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Before coming to the heart of our subject, may I tell you a new "Tale of Two Cities" because it is appropriate? The first city is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although there are many more magnificent spots in our country, there is probably no more charming country than that which lies around the City of Philadelphia, and that which was the original site upon which the city was built. Anyone who is familiar with the lovely rolling landscape with its creeks and brooks, its magnificent woodlands, in Fairmount and Wissahickon Parks, Valley Forge and the section along the main line suburbs can vouch for this. But what of Philadelphia, the city? Putting aside its interest as the third city in the United States, as well as its fascination as a shrine of early American history, its residential sections are a weary repetition of rows and rows of houses of the same pattern, either twin houses, usually painted alike, or, worse still, solid rows from one end to the next in each block, without a break even of a narrow passage. With the exception of apartment houses which are in the minority, this holds for all sections of the city and even in a number of the suburbs. What happened to the beautiful landscape? It is a story of greed and selfishness and stupidity. Those who should have fought to save the natural beauty, let it fall into the hands of contractors who cut down the oaks and beeches, hemlocks and dogwoods, leveled the ravines, filled up the creeks and built in their place this hideous monotony because it is cheaper to build uniform houses in uniform rows than to produce architectural dignity and permanence. Then after they have destroyed these magnificent hardwood trees that have grace and permanence, they plant rows of cheap poplars in front of the houses. To be sure, the wealthy businessmen of Philadelphia do not live in the city. They live on handsome estates in the beautiful rolling country outside the city. But that does not save the city from being hideous. So did this city sell its birthright of beauty for the contractor's mess of pottage. But there is another city which had nothing like the original beauty of environment that Philadelphia had to begin with, except that it has a number of lakes. This is the city of Orlando, in Florida. Orlando is also located on rolling country although it is not as charming as the section a little north west of it, including Mount Dora, Leesburg, Lake Wales, Eustis and Ocala. Even the lakes, without fine trees, would not make it the lovely city is, although the native pines have a beauty of their own. But when the city was laid out, there was no effort to flatten it into uniform height, the roiling character of the ground having been preserved. Finally, a very wise and far seeing man whose name I have forgotten abut who is remember in Orlando in somewhat the same way that Johnny Appleseed was memorialized) carefully set out rows and rows of water oaks and live oaks, all over the city. In addition to these there are many fine palm trees. But it is the oaks that are the crowning beauty of the city, now tall magnificent, wide spreading trees, many of them festooned with the beautiful gray moss that same of us love so much. The result is that Orlando is known to all northerners as well as Floridians as one of the most beautiful cities of the south. The lovely blue lakes are clean and well cared for, with magnificent homes all along the charming avenues that border them. The people of Orlando not only used all of the original beauty of environment, but increased it by wise additions. Now what have these two cities to do with us in Saugatuck? Within the village the beauty of the magnificent maples, oaks and willows has certainly been protected. There has been no effort to level the hill which adds so much to the charm of the place. and even little Moore's Creek, although it has been tamed from a wild little sanctuary for wild fowl and birds to a neat lovely stream, is still with us. We have many attractive houses, with several quite distinguished examples of the very best of colonial architecture, one genuine "Regency" and a number of very good homes of more modern types. We have good church buildings, school buildings, a very fine Woman's Club auditorium, one of the finest dancing pavilions in the state. There are a very few shabby buildings; and we have no monotonous uniformity. Our streets are clean and in good condition. We still have a few ancient Council trees left from the days when the Indians met with the whites for conference. They should be guarded and cared for as if they were invaluable. But, in addition to these things, many of which are characteristic of other high class Michigan towns, we have one feature that is a rarity, not only in the state but in the entire country -- that is our chain ferry. When we hear suggestions that it is time to get rid of this one feature that no one else can boast of, to have a modern bridge, one wonders just how we can get under the skin of these unimaginative persons. If they could only go to England and see how the English cherish anything that is ancient and different from the common run of things. The hopeful thing is that the high cost of building a bridge will be prohibitive for some years to come. The kinds of individuals who cannot see the value of old things are often the kind who fight new taxes. On the west side of the river, we now have a good road, constantly improving property values, a greatly improved Ferry Store which, with its living apartment, is now a thing of beauty, and a very attractive hotel. Of course our great claim to importance is the magnificent beach. It is probably the village's greatest asset. The officials who are responsible for the upkeep of the beach and the road are to be congratulated. At times, a good many of us would be better pleased if the native wild flowers and shrubbery were protected and cherished as more appropriate than any cultivated flowers that could be set out along the road or at the beach itself. Perhaps that is a matter of taste. It is unfortunate that with so much woodland around us, the village itself really owns so little forest of its own. It is said that some years ago, the village did own a large piece of magnificent forest as well as its own beach; which was given up much too easily to another organization. the correctness of the statement. At present the only woodland that does belong to the village is the road, with a 100 foot strip of forest, which leads from the river road up to the water tank, and on westward to the lake. It has always been called "The Indian Trail." Whether it was an Indian trail in reality, I do not know. But it was the loveliest place in the whole 200 acres of woodland when I came her as a guest 28 years ago and stayed to build my own little "House Upon a Hill." In this lovely trail, the most beautiful spot was what we called "The Cathedral." (The other equally beautiful spot in all of the forest land hereabout is what is called "The Temple" in the land owned by the artists' colony.) The approach to "The Cathedral" was a broad, hard path, sloping gradually as it wound off through the woods. 0n each side of it there were masses of yew which is often called Ground Hemlock by mistake. That misnomer gives an idea of its beauty. Above the path, were the most magnificent tall trees, oak, hemlock, and a few pines, which arched their branches so gracefully above the path that they reminded one of the arches of a cathedral. When the sun shone on that yew, the scene was truly inspiring. Lovers of beauty and artists came to this spot every summer to enjoy it. You may have noticed that I speak of it in the past tense. "The Cathedral" is gone. the loveliest spot in the whole forest, which should have continued to be a Mecca for all lovers of natural beauty in our own generation and for generations to come, is now a pile of sand, with weeds and great quantities of poke berry plants growing in it, while, off at one side, masses of yew, still remind us of that beauty that is gone forever. It seems that in the winter of 1939, an enterprising village council decided to make a ski jump. It was a good idea, if it had been carried out with judgment and a sense of real values. It could have been done without destroying any unusual beauty. But for some reason which can never be satisfactorily explained to many of us, those magnificent trees that formed the cathedral arches above the meandering path were felled. What was the motive? Or was it sheer stupidity? Did those trees furnish firewood for someone, or was it a mere business deal? I know where some of them are still lying and where others were lying until not so very long ago. Some of them are still lying in our road, waiting to be taken out by a lumber company,. When I spoke of this recently I was assured that the trees that are lying in our road now are all wild cherry trees that fell in last year's severe wind storm. I made a point of examining these ten logs that are lying there waiting for the lumber company to remove then, logs that measure from 16 inches to two feet in diameter, logs of trees that took from one hundred to two hundred years to grown into perfect beauty. Of the ten, just two are wild cherry. The present mayor and council, or at least most of them, are not to blame for this colossal blunder, if we wish to call it that. Indeed, I have great confidence in the mayor and most of the council members believing that they would not repeat such a mistake. Why, then, rake up this distressing business causing friction and criticism after the thing is beyond saving? The reason is that we elect a new mayor and a new council at frequent intervals. We do not know when we may have men in power who will sell us out; men who will destroy our birthright for their own mess of pottage. We must do something to prevent this and the Woman's Club can and should take an active part in this prevention. Women are natural conservationists. If women had had more to say about the way things were done in development of this country, we would not have the dust bowls, destructive floods, and worn out farmlands that are now having to be corrected and restored. The countries of Europe do not do these things. In Kew Gardens near London, one single, magnificent tree is given an acre of beautiful lawn to show its grandeur. The tree is marked, giving its botanical name and its age. In Germany, Holland, France, Italy and Switzerland, etc., trees are valued and cared for. We could learn that much from them. In Saugatuck there should be a Conservation Committee composed of both men and women who have no axes to grind, courageous, unselfish persons who will bring honest pressure to bear upon the future councils to see to it, hereafter, that not a single fine tree is destroyed in these woods that belong to the village. Trees are cared for and saved in the forest land of the Artist's Colony and of Camp Gray. We can well afford to follow their example. There are plenty of men and women in our village who could serve on this committee, men and women who are not afraid to interfere with the predatory interests or shortsightedness of those who need to be watched; who, if necessary, will be willing to exercise their nuisance value for the good of the community. It would be a wonderful thing for the people of Saugatuck, if the forest land that is still left, should be turned over to the village as a public park in payment of back taxes, if we can be trusted to take care of it. But if we are not willing to protect it and fight for it, if necessary, I hope that we shall never get another foot of woodland. This committee would have a delightfully interesting piece of work to do. For instance, with the village, every council tree that is still standing should be marked. this might be done, also, for the best of the trees in our parks, giving their botanical, common name and probable age. It could be done in that 100 foot wide stretch of forest that belongs to the village. A certain amount of reforestation should begin at once. With our high winds and light soil there will always be a certain amount of unavoidable destruction. Trees are not eternal, unfortunately. A certain amount of judicious cutting is inevitable. We should certainly replace good trees with hardwoods. The cost would be very small and many of us would be happy to contribute to it. Certainly this matter of conservation is important. And The Woman's club is the logical group to start it and carry it on. Let's go to it!