NATURE — AND MAN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 67, 6 April 1937, Page 15

NATURE — AND MAN

Preparations Should Be Made For Arbor Day PLENTY OF WORK (Edited by Leo -Fanning) Although the official Arbor Day (Tree Day) will not dawn before midwinter, it is time for enthusiasts to begin preparations for the biggest plans of planting since New Zealand followed the example o£ America in having these annual rallies. Thei great need is the strong development of popular sentiment for ' ' the flugd of nature," as Enos Mills termed the trces. .The essential for the creatiou of that sentinient is tli® moving en-fhusiasm of public-spirited treelovers prepared to take a little trouble to gain converts. If the enthusiasm and money bestowed on a few football matches could be diverted for treea, there would be enough to give good plantations in many districts a sturdy start in life. Year by year splendid men and women toil for the trees in the United States of America. These men and women are wise; they aim at the children, they teach the little ones the l'unction, the plants and trees in Nature'i? suiieme of things; they plead for the trees on the score of utility as well as beauty. They use the trees to point a mora.1 for life, the life of the individual and the life of the nation, Hence Arbor Day is a great day in t.he States, a day oi glad song and memornble practical ceremony, The children have the Arbor and Bird Day Annuals to gladden them and teach them. Thus young America is tanght to respect and foster trees for local and national reasons. The children of Wiscon&in. are induced to have regard for the checking of needless destruction of trees and the planting of waste spaces, not only in Wisconsin, but all the States. The rising generation is instructed'to make good, as far as possible, the mistakes of ancestors. There is scope for such lesson® in New Zealand. In a few districts the need of a forward move is appreciated, but much remains to be done in other localitiea. Boys as a City Guard Here are some of the thoughts for young fdlk in Wisconsin, published in a beautiful book:— "In this great and inspiring movement to waken love Of the city and through that love to make the city better and more beautiful, what can boys and girls do? First of all, you can protect your city. It is your city, and its things are yours. Its buildings, its parks, its green grasS, its shade-giving trees — these are all yours, and they all need your protectxon. Protect al$o your city's name. Speak well of it! Be loyal to it! . . . You can have an even more active parfc of your city's improvement. In Boston there is an organisation of the High School boys called 'The City Guard,' and the membeus make it their business to. watch for everything that helps the city and everything that hurts the city, dnd to use their influence o advance the former and check the latter. Their watchword is, 'On Guard for the City,' and their motto is; 'There is Nothing to Get, There is Something to Do.' " The a©' tivities include the care of trees and the prevention of vandalism. Treeful Beauty Por All For reasons of utility as well as beauty New Zealanders must guard their native forests and raise more in places that are now bare and bleak. Thus tLey will ever have sauctuuries oi nature to xepair tho wear and tear of life. Think, of these lines of Eugene Field: — It seems to me I'd like to go Where bells don't ring, nor whistles blow, Nor eiocks don't strike, nor gongs don't sound, Ancj I'd have siillness all around. Nct rra! stillness, but just the fees 1 JLow whispering, or the hum of 'bees, Or brooks' faint babbling over stones '.xi strangely, softly tangled tones. Or maybe the cricket or katyid, Or the songs of birds in hedges hid, Or just some such isweet eounds as

these To fill a tired heart with ease. That comfort of Nature for hurt minds is also well worded in this poem of Hamlin Garland: — O to be lost in the wind and the sun, To be one with the grass and the stream, With never a care while the water® run, With never a thoUght in my dream: To be part of the robin's lilting call, and part of the bobolink's chime, Lying close to the sky thruslx singing alOne, And lapped in the cricket 's rhymel 0 to love with these care-free ones, With the lust and the glory Of man Lost in the cixcuit of springtime suns— SubmissivO as earth and a part of her plan: To lie as the snake lies, content in the grasS; To drift as the clouds drift — efiortless, free, Glad oi' the power that drives them on, With never a queStion of wind or sea! Whatever may be one's political or social beliefis, one can adopt Hamlin Garland 's song as a more or less oflicial or unofficial clianty. Here will be the " world 's wealth for the world 's workers" if the citizena will heed the call to plant a tree.