Suggestive programs for special day exercises/Arbor Day/We Love the Trees

by Jason Elmer Hammond

WE LOVE THE TREES.

BY LUCIA M. MOONEY.

First Child—
I love a tree in spring,
When the first green leaves come out.
And the birds build their nests and carol
Their sweet songs round about.

Second Child—
I love a tree in summer,
When, in the noon-tide heat.
The reapers lie in its shadow,
On the greensward, cool and sweet.

Third Child—
I love a tree in autumn,
When Frost, the painter old,
Has touched with his brush its branches,
And left them all crimson and gold.

Fourth Child—
I love a tree in winter.
Mid snow and ice and cloud,
Waving its long, bare branches
In the north wind, wailing loud.

All—
Let us plant a tree by the wayside,
Plant it with smiles and with tears,
A shade for some weary wanderer,
A hope for the coming years.