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.

—­Ruskin.

Influence of nature.

Fourth pupil.

              Therefore am I still
    A lover of the meadows and the woods
    And mountains, and of all that we behold
    From this green earth; of all the mighty world
    Of eye and ear, both what they half create
    And what perceive; well pleased to recognize
    In nature, and the language of the sense,
    The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
    The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul,
    Of all my moral being.

    —­Wordsworth.

Fifth pupil.

I regard the forest as an heritage, given to us by nature, not for spoil or to devastate, but to be wisely used, reverently honored, and carefully maintained.  I regard the forest as a gift entrusted to us only for transient care during a short space of time, to be surrendered to posterity again as unimpaired property, with increased riches and augmented blessings, to pass as a sacred patrimony from generation to generation.

     —­BaronFerdinand Von Mueller.

Nature’s comfort.

Sixth pupil.

    If thou art worn and hard beset
    With sorrows that thou wouldst forget,
    If thou wouldst read a lesson that will keep
    Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep,
    Go to the woods and hills!  No tears
    Dim the sweet look that Nature wears.

    —­Longfellow.

Seventh pupil.

     It may be said that the measure of attention given to trees
     indicates the condition of agriculture and civilization of a
     country.

     —­Mahe.

Eighth pupil.

    I said I will not walk with men to-day,
      But I will go among the blessed trees,—­
    Among the forest trees I’ll take my way,
      And they shall say to me what words they please.

    And when I came among the trees of God,
      With all their million voices sweet and blest,
    They gave me welcome.  So I slowly trod
      Their arched and lofty aisles, with heart at rest.

Ninth pupil.

     Forests can flourish independent of agriculture; but
     agriculture cannot prosper without forests.

Tenth pupil.

     The man who builds does a work which begins to decay as soon
     as he has done, but the work of the man who plants trees
     grows better and better, year after year, for generations.