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Men are children of the sea, who crept forth and were nurtured by the earth. The earth-rooted trees are their greatest and oldest friends. Men have always known this and, whenever they could do so, have made their homes where trees grew, or have brought trees to their homes. Trees used to mean shelter, food, fuel, and weapons. Later they stood simply for the beauty and love of home. Such psychological consideration of trees may be thought farfetched in prefacing a book intended only to render trees more understandable and manageable. It is ventured because people seldom seek to understand or manage anything they don't enjoy. And a great many people don't realize how much they do, or might, enjoy trees until they think into them instead of just looking at them and seeing only woods. In this, the esthetic sense, a tree resembles a work of art. "I like it," a man will say, "but I don't know why." |
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