As each small bud and flower Speaks of the Maker's power, Tells of His love; So we, Thy children dear, Would live from year to year, Show forth Thy goodness here, And then above.
=3. READING ARBOR DAY LAW, OR PROCLAMATION OF GOVERNOR.=
[As the laws regarding Arbor Day vary in different States, it will be necessary for each teacher or superintendent to procure and read the one applicable to his State.]
=4. READING LETTERS IN REFERENCE TO ARBOR DAY.=
[These may consist of circular letters from superintendents, etc., and other incidental letters. It is suggested that notes of invitation to the exercises be sent to the parents of the children and to influential people. These will in many cases elicit replies bearing on the subject. In case such letters cannot be secured, at this point the "Encouraging Words" printed on page 15 of this pamphlet may be read with profit.]
All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful,-- The Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens, Each little bird that sings, He made their glowing colors, He made their tiny wings.
The purple-headed mountain, The river, running by, The morning, and the sunset That lighteth up the sky.
The tall trees in the greenwood, The pleasant summer sun, The ripe fruits in the garden,-- He made them, every one.
He gave us eyes to see them, And lips that we might tell How great is God Almighty, Who hath made all things well.
=6. READING. Bryant's Forest Hymn.= (SEE PAGE 8.)
To avert treelessness; to improve the climatic conditions; for the sanitation and embellishment of home environments; for the love of the beautiful and useful combined in the music and majesty of a tree, as fancy and truth unite in an epic poem, Arbor Day was created. It has grown with the vigor and beneficence of a grand truth or a great tree.
Be noble! and the nobleness that lies In other men sleeping, but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own; Then wilt thou see it gleam in many eyes, Then will pure light around thy path be shed, And thou wilt nevermore be sad and lone.
The leaves of the herbage at our feet take all kinds of strange shapes as if to invite us to examine them. Star-shaped, heart-shaped, spear-shaped, arrow-shaped, fretted, fringed, cleft, furrowed, serrated, sinuated, in whorls, in tufts, in spires, in wreaths, endlessly expressive, deceptive, fantastic, never the same from footstalk to blossom, they seem perpetually to tempt our watchfulness and take delight in outstripping our wonder.