yellow. My wood is used for furniture, floors, and for furnishing the interior of houses, and after the houses are finished few can warm them better than I. Seventh Pupil. Behold in me the Beech. Upon my smooth, gray bark many a heart-history has been carved. The poet Campbell tells it so beautifully: CONCERT RECITATION Thrice twenty summers have I stood, Eighth Pupil. They call me Basswood. I am a fine shade tree, my home a moist, rich soil. My fragrant flowers furnish a great amount of excellent honey for the bees at a time when most other flowers have disappeared. My timber is soft, light, and tough, and not apt to split; good for cabinet work, boxes, and broom handles. Ninth Pupil. Recognize in me the Hickory. If you want a wood that is good for buggies, axe handles, barrel hoops, a wood like iron, call upon me. You will have all the nuts you want thrown into the bargain. Once upon a time there was a President of the country who had so many of my qualities that they called him Old Hickory. Tenth Pupil. You see before you the Black Spruce. I abound in swamps. I am often used for Christmas trees on festive occasions, and boys and girls search me over for a supply of first-class gum. I am not responsible, though, for all the gum that goes by my name. Within a few years my wood has been largely used to make white paper. CONCERT RECITATION I love thee in the spring, Earth-crownèd forest! when amid the shades The gentle South first waves her odorous wing, In the hot summer-time, With deep delight, the somber aisles I roam, Or, soothed by some cool brook's melodious chime, Rest on thy verdant loam. But oh, when autumn's hand Hath marked thy beauteous foliage for the grave, How doth thy splendor, as entranced I stand, My willing heart enslave! i. II. 12. SCRIPTURE SELECTIONS May be arranged for a responsive service And God said, Let the earth bring forth the And the earth brought forth the tree, yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after his kind. And God said that it was good. And God said, Behold I have given you every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. ii. 8. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom he had formed. 9. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. DEUTERONOMY viii. 7, 8, 9. For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land; a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil, olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. I. CHRONICLES xvi. 33. Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the Lord. JOB xiv. 7, 8, 9. For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease, though the root thereof wax old in the earth; and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant. PSALMS i. 1, 2, 3. Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord. He shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water that bringeth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also doth not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. xcii. 12. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. civ. 16, 17. The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted; where the birds make their nests; as for the stork, the fir trees are her house. cxlviii. 9. Mountains and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars. 13. Let them praise the name of the Lord. PROVERBS iii. 18. Wisdom is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her; and happy is every one that retaineth her. xi. 30. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. xiii. 12. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick; but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. xv. 4. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life. THE SONG OF SOLOMON ii. 3. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. ISAIAH lv. 12. All the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name. |