e before us. It is a practical anniversary. It is a beautiful
anniversary. To the common schools of the country I confide its
perpetuation and usefulness with the same abiding faith that I would
commit the acorn to the earth, the tree to the soil, or transmit the
light on the shore to far off ships on the waves beyond, knowing
certainly that loveliness, comfort, and great contentment shall come
to humanity everywhere because of its thoughtful and practical
observance by all the civilized peoples of the earth.

J. STERLING MORTON.

[Illustration]

LEAVES, AND WHAT THEY DO.

The leaves of the trees afford an almost endless study and a constant
delight. Frail, fragile things, easily crumpled and torn, they are
wonderful in their delicate structure, and more wonderful if possible
on account of the work which they perform.

They are among the most beautiful things offered to our sight. Some
one has well said that the beauty of the world depends as much upon
leaves as upon flowers. We think of the bright colors of flowers and
are apt to forget or fail to notice the coloring of leaves. But what a
picture of color, beyond anything that flowers can give us, is spread
before our sight for weeks every autumn, when the leaves ripen and
take on hues like those of the most gorgeous sunset skies, and the
wide landscape is all aglow with them. A wise observer has called
attention also to the fact that the various kinds of trees have in the
early springtime also, only in a more subdued tone, the same colors
which they put on in the autumn. If we notice the leaves carefully, we
shall see that there is a great variety of color in them all through
the year. While the prevailing color, or the body color so to speak,
is green, and the general tone of the trees seen in masses is
green--the most pleasant of all colors to be abidingly before the
sight--this is prevented from becoming dull or somber because it
comprises almost innumerable tints and shades of the self-same color,
while other distinct colors are mingled with it to such an extent as
to enliven the whole foliage mass. Spots of yellow, of red, of white,
and of intermediate colors are dashed upon the green leaves or become
the characteristic hues of entire trees, and so there is brought about
an endless variety and beauty of color.

Then there is the beauty of form, size, position, and arrangement. Of
the one hundred and fifty thousand or more known species of trees, the
lea