ARBOR DAY.

A curious custom is prevalent in Indiana. Every year in the spring time when the trees are on the point of budding a special day is set apart as a holiday in all the education institutions of the state. This early spring festival is called "Arbor Day." Then, with an eye to beautifying their grounds, the students plant trees and shrubs about the buildings. Thus, in course of time the surroundings of their study hours will be shaded with groves of trees and clumps and hedges of bushes and perennial flowering plants. Attending the ceremony and friends of the students and usually an elaborate program is carried out. Music and speeches are indulged in. The trees are selected with great care that the chances of dying may be small, and when they are planted are named or friend. The idea of such a general tree planting is peculiar, but it is done to impress the young that they have a duty to perform in beautifying their surroundings in life and to give them a taste for the delights of nature.