Arbor Day Leaves Part 2

--LONGFELLOW.

Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity; children love them; tender, contented, ordinary people love them. They are the cottager's treasure; and in the crowded town mark, as with a little fragment of rainbow, the windows of the workers in whose heart rests the covenant of peace.

RUSKIN.

Arbor Day Celebrations.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

GROWING OBSERVANCE OF ARBOR DAY.

It adds to the pleasure attending the observance of Arbor Day when we think how many are uniting with us in its celebration. It is but a few years since the day was first known and its observance was limited to a single one of our States. Now the day is known and observed from Maine to Oregon and from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. Not only is this true, but this our tree-festival so commends itself to all that its observance has spread more rapidly and more widely than any other public observance in the world's history. It is already established in portions of England, France, and Italy, in far-away South Africa and Australia, and we shall probably hear before long of its adoption in China and j.a.pan.

And so, as we come together to have pleasant talks about the trees and to march out with songs and banners to plant them in school grounds, in parks, by the road-side or elsewhere, it will be pleasant to remember that so many others are engaged in similar services. It should make the day a happier one for us to think that so many will enjoy it as we do, as it should always increase our happiness to know that others are sharing with us anything that is good.

As it will, doubtless, be interesting to all engaging in the celebration of the day, we give on the next page a list of the States in which Arbor Day is observed.

STATES AND TERRITORIES OBSERVING ARBOR DAY.

YEAR OF FIRST STATES. OBSERVANCE TIME OF OBSERVANCE.

Alabama 1887 22nd February.

Arizona 1890-91 First Friday after first of February.

California 1886 Colorado 1885 Third Friday in April.

Connecticut 1887 In Spring, at appointment of Governor.

Florida 1886 January 8.

Georgia 1887 First Friday in December.

Idaho 1887 Last Monday in April.

Illinois 1888 Date fixed by Governor and Supt. of Public Instruction.

Indiana 1884 " " Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Iowa 1887 " " " "

Kansas 1875 Option of Governor, usually in April.

Kentucky 1886 " "

Louisiana 1888-9 " Parish Boards.

Maine 1887 " Governor.

Maryland 1889 " " in April.

Ma.s.sachusetts 1886 Last Sat.u.r.day in April.

Michigan 1885 Option of Governor.

Minnesota 1876 " "

Mississippi 1892 " Board of Education.

Missouri 1886 First Friday after first Tuesday of April.

Montana 1887 Third Tuesday of April.

Nebraska 1872 22nd of April.

Nevada 1887 Option of Governor.

New Hampshire 1886 " "

New Jersey 1884 " " in April.

New Mexico 1890 Second Friday in March.

New York 1889 First Friday after May 1.

North Carolina 1893 North Dakota 1884 Sixth of May, by proclamation of Governor.

Ohio 1882 In April " "

Oregon 1882 Second Friday in April.

Pennsylvania 1887 Option of Governor.

Rhode Island 1887 " "

South Carolina Uncertain Variable.

South Dakota 1884 Option of Governor.

Tennessee 1875 November, at designation of County Superintendents.

Texas 1800 22nd of February.

Vermont 1885 Option of Governor.

Virginia 1892 West Virginia 1883 Fall and Spring, at designation of Supt.

of Schools.

Wisconsin 1889 Option of Governor.

Wyoming 1888 " "

Washington 1892

Only the following five states or territories fail to observe Arbor Day--Arkansas, Delaware, Oklahoma, Indian Territory, and Utah.

ENCOURAGING WORDS.

The Governors of our States and the Superintendents of our schools have generally entered heartily into the observance of Arbor Day and spoken earnest words of encouragement in its behalf. The following are specimens of what they have said.

=New Hampshire.=--Governor Currier, in his Arbor Day Proclamation: "I especially desire that our children may be taught to observe and reverence the divine energies which are unfolding themselves in every leaf and flower that sheds a perfume in spring or ripens into a robe of beauty in autumn, so that the aspirations of childhood, led by beautiful surroundings, may form higher and broader conceptions of life and humanity; for the teachings of nature lead up from the material and finite to the infinite and eternal."

=Illinois.=--Governor Fifer: "Let the children in our schools, the young men and women in our colleges, seminaries, and universities, with their instructors, co-operate in the proper observance of the day by planting shrubs, vines, and trees that will beautify the home, adorn the public grounds, add wealth to the State, and thereby increase the comfort and happiness of our people."

=Missouri.=--From the Superintendent of Public Schools, in his annual report: "Let this love for planting trees, shrubs, vines, and flowers be encouraged and stimulated in the school-room and not only will the school-yards profit thereby, but the now barren farm-yards and pastures will remain the recipients of your instruction."

=California.=--From Superintendent of Public Instruction: "Our schools cannot protect the forests, but they can raise up a generation which will not leave their hillsides and mountains treeless; a generation which will frown upon and rebuke the wanton destruction of our forest trees. There is no spot on earth that may not be made more beautiful by the help of trees and flowers."

=Nebraska.=--From the State Superintendent of Public Instruction: "On this day, above all others, the pupils of our public schools should be educated to care for the material prosperity of the country and to foster the growth of trees. Let the child understand that he is especially interested in the tree he plants: that it is his; that upon him devolves the responsibility of protecting and cultivating it in coming years."

=New York.=--Hon. A.S. Draper, ex-Superintendent of Public Instruction: "The primary purpose of the Legislature in establishing Arbor Day was to develop and stimulate in the children of the commonwealth a love and reverence for Nature, as revealed in trees and shrubs and flowers."

THE BEST USE OF ARBOR DAY.

Arbor Day, to be most useful as well as most pleasant, should not stand by itself, alone, but be connected with much study and talk of trees and kindred subjects beforehand and afterward. It should rather be the focal or culminating point of the year's observation of trees and other natural objects with which they are closely connected. The wise teacher will seek to cultivate the observing faculties of the pupils by calling their attention to the interesting things with which the natural world abounds. It is not necessary to this that there should be formal cla.s.ses in botany or any natural science, though we think no school should be without its botanical cla.s.s or cla.s.ses, nor should anyone be eligible to the place of a teacher in our public schools who is not competent to give efficient instruction in botany at least.

But much may be done in this direction informally, by brief, familiar talks in the intervals between the regular recitations of the school-room, or during the walks to and from school. A tree by the road-side will furnish an object lesson for pleasant and profitable discourse for many days and at all seasons. A few flowers, which teacher or pupil may bring to the school-room, will easily be made the means of interesting the oldest and the youngest and of imparting the most profitable instruction. How easy also to plant a few seeds in a vase in the school-room window and to encourage the pupils to watch their sprouting and subsequent growth.

Then it should not be difficult to have a portion of the school grounds set apart, where the pupils might, with the teacher's guidance, plant flower and tree seeds and thus be able to observe the ways and characteristics of plants in all periods of their growth.

They could thus provide themselves with trees for planting on future Arbor Days, and at the time of planting there would be increased enjoyment from the fact that they had grown the trees for that very purpose.