affection of every lover of his country clings around that tree! What care has been taken of it, standing, as it does, in the center of a great public thoroughfare, its trunk protected by an irom fence from injury by passing vehicles, which, for more than a century, have turned out in deference to this monarch of the revolution.

FAMOUS TREES.

What conqueror in any part of "life's broad field of battle" could desire a more beautiful, a more noble or a more patriotic monument than a tree planted by the hands of pure, joyous children, as a memorial of his achievements?

What earnest, honest worker with hand and brain, for the benefit. of his fellow men, could desire a more pleasing recognition of his usefulness than such a monument, a symbol of his or her production, ever growing, ever blooming and ever bearing wholesome fruit?

Trees already grown ancient have been consecrated by the presence of eminent personages or by some conspicuous event in our natural history, such as the elm tree at Philadelphia, at which William Penn made his famous treaty with nineteen tribes of Indians; the Charter Oak at Hartford, which preserved the written guarantee of the liberties of the colony of Connecticut; the widespreading oak tree at Flushing, Long Island, under which Geo. Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends or Quakers, preached; the lofty cypress in the Dismal Swamp, under which Washington reposed one night in his young manhood; the huge French apple tree near Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Little Turtle, the great Miami chief, gathered his warriors; the tulip tree on King's Mountain battlefield, in South Carolina, on which ten bloodthirsty Tories were hung at one time; the tall pine tree at Fort Edward, New York, under which the beautiful Jane McCrea was slain; the magnificent black walnut tree near Haverstraw, on the Hudson, at which General Wayne mustered his forces at midnight, preparatory to his gallant and successful attack on Stony Point; the grand magnolia tree near Charlston, South Carolina, under which General Lincoln held a council of war previous to surrendering the city; the great pecan tree at Villere's plantation, below New Orleans, under which a portion of the remains of General Pakenham was buried; and the pear trees planted respectively by Governor Endicott, of Massachusetts, and Governor Stuyvesant of New York, more than two hundred years ago. These trees all have a place in our national history, and are inseparable from it because they were so consecrated. My eyes have seen all but one of them, and patriotic emotions were excited at the sight. How much more significant and suggestive is

the dedication of a young tree as a monument.—Benson J. Lossing, Historian.

A little of thy steadfastness.
Rounded with leafy gracefulness,

Old oak, give me

That the world's blast may round me blow,
And I yield gently to and fro,

While my stout-hearted trunk below,

And firm-set roots unshaken be.

-Lowell

As the leaves of trees are said to absorb all noxious qualities of the air, and to breathe forth a purer atmosphere, so it seems to me as if they drew from us all sordid and angry passions and breathed forth peace and philanthropy.

There is something nobly simple and pure in a taste for the cultivation of forest trees. It argues, I think, a sweet and generous nature to have this strong relish for the beauties of vegetation, and this friendship for the hardy and glorious sons of the forest. He who plants an oak looks forward to future ages, and plants for posterity. Nothing can be less selfish than this.-Washington Irving.

The trees may outlive the memory of more than one of those in whose honor they were planted. But if it is something to make two blades of grass grow where only one was growing, it is much more to have been the occasion of the planting of an oak which shall defy twenty scores of winters, or of an elm which shall canopy with its green cloud of foliage half as many generations of mortal immortalities. I have written many verses, but the best poems I have produced are the trees I have planted on the hillside. Nature finds rhymes for them in the recurring measures of the seasons. Winter strips them of their ornaments, and gives them, as it were. in prose translation, and summer reclothes them in all the splendid phrases of their leafy language.-Oliver Wendell Holmes.

"There is a serene and settled majesty in woodland scenery that enters into the soul, and delights and elevates it, and fills it with noble inclinations."-Irving.

"When we plant a tree, we are doing what we can to make our planet a more wholesome and happier dwelling place for those who come after us, if not for ourselves. As you drop the seed, as you plant the sapling, your left hand hardly knows what your right hand is doing. But Nature knows, and in due time the power that sees and works in secret will reward you openly. You have been warned against hiding your talent in a napkin; but if your talent takes the form of a maple-key or an acorn, and your napkin is a shred of the apron that covers 'the lap of the earth,' you may hide it there unblamed; and when you render in your account you will

find that your deposit has been drawing compound interest all the time.

"The trees may outlive the memery of more than one of those in whose honor they were planted.

"What are these maplef and beeches and birches but odes and idyls and madrigals? What are these pines and firs and spruces but holy hymns, too solemn for the many-hued raiment of their gay deciduous neighbors."-Holmes.

Fair tree! for thy delightful shade
'Tis just that some re urn be made;
Sure some return is due from me
To thy cool shadows and to thee.
When thou to birds dost shelter give,
Thou music dost from them receive;
If travelers beneath thee stay
Till storms have worn themselves away,
That time in praising thee they swend,
And thy protec ing power commend;
The shepherd here from scorching freed,
Tunes to thy dancing leaves his reed,
Whilst his loved nymph in thanks bestows
Her flowery chaplets on her boughs.

-Lady Winchilsea, "The Tree."

In the forest of Arden, Shakespeare makes the banished duke say to his companions:

"Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,

Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods
More free from peril than the envious court?
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam,

The season's difference, as the icy fang

And churlish chiding of the winter's wind,

Which, when it bites and blows upon my body,
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say:
This is no flattery; these are counsellors
That feelingly persuade me what I am.'
Sweet are the uses of adversity.

*

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
I would not change it.'

-As You Like It, act 2, scene 1.

"What conqueror in any part of 'life's broad field of battle' could desire a more beautiful, a more noble or a more patriotic monument than a tree planted by the hands of pure and joyous children, as a monument of his achievements?

"What earnest, honest worker with hand and brain, for the benefit of his fellow men, could desire a more pleasing recognition of his usefulness than such a monument, a symbol of his or her productions, ever growing, ever blooming, and ever bearing wholesome

fruit?

"How significant and suggestive is the dedication of a young tree as a monument!-Lossing.

If thou art worn and hard beset

With sorrows that thou wouldst forget.

If thou wouldst read a lesson, that will keep

Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep,
Go to the woods and hills! No tears
Dim the sweet look that Nature wears.

-Longfellow.

1. Opening exercises.

ARBOR DAY.

PROGRAMME.

2. Reading of Arbor Day law by the teacher.

3. Recitations and appropriate dialogues by the pupils.

4. Address by some prominent person in the district or vicinity.

5. Remarks by school directors and school patrous.

6. Planting tree.

NOTE.-The above exercises should be interspersed with vocal and instrumental music by

children.

SELECTIONS.

The following sketches may be given to the pupils to be read recited :

"I shall speak of trees as we see them, love them, adore them in the fields where they alive, holding their green sunshades over our heads, talking to us with their hundred thous whispering tongues, looking down on us with that sweet meekness which belongs to huge limited organisms, which one sees most in the patient posture, the outstretched arms, and heavy-drooping robes of these vast beings, endowed with life, but not with soul, which outgr us and outlive us, but stand helpless, poor things, while nature dresses and undresses them.

"There is something nobly simple and pure in a taste for the cultivation of forest trees. argues, I think, a sweet and generous nature to have this strong relish for the beauties of vege tion, and this friendship for the hardy and glorious sons of the forest. There is a grandeur thought connected with this part of rural economy. *** He who plants an oak looks forwa to future ages, and plants for posterity. Nothing can be less selfish than this."

Sixth Pupil:

Seventh Pupil :

"Oh! Rosalind, these trees shall be my books,
And in their barks my thoughts I'll character,
That every eye whien in this forest looks
Shall hy vsce tirtue witnessed everywhere."

-Irving

-Shakespeare

"There is something unspeakably cheerful in a spot of ground which is covered with tre that smiles amidst all the rigors of winter, and gives us a view of the most gay season in the mic of that which is the most dead and melancholy." -Addison

Eighth Pupil:

"As the leaves of trees are said to absorb all noxious qualities of the air, and to breathe forth purer atmosphere, so it seems to me as if they drew from us all sordid and angry passions, an breathed forth peace and philanthropy." -Irving.

Ninth Pupil:

"I care not how men trace their ancestry,
To ape or Adam; let them please their whim;
But I in June am midway to believe

A tree among my far progenitors,

Such sympathy is mine with all the race,
Such mutual recognition vaguely sweet
There is between us."

-Lowell.

Teath Pupil:

"Trees have about them something beautiful and attractive even to the fancy. Since they cannot change their plan, are witnesses of all the changes that take place around them; and, as some reach a great age, they become, as it were, historical monuments, and like ourselves, they have a life, growing and passing away, not being inanimate and unvarying like the fields and rivers. One sees them passing through various stages, and at last, step by step, approaching death, which makes them look still more like ourselves." Humboldtt.

Eleventh Pupü:

"Summer or winter, day or night,

The woods are an ever new delight;

They give us peace, and they make us strong,
Such wonderful balms to them belong;

So, living or dying, I'll take my ease
Under the trees, under the trees."

6. Reading or declamation.

7. Song.

8. Address-" Our School-houses and our Homes: how to beautify them."

-Stoddard.

9. Song.

10. Brief essays-by different scholars. First scholar may choose for subject, "My Favorite Tree is the Oak,' and give reasons. Other scholars may follow, taking for subjects the Elm,

Maple, Beech, Birch, Ash, etc. These essays should be very short.

11. Song.

12 Voting on the question, "What is the Favorite State Tree?"

13. Reading or recitation.

In addition to the famous trees spoken of on last Arbor Day, the class will mention a few others that have become conspicuous in our natural history.

First Pupil :

The wide-spreading oak tree of Flushing, Long Island, under which George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, preached.

Second Pupil:

The lofty cypress tree in the Dismal Swamp, under which Washington reposed one night in his young manhood.

Third Pupil :

The huge French apple tree near Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Little Turtle, the great Miami chief, gathered his warriors.