Aroun' the hearthstone of the heart Clean out yer moril cubby-holes, Sweep out the dirt, scrape off the slum! 'Tis cleaning time for healthy souls; Get up and dust! The spring hez come! Clean out the corners of the brain, Bear down with scrubbin' brush and soap, And dump ol' Fear into the rain, An' dust a cozy chair for Hope. Clean out the brain's deep rubbish hole, Hang pootier pictures on the wall. Plant flowers in the soul's front yard, An' sweep the snowbanks from yer heart. A UNIQUE CELEBRATION From Journal of Education THE most unique celebration of Arbor Day, probably, is that which occurs at Eynsford, England, where some remarkable commemorative tree-planting has taken place. The observance began in 1897, during Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, when shade trees were planted in acrostic form, and an orchard of apple trees was set out. During the South African war the shade trees commemorated the defense of Kimberly, Ladysmith, and Mafeking. In 1902, four years after Queen Victoria's death, trees were planted along the main road as a memorial in acrostic form, expressing Lord Tennyson's line: She wrought her people lasting good. Since then a quarter of a mile of trees have been planted whose initial letters spell out two lines from Robert Browning's "Rabbi Ben Ezra": The best is yet to be: The last of life for which the first was made. In this way the people are drawn to learn the names of many different varieties of trees, so as to identify them at sight and read the couplets from the fifty-two initial letters, for themselves. ARBOR DAY SONG BY MARY A. HEERMANS OF NATURE broad and free, God hath pronounced it good, To all that meets the eye, Barren this world would be, Now gracious Lord to Thee May we Thy hand behold, As each small bud and flower So we, Thy children dear, CELEBRATING ARBOR DAY BY WALTER E. RANGER From Rhode Island Arbor Day Annual, 1907 BY AN excursion into the woods pupils may learn, under the direction of their teacher, to identify the most common kinds of trees and gain a more intimate acquaintance with trees. Such an excursion, when practicable, would not be an unfitting feature of Arbor Day observance, and would not necessarily preclude other customary exercises both within and without the schoolroom. The State Forester has made the following interesting suggestion: "It would seem to me expedient for some of the schools to reserve a shaded corner of the grounds for a small forest nursery a bed about four feet wide and any convenient lengthin which to raise nursery stock for planting shade and forest trees on Arbor Day. Such a nursery could be started on Arbor Day by putting into this bed some tiny seedlings such as may be found at that time under some of the mature trees of beech, maple, oak, ash, pine, and chestnut. Later the nursery could be extended by planting tree-seeds gathered in the following autumn." The proper observance of Arbor Day is limited neither to literary programme nor to tree planting. Since man's visible works are but an expression of his life, the aim of the school must be the development of virile character, of which good works are the issue. For this end in the training of children and youth, Arbor Day offers the opportunity of fostering the love of natural beauty, awakening an interest in civic improvement, imparting a knowledge of the value of trees, giving instruction in practical forestry, and providing a practical training in treeplanting and related arts. If the children of to-day form the habit of making things look better at school and home, they will later be found active in all efforts for public improvement. An interesting programme of song and recitation and the making of some spot more beautiful by tree, shrub, or flower are alike means for making impressions of truth and beauty that will endure in the lives of children. For this purpose it is essential that every school convene in its school home on Arbor Day morning and that every child shall have a personal part, however small, in the exercises of the day. Let Arbor Day be associated with the study of nature throughout the year. Let every school, when possible, have its garden. Keeping the school |