Oh, active, mercurial, wonderful boy,
The world is a top and you spin it with joy,
Regardless of all the wiles you employ
To gain the pleasure of seeing;
No tree is so tall, but you reach its top limb,
No water so deep, but in it you swim,
No ice is so smooth, but o'er it you skim
Like a phantom, a wonderful being.
ARBOR DAY POEMS.
THE TREE OF STATE.
[The Maple was chosen by vote of the children in the schools of N. Y. State as the State Tree, and the Rose as the State Flower. Nature's Tribute, The Rose, and The Golden Rod were written at the request of the State Department of Public Instruction of N. Y. and sent to the schools of the State for Arbor Day use. Nature's Tribute was set to music.]
Tree of our state and emblem of neatness,
Beauty and grace abide in thy form;
Not in thy blood alone courses a sweetness,
Thy ev'ry unfolding is suavity born.
Down in the vale where cowslips are growing,
Where violets breathe thro' sweet scented lips,
Where brook o'er the bright pebbly bottom is flowing,
And bee of the nectar of columbine sips.
A monarch it stands of regnative power,
In a graceful symmetrical pose;
Whose arms weave a fairy, majestical bower
Where wood-nymphs their beauty disclose.
Its beautiful leaf of silvery sheen,
And the grandeur it gives to the grove,
Proclaim to th' world it of forest is queen,
And most worthy our heart's purest love.