The traders who search for mammoths' tusks around the Arctic coasts of Asia make every effort to send off, each year, at least fifty thousand pounds of fossil ivory to the west along the great caravan road. So great is the demand, however, that this quantity, added to that sent by the elephant-hunters, is not large enough to make ivory cheap in trade or in manufacture. SELECTION XII WOODMAN, SPARE THAT TREE Woodman, spare that tree! Touch not a single bough! In youth it sheltered me, And I'll protect it now. 'Twas my forefather's hand That placed it near his cot: There, woodman, let it stand; Thy ax shall harm it not. That old familiar tree, Whose glory and renown Are spread o'er land and sea,-- And wouldst thou hew it down? Woodman, forbear thy stroke! Cut not its earthbound ties! Oh, spare that aged oak, Now towering to the skies! When but an idle boy I sought its grateful shade; In all their gushing joy, Here, too, my sisters played. My mother kissed me here, My father pressed my hand: Forgive this foolish tear, But let that old oak stand. My heart-strings round thee cling, Close as thy bark, old friend; Here shall the wild bird sing, And still thy branches bend. Old tree, the storm still brave! And, woodman, leave the spot! While I've a hand to save, Thy ax shall harm it not. _George P. Morris_. LESSON XXXI FLOWERS He who cannot appreciate floral beauty is to be pitied, like any other man who is born imperfect. It is a misfortune not unlike blindness. But men who reject flowers as effeminate and unworthy of manhood reveal a positive coarseness. Many persons lose all enjoyment of many flowers by indulging false associations. There are some who think that no weed can be of interest as a flower. But all flowers are weeds where they grow wild and in abundance; and somewhere our rarest flowers are somebody's commonest. And generally there is a disposition to undervalue common flowers. There are few that will trouble themselves to examine minutely a blossom that they have often seen and neglected; and yet if they would question such flowers and commune with them, they would often be surprised to find extreme beauty where it had long been overlooked. It is not impertinent to offer flowers to a stranger. The poorest child can proffer them to the richest. A hundred persons turned into a meadow full of flowers would be drawn together in a transient brotherhood. It is affecting to see how serviceable flowers often are to the necessities of the poor. If they bring their little floral gift to you, it cannot but touch your heart to think that their grateful affection longed to express itself as much as yours.