the unwritten lore
of mountain , forest , and sea , and how
well could ho translate to duller minds
their various moods.
"To him , who , in the love of nature , holds
Communion with her visible forms , she speaks
A various language : for his gayer hours
She has a voice of gladness , and a smile
And eloqupnco of beauty ; and she glides
Into his darker musing with a mild
And gentle sympathy , that steals away
Their sharpness , ere he is aware , "
How pleasing is her voice of gladness
in our gayer hours , and how grateful , in
our darker musings , is her gentle
sympathy ! Well may we cultivate ,
then , the love of nature and acquaint
ance with her visible forms. Well may
wo teach the child to love the flowers
and birds and trees , for that love softens
the asperities of human nature and
brings us into closer sympathy with our
follows.
All hail to Arbor Day ! Let everyone
note well its lessons , and plant a tree.
The grass , the herb , the shrub , the tree
the most ancient classification all
occupy a place of peculiar interest and
dignity in the kingdom of nature. The
essence of life first made its appearance
in the vegetable kingdom. The vege
table stands as a mediator between
the lower mineral kingdom and
the higher kingdom of animal life , a
mediator between the living and the
dead. Who shall explain to us the
mystery of nature's chemistry by which
the delicate rootlets dissolve the organic
minerals of the earth , and the leaves
decompose and absorb the carbonic acid
taken from the surrounding air ? Who
shall tell us the hidden processes by
which plants breathe , and perspire , and
assimilate , and sleep ? Vastly important
to us are all the functions of the plants.
They take up the poisonous gases , and
replenish the air we breathe with the
blood-purifying oxygen. They transform
the crude elements of earth and air and
sunshine into food to nourish our bodies.
They spread a mantle of bright tints
over the dull landscape and fill the soul
with gladness. How restful to the eye
id the vision of green fields ; how sooth
ing to weary minds are the whispering
leaves and the fragrance of the woods
natures lullabies.
History records the story of many
notable trees. Mount Lebanon has been
known from early Biblical times for its
famous cedars. In 1696 there were six
teen cedars on that historic mount ,
which measured more than thirty feel
in circumference. The island of Ceylon
boasts the most magnificent tree of al
India. It is the gigantic banyan on
Mount Laviuia , seven miles from
Colombo. Two roads wind between its
many drooping stems , and its shadows ,
at noontide , covers four acres. The
great linden in Wurtemburg was eight
lundred years old when it fell in the
gale of 1832. This grand old tree , which
lad inspired the poet's muse , was more
; han thirty-seven feet in girth. Near
Balaklava , in the Baider valley , stands
a giant walnut tree which is one thous
and two hundred years old. It is owned
jy several Tartar families , who gather
from it some years nearly a hundred
housaud walnuts.
The old world has its venerable trees ,
jut none less notable are some of the
giants of the new. What school-child
does not know the story of the "Treaty
Elm , " on the banks of the Delaware ,
beneath whose boughs William Peun
signed his treaty with the Indians in
1682 ? It perished in 1826. The "Charter
Oak , " of Hartford , has been venerated
as a faithful friend of American liberties ,
'or it was long the secure hiding place
of the charter of the colony. The wide-
spreading elm in Cambridge will long
be remembered in song and story , for
aeneath its branches the peerless Wash
ington took command of the forces of
the patriots.
What soul is not stirred with emotion ,
when gazing upon the towering firs and
cedars of Oregon ! Last summer , while
enjoying an outing in the coast moun
tains , I saw several spruce trees that
measured more than ten feet in thick
ness. Three-hundred-foot firs are com
mon in the mountains. What mind is
not startled and amazed when con
templating the ponderous redwoods of
California ? How suggestive are the
noble trees of the towering characters
of human history. But if these ancient
patriarchs of the forest and mountain
slope could only unbosom to us the story
of life and decay , of romance and
tragedy , of which they have been silent
witnesses , how thrilling and fascinating
would bo the reminiscence.
Did you ever reflect how desolate and
uninviting this world would be were it
not for the trees ? Lands denuded of
their forests become subject to the
greater extremes of summer heat and
the cold of winter. Rob a country of
its trees , and it is robbed of many
charming features , for it becomes a
solitude unenlivened by the songs of the
wild birds and by the rollicking creatures
of the wood. Deprive the fields and
hills of the spreading roots of trees and
shrubs , and they become subject to the
erosive power of rains and floods.
Destroy the forests , and the parching
drouth and the pinch of cold and poverty
must soon be felt.
How delightful is a holiday in the
woods in early autumn , when the grounc
is thickly strewn with , richly tintec
leaves. The sighing in the tree-tops ,
and the rustle of the dead leaves bring
to mind the memories of childhood days.
But the dead and fallen leaves they
fulfill a most important office. They
are nature's safeguard against cold and
drouth. They spread like a thick mat
ing over the roots of the trees , retaining
: he moisture and shutting out the frost
or excessive heat , and so promote thrift
and growth by preserving an even
; emperature. Surely wisdom is dis
played in all of nature's ways. How
refreshing is the shade of a leafy tree in
; he mid-day heat of a summer sun ; how
comforting is the protection of a barrier
of trees against the wintry winds ; and
so , in the kingdom of plant life has
nature ministered to our wants by
supplying food and shelter and clothing
and medicine and beauty and perfume
to fill our days with health and glad-
ness.
Every highway should be graced with
thrifty trees. All the waste places in
our domain should be planted with
native trees of the forest. Every homo
should be within an encircling grove.
And every little child should be taught
; o venerate the tree as a mediator stand
ing between the living and the dead ,
and as typical of that higher mediation
of Christ between man and God. There
are many analogies between a treeless
country and a Ghristless life.
The spring-time has its inspiration.
What a beautiful picture then meets the
eye. The grass spreads its velvet of
bright green over the dark , uneven
ground , and softens every hard and
unkind feature ; above the carpet of
green , the flowers lift their smiling faces
to the sun and fill every breeze with
incense ; shrubs , rich with bloom , dot
the fields ; and beyond , the hills are
crowned with noble trees of more sombre
hues. Who is not impelled at such a
time , somehow , to purer thoughts and a
better life , when looking out upon such
a prospect spread beneath clear azure
skies ?
But the autumn is a time for reflection.
The north wind has breathed upon this
vale with its mellow tints , and a marvel
ous change is wrought. The setting
sun pours his flood of light upon the
fields and distant slopes , and they are
bedecked with crimson and burnished
gold. What thoughtful mind does not
reflect at a time like this upon life and
its coming autumn , and cherish the
hope that its maturity may be resplen
dent in glorious ideals realized ?
Tennyson saw a mystic bond of
sympathy and unity binding the earthborn -
born life with the heavenly , which is so
aptly expressed in his lines :
"Flower in the crannied wall ,
I pluck you out of the crannies ;
Hold you here , root and all , in my hand ,
Little flower but if I could understand
What yon are , root and all , and all in all ,
I should know what God and man is. "
REV. GEORGE H. BENNETT.
Woodburn , Ore.
A Timber. Famine.
Most of the warnings of the time come
from Great Britain , where the people
for good and sufficient reasons have had