The Tale of the Jack-o'-Lantern

The Tale of the Jack-o'-Lantern

A Jack-o'-Lantern played some pranks
One moonlit Hallowe'en,
He started out all by himself
Determined to be mean.

He scared a tiny pussy cat,
A little puppy, too.
He made a cunning baby cry -
A dreadful thing to do !

He laughed and thought of other schemes.
Oh, he was bad that night.
His one idea was what to do
To bring somebody fright.

At last the joke was turned on him,
He chased a pussy cat.
It was a witch's pride and joy,
But how could he know that?

The big black pussy turned around.
It arched its back and tail,
It launched its long sharp claws at him
With snarls and long-drawn wail.

Its mistress witch then came to sight
And whacked him with her broom.
So that is how one pumpkin head
Was cracked unto his doom.

Pilgrims and Turkeys for Bulletin Boards

Simple large turkey pattern.

        These vintage outlines of a turkey and children dressed as Pilgrims may be used on your bulletin boards, walls or as window decorations. 

• Visit the Crayon Palace blog to find similar resources of Native Indigenous People and Pilgrims also here
  

Simple figures of pilgrim children.

Large Clock Face Pattern for Classroom Use

        A large clock face for teachers to print out and use with students in their classrooms. Comes with large and small hands to identify hours and minutes of the day on a traditional clock. Help young students practice reading time.

• Here is another printable clock face with solid black numbers...
• Small printable clock faces for doll crafts
  

Punch a hole in the middle of a clock face mounted on cardboard. Cut out hour and minute hands and punch holes on the ends. Insert a brad into all three holes and bend it at the back. Now students may use the clock to practice telling and writing time.

Halloween Window Decorations

Big cut-outs of a vintage jack-o-lantern, flying bat and black cat.

        I've restored these vintage, Halloween patterns for teachers to use in the decoration of their classroom windows, or on Bulletin Boards. If you need something festive for the walls in your room or in the school buildings halls, wherever these may be needed, educators are sure to need a few patterns to enlarge, cut from construction paper and apply to their room decor.

3 cut-outs of classic jack-o-lanterns for teachers plus Autumn leaves

5 Simple Halloween Crafts: Templates Included

       Some of the following crafts need adult supervision while a glue gun is in use. Please read through the instructions entirely before making the crafts with very young children. The crafts below are intended for decoration excluding the spider puppet. The spider puppet is for children five and up because of the stick. If your students or child can be responsible when playing with something pointy like this, it may be given to a 3 or 4 year old.

My version of this craft has an inner support and a stand.

A Shredded Paper Pumpkin Craft: My version of this old craft includes tubes and a stand for support so that it may be stored and kept from year to year without it getting smashed. Just wrap it in tissue and store it alone or with things light weight in nature. If you've measured the necessary lengths of the tubes in advance, this project can be made for students in first grade and up.

Supply List:

• orange, brown and green construction paper
• wooden or cardboard one inch diameter circle shape
  
• black marker
• white school glue

Step-by-Step Instructions for The Pumpkin:

1.  Roll lengths of tube using paper or cardboard to make both the inner support of the pumpkin shape and the stem of the pumpkin. You can do this step before or after you cut the strips for the pumpkin. The inner tube for the pumpkin should measure a couple of inches shorter than the length of the strips, so that the tips of the strips can be bent and glued to the top and bottom of the inner tube. This is how the shape of the pumpkin will be kept in place.
   
2. Cut strips of orange construction paper 1/2 inch wide, all equal in length. 
3. Cover the inner tube with orange construction paper to "hide" it from view.
   
4. Glue each strip's ends to both the top and bottom of the inner tube.
   
5. Glue the wooden or cardboard circular disk to the bottom of the woven pumpkin. this will help the pumpkin to stand on it's own.
6. Glue on the stem, after covering it with brown paper. 
7. Draw vein details with a fine tip marker, onto the stem.
8. Cut a small green leaf to glue to the top of the pumpkin. Add veining on this if you prefer.
   

Left, pictured are the tubes rolled from cardboard to give the "shredded paper pumpkin support.
 Right, see the gluing process. I'm firmly pressing the paper ends on top of the tube.

Left, I bent a few of my strips without the tube between in order to determine the length of tube
 that I would need for support between my strips of orange construction paper. Right, here you can
 see the end result after I have randomly "woven" the orange strips above and below the inner cardboard tube.

A cute little ghost peers through the window.

The Ghost In The Window Craft: A simple preschool/kindergarten level craft for Halloween.

Supply List: 

• 6 wooden craft sticks all the same length
• two googly eyes
• white school glue
• white and black construction paper
• brown acrylic paint
• ghost template below
  

Step-by-Step Instructions for The Ghostly Window:

1. Glue four wooden sticks together in the shape of a square.
2. Glue a cross piece on top of the square and wait for the glue to dry.
3. Print out the ghost in the window template, cut it out and then trace around it on top of white construction paper.
4. Glue the little ghost on top of black paper and paste on it's google eyes.
5. Then paste the ghostly view to the back side of the wooden window frame.
6. Paint the window frame brown.
   

A Black Batty Candy Container: You will need the following supplies for the bat: black construction paper, two googly eyes, the paper template for it's wings and one recycled toilet paper roll. Any child in Kindergarten through third grade will enjoy putting this project together for friends and family.

The back side and front sides of the cardboard tube candy container shaped like a bat for Halloween.

Left, recycled cardboard tubes. Center, painted tube for the bat body of the candy box.
Right, tracing around the wing template for the black batty candy box.

Step-by-Step Instructions for the Candy Holder:

1.  Paint a recycled paper toilet roll solid black.
2. Print out the template for the batty wings from below.
3. Cut the template and then trace around it on top of a black piece of construction paper.
4. Cut out the wings.
5. Pinch one sides' end of the paper tube shut. Use glue to make this permanent. You may need to use a clamp to hold this in place till the glue dries.
6. Hot glue the googly eyes in place near the top of the candy container where the bats head would be.
7. Pinch together the bat's pointy ears on opposite ends of the tube. This will create a crease in the cardboard while you are working. 
8. Apply a bit of shaping along these creases to "make" the closure for the candy box. 
9. Slip in some candy corn or wrapped candies into the tube shaped box if you prefer. Searve up this super sweet, batty box treat at a Halloween party!
   

The assembled recycled ghosts with curled paper trim.

Recycled Paper Ghosts: Paper recycling craft intended for early learning students through second grade. They will learn how to cut, trace, curl and paste!

Supply List:

• white school glue
• white recycled papers
• black marker
• small scissors 
• two ghost templates (below)
  

Step-by-Step Instructions for The Paper Ghosts:

1. Print the templates from below on white paper.
2. Cut long white paper strips and glue these to the backsides of the cut ghost bodies.
3. Take a pair of child scissors and curl the ends of the strips.
4. Use a black marker to make silly faces on the ghosts heads.
   

A Pom Pom Spider Stick Puppet: The supplies you will need for this craft are: two pom poms- one larger than the other, two googly eyes, one 6-12 inch wooden dowel, hot glue and gun and black construction paper. If making this with a young student, use store bought pom-poms. If your students are older, have them manufacture the pom-poms themselves.

Steps for assembling a pom-pom spider puppet.

Steps for making your own pom-poms.

Step-by-Step Instructions for the Spider Puppet:

1. Cut cardboard disks like the ones pictured above and wrap black yarn through the hole and around the shape.
   
2. Trim the pom-pom off the card.
3. Knot the clippings together tightly according to the illustration.
4. Make two pom-poms, one slightly larger.
5. Glue a wooden or cardboard disk to the end of a dowel or chop stick. 
6. Then glue on eight tiny paper spider legs equally distributed about the disk.
7. Hot glue the larger pom-pom on top of the disk and legs.
8. Hot glue the smaller "head" pom-pom to the end of the larger.
9. Hot glue on the google eyes.
   

Above are five ghost templates and one bat candy container wing. Three of the ghost patterns are
shown above. The templates for paper ghost chains will be covered in a later post and linked
back to this sheet of patterns.

Pets Tell Halloween Stories for Kids:

• Trick or Treat! Topi the Corgi Halloween Special
• When wiener dogs go trick or treating...
• Spooky, Sneaky Arlo the CAT!
• Dust Buddies by Mad Artist Publishing CGI & Films

How kids can quill a jack-o-lantern picture...

The finished Halloween picture, with quilled
3D jack-o-lantern.

        Learning to quill with construction paper is much easier than it looks. This cute little jack-o-lantern is made up of dozens of rolled construction paper strips glued within a pumpkin shaped outline. I've featured him here on top of his own construction paper fence. Little ones may also add more "spooky'' spider webs to their Halloween picture once the paper quills have dried.

Supply List:

• ample supply of orange, construction paper, shredded
• white acrylic paint or white pencil
• black marker
• black paper for background, brown paper for fence, green for leaves, brown for stem, red for pumpkin background
• white school glue

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. You can either cut strips of construction paper by hand or use a paper shredder for the craft if a large number of students are making this project. In either case you will need to make the strips of paper approximately 1/2 inch in width and the remaining length of the paper you have on hand. Not all quilling is regular, especially when teaching little kids. I intentionally made this sample using irregular cuts of paper and I think is looks very cute.
2. After cutting the paper in strips, wind it around a pencil, remove it and then roll it between your finger tips. Squeeze is tiny bit of glue onto the end of the paper roll in order the get then ends to stick and hold the quill in place. Now repeat this step many times until you have enough quills to glue on top of a larger picture and make a design. 
3. An important thing to remember while working on this project is that it takes some time to complete and that the glue must dry before the quills will even remotely adhere to the background. Be Patient!!!
4. I cut out strips of brown construction paper for the fence and also used brown strips for the quilled pumpkin stem. 
5. Use a black marker to draw "wooden" veins in the fence if you'd like.
6. I quilled green for the leaves, pinching the ends to make an oval shape. (see details below)
7. Then I quilled jack-o-lantern facial features using black paper and glued these on top of the orange quills.
8. After the construction paper dries, use a white pencil or paint to add spider web details to make a scene like the one show here.

Details showing what the rolled or quilled construction paper looks like when finished. 

• Quilled paper snail craft by Crafty Morning
• Easy paper quilling turtle made with construction paper by Twitchetts
• God's Rainbow Promise Quill Craft from the thinkingkidsblog

Weave a spider's web for a spooky Fall craft...

Sample spider web weaving craft above.

       Little ones can learn simple weaving skills with this Halloween spider craft. Teachers may choose to offer any number of Fall color combinations as far as craft supplies are concerned. As you can see by my samples. I've also shown here a variety of wooden craft stick sizes for the project.

Supply List:

• Popsicle sticks or coffee stirrers
• white, black, or orange yarn
• black, white or orange acrylic paint
• plastic spider (sold in bulk at dollar stores, optional)
• white school glue
• paint brush 
• sheet of sandpaper
  

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Make sure that the wooden surfaces of your craft sticks are clean. If these have any residue from prior use, because the sticks may be recycled, clean them up with a small piece of sandpaper.
2. Use white school glue to stack the craft sticks on top of each other in the shape of spokes on a wheel or like "stars." 
3. Let the glue between the layers dry thoroughly so that the webs formed by the layering become sturdy. 
4. Paint these shapes solid Fall colors: black, orange and white. Let dry
5. Now young students may weave the yarn about the wooden craft sticks to make their spiders's webs. 
6. The teacher may use a hot glue gun to paste a inexpensive plastic spider in the center of each child's web.
   

Left, are the "star like" shapes or spokes of a wheel formed by stacking wooden craft sticks and gluing them as you go. Right, I have painted each sample in the colors of Halloween: black, orange and white.

• Weave Indian Corn for Autumn Fun
• Weave trees for painted paper plate landscapes
• Weave a paper dress for a paper portrait

20 Facts About The Caterpillar/Butterfly

       Caterpillar. Mrs. Sigourney has written a child's poem about a butterfly, in which the beautiful insect sings as it flies through the sunny air, "I was a worm till I won my wings." Truly the ancients never conceived a myth more beautiful and wonderful than this familiar story of nature - the life history of the butterfly. 

Stages of the caterpillar and butterfly.

1. The lovely, winged creature is the fourth and last step in the development of the insect, and the caterpillar is the second, for it is the larva, or worm, that hatches from the egg. 
2. A study of the origin of the word caterpillar shows that it means, literally, hairy cat. 
3. Everyone is familiar with the woolly kinds, and the name, so far as they are concerned, is not inappropriate. 
4. There are, however, hairless kinds, the skin of which is often beautifully marked lengthwise or crosswise, or covered with rings and eye-spots.
5. When the tiny caterpillar first emerges from the egg it proceeds to eat, for this is to be its chief duty during the larva stage. 
6. The eggs are always deposited where plant food can easily be reached. 
7. Before very long the skin of the worm becomes too tight, for it does not increase as the body grows larger.
8. Accordingly the caterpillar soon crawls out through a split which occurs near the front end; that is, it molts (see Molting). 
9. This process is repeated four or five times, and in each case a new skin has formed under the old one.
10. The body of a full-grown worm is usually divided into twelve rings or segments, and each of the first three rings bears a pair of five-jointed legs. 
11. There are also short leg- stumps on the abdomen, which disappear when the last molting takes place.
12. On each side of the head there are six eye-spots; the head also bears a pair of short, three-jointed feelers, besides jaws and other mouth organs. 
13. Glands, some with unpleasantly odorous or stinging secretions, frequently occur on the skin.
14. There comes a time when the caterpillar ceases to eat and begins to prepare for the so-called pupal, or resting, stage. 
15. The caterpillar stage lasts two or three months in temperate regions, but it may be of two or three years' duration in Arctic lands. 
16. The quantity of food eaten is used to nourish the pupa. 
17. Moth caterpillars spin a casing of silk about them, and form cocoons, while the pupal stage of butterflies is passed in a hard skin covering. 
18. Butterfly pupae are called chrysalids. 
19. When the pupa reaches maturity the outside casing splits open, and the butterfly comes out, rather crumpled and weak at first, but soon ready to spread its wings for a happy life in the sunshine. 
20. The same processes of development occur in the life history of moths.

More About The Caterpillar/Butterfly:

• "He Is Risen Indeed!" Butterfly Coloring Page
• Create a Butterfly Yarn Picture
• A butterfly maze puzzle by kathy grimm...
• Craft a Butterfly Mask
• Life Again! and The Cocoon
• The Butterfly Poem
• A Living Butterfly paper craft
• Handy Little Butterflies
• Craft a Very Hungry Caterpillar
• Craft a Pom-pom Caterpillar SWAPS

Little Danny Donkey

Little Danny Donkey
by Helen Cowles LeCron

I hate to talk about it, 'cause
it's sad enough for tears,

But --little Danny Donkey didn't
like to wash his ears!

At breakfast every morning
Danny's mother sent him back

To do his washing over 'cause
his ears were simply black!

They say he's doing better now--
and oh, I hope it's true!

I'd hate to be so lazy and so
careless! Shouldn't you?

The Lady-Bug Rebus

Lady-Bug
by Gertrude A. Strickler

       Long long ago a lady-bug washed out her children's clothes. "But where to hang them up to dry," said she "O goodness knows!" It happened that a spider's home was in the grass close by, and on the spider's silken line, she hung them up to dry. Then Granny spider laughed "Ho! ho! those lady-bug's clothes are mine because they're in my web" and then she took them off the line. A measuring worm was looking 'round as on a leaf he stood. He saw it all and called for help, as loudly as he could. Then to the rescue cam a wasp, and tho he had to tug, he took the clothes from Granny's grasp and back to Mrs. bug. The clothes were torn but Lady-bug patched up the holes with black. And since that day each lady-bug wears holes upon her back...

• A Thanksgiving Acrostic
• A "Quotable" Christmas Acrostic

The Interrupting Owlet

The Interrupting Owlet
by Helen Cowles LeCron

When Mother Owl and Father
Owl are talking busily
About old Uncle Blinker in the gnarled
old maple tree,
Or Cousin Drowsy Hoot-Owl in the
oak across the way,
Or stylish Old Miss Snowy Owl, I
much regret to say
That naughty little Downy often inter-
rupts the two
To ask them, "Who'd you say it was?
Say! WHO, Pa? WHO, Ma?
WHO?"

Though Mother Owl has told him that
the question's impolite,
And little owls should never interrupt
on any night
When parents talk, it doesn't seem to
do a bit of good!
For Downy still continues, as no
thoughtful owlet would,
With "WHO, Pa? Who Ma?
Who'd you say?" and "Tell me,
folks! Aw! Do!"
And "WHO'D you say it was? Aw,
Ma! Say! WHO, Pa WHO,
Ma! WEHO--OO?"

Paper Cuts of Farm Animals

        Below, I have restored a few paper farm animals: horse, cow, goat, duck, rooster, sheep, dog, bunny, pig and cat. These may be freely used by students and teachers for the classroom. Silhouettes on my blog are not to be redistributed by alternative websites and are not meant to be sold or purchased.

These paper cuts of animals found on the farm would make great design
elements in a classroom or any other art project a young
student might need them for.

Find The Fish Puzzle

Puzzle - Find The Fish

Find The Fish
by Helen Hudson

A Joyful day it is for us,
Tommy and Richard and me,
For our friend Bill Jones is taking us
Where the biggest fish may be.

If it should be our luck to catch
The fish Bill tells about,
I really do not see quite how
We'd ever haul him out!

The Feathered Patriot

 The Feathered Patriot
by Daisy M. Moore

"Tcheer! Tcheer! Tcheer!"
I heard a warble clear;
How came a bird to know
That July Fourth is here?

"Tcheer! Tcheer! Tcheer!"
The warbler nearer drew,
And peering through the leaves
I saw his coat of blue.

I caught full sight of him
Before he flew away,
And knew just why he cheered
On Independence Day!

Of course, each one of you
Is wondering how I knew-
His lovely feather clothes
Were red and white and blue!

Find Columbia Puzzle

Puzzle - Find Columbia

Columbia
by Helen Hudson

We're very patriotic
As you can plainly see.
This birthday of our country
We celebrate with glee.

Columbia guides our footsteps
And, where her path may go,
We'll march along right valiantly
Though mighty be the foe!

Harry Hippopotamus

Harry Hippopotamus
by Helen Cowles LeCron

Now Harry Hippopotamus had
such a heavy tread
That when he ran about the house his
mother often said,
"Good gracious, Harry, softly, please!
Your stamping hurts my head!
Besides, you'll wake the baby, who is
fast asleep in bed!
Why, Harry, one would really think
your feet were made of lead!"

I like to think that long ago a change
was seen in Harry,
And he became as graceful and as
lightsome and as airy
As any meadow butterfly or any
woodland fairy!
Who knows? Perhaps the change has
made his parents glad and merry.
(And yet, an agile hippo would be far
from ordinary!)

Steps to draw a woodchuck, a weasel, and an opossum...

It takes only five steps to draw this woodchuck.

       Woodchucks have very coarse hair, a heavy body, short bushy tail, powerful legs and feet that are made perfect for digging. Farmers do not always like them because they can do great damage to a garden or crops. In February the second he wakes from his long winter sleep and appears at the mouth of his burrow, if he sees his shadow it is supposed to be a sign of six more weeks of cold weather!

You can draw a weasel in just five steps too!

       Sometimes farmers do not like weasels because they can kill chickens. But many people love to make coats from this furry little creatures coat! For in the winter time he has a snow white coat, except the tip of his tail which is black. Sometimes he is called an ermine but when spring comes his coat turns reddish brown and then he is called a weasel.

This opossum took six steps to draw.

       An opossum is about the size of a cat and is noted for being very cunning. It has a very long tail which it likes to hang by, head down from a branch. Of course you have heard of "playing possum" which means to play dead; the opossum does this when it is threatened.

Draw bees and clover for St. Patrick's Day

       The series of simple shapes shown above can help you draw a field of clover with bees happily buzzing around the blooms for a Saint Patrick's Day activity. There are three different ways to picture the tiny stripped pollinators.
       The clover blossom and leaves are blocked out first in lightly marked lines, as indicated in figure 1. Continue with your drawing, and when you have finished it, as shown in figure 3., you may sketch as many bees as you like resting lightly on top of the clover blossoms. That is the way we often see bees when they are gathering honey in the summertime. Also include some of the bees flying about your clover drawing as well.

• Cut and paste a clover mosaic
• Stencil bunnies eating clover
  

How to draw a furry fox...

 

      The first thing in drawing is to understand the form of the object or animal you wish to picture. Some animals are oddly shaped or so full of details that students must stop to first give a minute or two in the study of the critter. Find the general outlines of the foxes' head with his ears pricked up and alert. You can see that the ears and head included his snout form four distinct triangles. Once you have drawn these, move on to filling in the smaller details like his nose, his whiskers, and eyes. The rest of his head then may be easily filled out.

How to draw a peacock, an ostrich and a blue jay...

       Draw three interesting birds: the peacock, the ostrich and the blue jay, using simple shapes. Step-by-step illustrations are shown below so that young students may discover just how simple it is the accomplish these drawing exercises.

       When you first look at a Peacock you might think he would be difficult to draw. But if you just break down his body into simple shapes starting with an oval, drawing becomes simple. Add a head, then his feet, next his wings and last his beautiful tail.

       Start with a circle to draw the ostrich. Some say that if he can't see you, he thinks that you can't see him. He is the largest bird in the world and can't even fly! But how he can run and kick with those giant long legs of his!

 

       The blue jay is a member of the Crow family, he is not such a plunderer as the Crow. In fact, he does a great deal of good by eating many insects that feed on the foliage of trees. He has a bad habit of being meddlesome. This makes him very unpopular in bird society and when he approaches a tree, the other birds fly away.

A fun drawing game for a crowd

 

       This is an old parlor game sometimes referred to as "The Artist's Menagerie" 

      A pencil and a piece of paper are given each player. The paper is folded in three. Each draws a head of a man, or beast, or fish, according to the fancy of the moment, on the upper third, carrying the lines of the neck just over the fold, as a guide to the next artist, and fold it down, and passes it to his left-hand neighbor. He draws a body proceeding from the lines of the neck, folds it over, and passes it on. The third player adds the legs. The paper is then opened, and frequently the picture will resemble the absurd example shown here. The combinations are often even sillier than the sample drawing!

More Drawing Games:

• Five Dots Drawing Games
• Hieroglyphics or Picture Writing

The Love of Nature

 THE LOVE OF NATURE
by Wordsworth

The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion ; the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colors and their forms, were then to me
An appetite, a feeling and a love
That had no need of a remoter charm
By thought supplied, or any interest
Unborrowed from the eye.

That time is past,
And all its aching joys are now no more,
And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this
Faint I, nor mourn, nor murmur ; other gifts
Have followed, for such loss, I would believe,
Abundant recompense. For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftimes
The still sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh, nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue.

And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts ; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean, and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man ;
A motion and a spirit that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought.
And rolls through all things.

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 have create
And what perceive ; well pleased to recogni/e
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

Visit Midwestern Arboretums:

• Missouri Botanical Garden
• Bartlett Arboretum
• Iowa Arboretum
• The Lincoln Park Conservancy

The Oak

THE OAK by George Hill

A glorious tree is the old gray oak;
He has stood for a thousand years
Has stood and frowned
On the trees around,
Like a king among his peers;
As around their king they stand, so now,
When the flowers their pale leaves fold
The tall trees round him stand, arrayed
In their robes of purple and gold.
He has stood like a tower
Through sun and shower,
And dared the winds to battle ;
He has heard the hail,
As from plates of mail,
From his own limbs shaken, rattle ;
He has tossed them about, and shorn the tops
(When the storm has roused his might)
Of the forest trees, as a strong man doth
The heads of his foes in fight.

The Oaks of Earth:

• Oak trees: kings of biodiversity
• Oaks of the world
• Key to Diseases of Oaks in the Landscape
• Why you should plant oaks? 

Plant A Tree

PLANT A TREE by Lucy Larcom

He who plants a tree
Plants a hope.
Rootlets up through fibres blindly grope;
Leaves unfold into horizons free.
So man's life must climb
From the clouds of time
Unto heavens sublime.
Canst thou prophesy, thou little tree,
What the glory of thy boughs shall be?

He who plants a tree
Plants a joy;
Plants a comfort that will never cloy.
Every day a fresh reality.
Beautiful and strong,
To whoso shelter throng
Creatures blithe with song.
If thou couldst but know thou happy tree,
Of the bliss that shall inhabit thee.

He who plants a tree
He plants peace.
Under its green curtains jargons cease,
Leaf and zephyr murmur soothingly;
Shadows soft with sleep
Down tired eyelids creep,
Balm of slumber deep.
Never hast thou dreamed, thou blessed tree,
Of the benediction thou shalt be.

He who plants a tree
He plants youth;
Vigor won for centuries in sooth;
Life of time, that hints eternity!
Boughs their strength uprear,
New shoots every year
On old growths appear.
Thou shalt teach the ages, sturdy tree,
Youth of soul is immortality.

He who plants a tree
He plants love;
Tents of coolness spreading out above
Wayfarers, he may not live to see
Gifts that grow are best;
Hands that bless are blest;
Plant, life does the rest!
Heaven and earth help him who plants a tree,
And his work its own reward shall be.

Plant a Tree Projects:

• The Nature Conservancy: "A Billion Begins with One
• Plant-A-Tree Program with U.S. Forest Service
• STEM: Plant A Tree
• The Canopy Project 

The Forest Trees

 THE FOREST TREES by Eliza Cook

Up with your heads, ye sylvan lords,
Wave proudly in the breeze,
For our cradle bands and coffin boards
Must come from the forest trees.

We bless ye for your summer shade,
When our weak limbs fail and tire;
Our thanks are due for your winter aid,
When we pile the bright log tire.

Oh! where would be our rule on the sea,
And the fame of the sailor band,
Were it not for the oak and cloud-crowned pine,
That spring on the quiet land?

When the ribs and masts of the good ship live,
And weather the gale with ease,
Take his glass from the tar who will not give
A health to the forest trees.

Ye lend to life its earliest joy,
And wait on its latest page;
In the circling hoop for the rosy boy,
And the easy chair for age.

The old man totters on his way,
With footsteps short and slow ;
But without the stick for his help and stay
Not a yard's length could he go.

The hazel twig in the stripling's hand
Hath magic power to please ;
And the trusty staff and slender wand
Are plucked from the forest trees.

Ye are seen in the shape of the old hand loom
And the merry ringing flail;
Ye shine in the dome of the monarch's home
And the sacred altar rail.

In the rustic porch, the wainscotted wall,
In the gay triumphal car;
In the rude built hut or the banquet hall,
No matter! there ye are!

Then up with your heads, ye sylvan lords!
Wave proudly in the breeze;
From our cradle bands to our coffin boards
We're in debt to the forest trees.

Arboretums and Gardens:

• Viles Arboretum
• Bayard Cutting Arboretum
• The Arboretum At Penn State

A Forest Hymn

 A FOREST HYMN by Bryant

The groves were God's first temples. Ere man learned
To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave,
And spread the roof above them ere he framed
The lofty vault, to gather and roll back
The sound of anthems; in the darkling wood,
Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down,
And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks
And supplication. For his simple heart
Might not resist the sacred influence
Which, from the stilly twilight of the place,
And from the gray old trunks that high in heaven
Mingled their mossy boughs, and from the sound
Of the invisible breath that swayed at once
All their green tops, stole over him, and bowed
His spirit with the thought of boundless power
And inaccessible majesty. Ah why,
Should we, in the world's riper years, neglect
God's ancient sanctuaries, and adore
Only among the crowd, and under roofs
That our frail hands have raised? Let me at least,
Here in the shadow of this aged wood,
Offer one hymn thrice happy, if it find
Acceptance in His ear.

Father, thy hand
Hath reared these venerable columns. Thou
Didst weave this verdant roof. Thou didst look down
Upon the naked earth, and, forthwith, rose
All these fair ranks of trees. They, in thy sun,
Budded, and shook their green leaves in thy breeze,
And shot toward heaven. The century-living crow
Whose birth was in their tops, grew old and died
Among their branches, till at last they stood,
As now they stand, massy, and tall, and dark,
Fit shrine for humble worshipper to hold
Communion with his Maker.

Thou hast not left
Thyself without a witness in these shades.
Of thy perfections. Grandeur, strength and grace
Are here to speak of Thee. This mighty oak
By whose immovable stem I stand and seem
Almost annihilated not a prince,
In all that proud old world beyond the deep,
E'er wore his crown as loftily as he
Wears the green coronal of leaves with which
Thy hand has graced him. Nestled at his root
Is beauty, such as blooms not in the glare
Of the broad sun. That delicate forest flower,
With scented breath and look so like a smile,
Seems, as it issues from the shapeless mould,
An emanation of the indwelling Life,
A visible token of the upholding Love,
That are the soul of this wide universe.

Gardens and Arboretums:

• WSU Arboretum & Wildlife Conservation Center
• Fullerton Arboretum
• UCI School of Biological Sciences

Planting for The Future

 PLANTING FOR THE FUTURE by Harriet Wright

In youth's glad morning hour,
All life a holiday doth seem;
We glance adown time's vista long
Beholding but the sunny gleam.

The happy hearts that meet to-day,
In a loving band are drawn more near
By the loving end that crowns our work,
Planting trees for a future year.

O tender trees! ye may thrive and grow,
And spread your branches to the sun,
When the youthful band assembled here,
Has reaped life's harvest, every one.

When the shining eye shall lose its fire,
When the rosy cheek shall fade away,
Thou'lt drink of the dew and bask in the light
Forgetful of this Arbor Day.

The bounding heart, the active limb,
The merry laugh and sparkling jest,
Be mingled with the things of earth,
And sink to solitude and rest.

But o'er this ground with branching arms,
These trees shall cast their leafy shade,
And other hearts as light and gay,
Shall reap the shelter we have made.

So let our planting ever be, 
Something in store for a future year,
When homeward with our harvest bound,
We'll meet the Master without fear.

Help Build The New Forests:

• How China turned the desert into green forests
• 5 Most Epic Earth Healing Projects
• Restoring dry land in Tanzania
• Lebanon: Planting cedar trees in a country in crisis
• 50 Years Ago, This Was a Wasteland, Now See It!
• We bought land in Scotland to plant a forest!
• Man spends 30 years turning degraded land into massive forest.

Forest Song

FOREST SONG by W. H. Venable

A song for the beautiful trees!
A song for the forest grand,
The garden of God's own land,
The pride of His centuries.
Hurrah! for the kingly oak,
For the maple, the sylvan queen,
For the lords of the emerald cloak,
For the ladies in living green.

For the beautiful trees a song,
The peers of a glorious realm,
Linden, the ash, and the elm,
The poplar stately and strong
Hurrah! for the beech-tree trim,
For the hickory stanch at core,
For the locust thorny and grim,
For the silvery sycamore.

A song from the palm, the pine,
And for every tree that grows
From the desolate zone of snows
To the zone of the burning line.
Hurrah! for the warders proud
Of the mountain-side and vale,
That challenge the thunder-cloud,
And buffet the stormy gale.

A song for the forest aisled,
With its gothic roof sublime,
The solemn temple of time,
Where man becometh a child,
As he lists to the anthem-roll
Of the wind in the solitude,
The hymn which telleth his soul
That God is the voice of the wood.

So long as the rivers flow,
So long as the mountains rise,
May the forest sing to the skies,
And shelter the earth below.
Hurrah! for the beautiful trees,
Hurrah! for the forest grand,
The pride of His centuries.
The garden of God's own land.

The Forest & The Worship & God's Creative Nature:

• God of Wonders
• Angus Dei-Worthy
• Your Love Oh Lord
• Things of Heaven 
• I Speak Jesus
• Lord I Need You

The heart of the tree...

 THE HEART OF THE TREE

What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants a friend of sun and sky;
He plants the flag of breezes free;
The shaft of beauty, towering high;
He plants a home to heaven anigh
For song and mother-croon of bird
In hushed and happy twilight heard
The treble of heaven's harmony
These things he plants who plants a tree.

What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants cool shade and tender rain,
And seed and bud of days to be,
And years that fade and flush again;
He plants the glory of the plain;
He plants the forest's heritage;
The harvest of a coming age;
The joy that unborn eyes shall see
These things he plants who plants a tree.

What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants, in sap and leaf and wood,
In love of home and loyalty
And far-cast thought of civic good
His blessing on the neighborhood
Who in the hollow of His hand
Holds all the growth of all our land
A nation's growth from sea to sea
Stirs in his heart who plants a tree.

The Heart of A Tree:

• How a tree works...
• How Trees Grow
• How Trees Grow and Develop?
• How tall can a tree grow?

Woodman, Spare That Tree!

 WOODMAN, SPARE THAT TREE by George P. Morris

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 axe shall harm it not! 

The old familiar tree,
Whose glory and renown
Are spread o'er land and sea,
And wouldst thou hack it down?
Woodman, forbear thy stroke!
Cut not its earth-bound 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 the 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 axe shall harm it not.

Forests Under Threat or Gone:

• Deforestation and Forest Degradation
• World's forests under threat from economic and environmental crises
• Forests Under Threat Tropical and Taiga Forests
• Learn about redwood forests from Sempervirens Fund
• The Threats To The Redwoods

Invitation

INVITATION by Charles Sangster

Oh, come away to the grave old woods
Ere the skies are tinged with light,
Ere the slumbering leaves of the gloomy trees
Have thrown off the mists of night ;
Ere the birds are up,
Or the floweret's cup
Js drained of its fresh'ning dew,
Or the bubbling rill
Kissing the hill
Breaks on the distant view;
Oh, such is the hour
To feel the power
Of the quiet, grave old woods!
Then, while sluggards dream,
Of some dismal theme,
Let us stroll,
With prayerful soul,
Through the depths of the grave old woods.

Oh, come away to the bright old woods,
As the sun ascends the skies,
While the birdlings sing their morning hymn,
And each leaf in the grove replies;
When the golden-zoned bee
Flies from flower to tree
Seeking sweets for its honeyed cell,
And the voice of praise
Sounds its varied lays
From the depths of each quiet dell:
Oh, such is the hour
To feel the power
Of the magic bright old woods!
Then, while sluggards dream
Of some trifling theme,
Let us stroll,
With studious soul,
Through the depths of the bright old woods.

Some of the oldest forests on Earth:

• Kakamega Forest
• Yakushima in the interior of Yaku Island
• The Bialowieza Forest
• The Tarkine Forest Reserve

The Ivy Green

THE IVY GREEN

Oh, a dainty plant is the ivy green,
That creepeth o'er ruins old!
Of right choice food are his meals I ween,
In his cell so lone and cold.
The walls must be crumbled, the stones decayed,
To pleasure his dainty whim ;
And the mold'ring dust that years have made
Is a merry meal for him.
Creeping where no life is seen,
A rare old plant is the ivy green.

Fast he stealeth on, though he wears no wings,
And a staunch old heart has he!
How closely he twineth, how tightly he clings,
To his friend, the huge oak tree!
And slyly he traileth along the ground,
And his leaves he gently waves,
And he joyously twines and hugs around
The rich mould of dead men's graves.
Creeping where no life is seen,
A rare old plant is the ivy green.

Whole ages have fled, and their works decayed,
And nations scattered been;
But the stout old ivy shall never fade
From its hale and hearty green.
The brave old plant in its lonely days
Shall fatten upon the past;
For the stateliest building man can raise
Is the ivy's food at last.
Creeping where no life is seen,
A rare old plant is the ivy green.

CHARLES DICKENS

The Good Daughter

 The Good Daughter

MY merry little daughter
Was climbing out of bed -
"Don't you think I'm a good girl,''
My little daughter said;
"For all day long this lovely day
And all day long to-morrow,
I haven't done a single thing
To give my mother sorrow!"

An Early Childhood Prayer

An Early Childhood Prayer 

Now I lay me down to sleep:
I pray the Lord my soul to keep/
Was my childhood's early prayer
Taught by my mother's love and care.
Many years since then have fled;
Mother slumbers with the dead;
Yet methinks I see her now,
With lovelit eye and holy brow,
As, kneeling by her side to pray.
She gently taught me how to say,
"Now I lay me down to sleep :
I pray the Lord my soul to keep."

Oh! could the faith of childhood's days.
Oh! could its little hymns of praise.
Oh! could its simple, joyous trust
Be re-created from the dust
That lies around a wasted life.
The fruit of many a, bitter strife!
Oh, then at night in prayer I'd bend,
And call my God, my Father, Friend,
And pray with childlike faith once more
The prayer my mother taught of yore,
"Now I lay me down to sleep:
I pray the Lord my soul to keep."

Eugene Henry Pullen

Bright little fairy tales...

 Bright little fairy tales...

There was a place in childhood that I
remember well,
And there a voice of sweetest tone bright
fairy tales did tell;
And gentle words and fond embrace were
given with joy to me
When I was in that happy place, upon my
mother's knee.

When fairy tales were ended, "Good night,"
she softly said.
And kissed, and laid me down to sleep within
my tiny bed;
And holy words she taught me there - me-
thinks I yet can see
Her angel eyes, as close I knelt beside my
mother's knee.

In the sickness of my childhood, the perils
of my prime,
The sorrows of my riper years, the cares of
every time;
When doubt and danger weighed me down,
then pleading all for me.
It was a fervent prayer to Heaven that bent
my mother's knee.

Samuel Lover

Soft and Low

 Soft and Low

Mother, crooning soft and low,
Let not all thy fancies go,
Like swift birds, to the blue skies
Of thy darling's happy eyes.

Count thy baby's curls for beads,
As a sweet saint intercedes;
But on some fair ringlet's gold
Let a tender prayer be told

For the mother, all alone,
Who for singing maketh moan,
Who doth ever vainly seek
Dimpled arms and velvet cheek.

Mary Frances Butts

Singing Mother To Sleep

 Singing Mother to Sleep

Back and forth in a rocker,
Lost in revery deep.
The mother rocked while trying
To sing the baby to sleep.

The baby began a-crowing.
For silent he couldn't keep -
And after awhile the baby
Had crowed his mother to sleep.

Richard Kendall Munkittrick

The Voice of My Mother

The Voice of My Mother

The voices of the Loved and Lost are
stirring at my heart,
And memory's misered treasures leap to
life, with sudden start -

Thou art looking, smiling on me, as thou
hast looked and smiled. Mother,
And I am sitting at thy side, at heart a very
child. Mother!

I'm with thee now in soul, sweet Mother,
much as in those hours,
When all my wealth was in thy love, and in
the birds and flowers.

And by these holy yearnings, by these eyes
sweet tears wet,
I know there wells a spring of love through
all my being yet.

Gerald Massey 

The picture of my mother...

The Picture of My Mother

Through many a year a picture dear
Hung just above my bed;
It plainly showed a shady road
That, curving gently, led
Past shrub and tree, till I could see.
Beside a blossoming vine,
My mother stand, as once she stood
When she was young, and I was good.
In days all sun and shine.

I saw her there, so sweet and fair.
When I drove off to school;
I knew the bliss of her fond kiss
On that deep porch and cool;
And every night the blessed sight
Of her above my bed
Consoled me for the boyish woes
Of absence - comforted I rose
When my brief prayer was said.

The change and strife of later life.
The years that leave me gray,
Have taken, too, that pictured view;
But cannot take away
The memory so dear to me.
That fond and wistful joy:
There stands my home, and mother's there.
So young, so good, so sweet and fair.
And I'm her little boy.

Oliver Marble

To My Mother

 TO MY MOTHER

A MOTHER heard our infant cries,
 And folded us with fond embrace,
And when we woke, our infant eyes
Were opened on a mother's face.

Our wishes she did make her own.
Her bosom fed and pillowed too.
Answering each start or fitful moan
With trembling pulses fond and true.

Then knowledge was a thing untaught:
Heaven's charity, a daily dole.
Stole in inaudibly, and wrought
Its gentle bonds about the soul.

by Charles Tennyson Turner

Easter Lily

 

EASTER LILY

I wish I was a lily white,
Growing in the grass,
I'd have a message for each one,
That by my side did pass.
I'd say, "Look up into the sky
And think of God above,
He sent His Son to die for us,
Because of His great love."

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