The Tree That Didn't Get Trimmed

by Christopher Morley

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Genres: Christmas

108 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

American writer Christopher Darlington Morley founded the Saturday Review, from 1924 to 1940 edited it, and prolifically, most notably authored popular novels.

Christopher Morley, a journalist, essayist, and poet, also produced on stage for a few years and gave college lectures.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

All young fir trees, as you know by that story of Hans Andersen's - if you've forgotten it, why not read it again? - dream of being a Christmas Tree some day. With the vision of that brightness before them they patiently endure the sharp sting of the ax, the long hours pressed together on a freight car. But every December there are more trees cut than are needed for Christmas. And that is the story that no one - not even Hans Andersen - has thought to put down.

The tree in this story was cut too early; he was in the awkward age and didn't have the tapering shape and thick even foliage that people like on Christmas trees. And now he stands with other trees, against the wall of a green-grocer's shop, waiting to be sold. The tree imagines what it will be like when he is picked, the car trip home, the big house where he will stand and the sighs of admiration he will cause in all who gaze upon him.

But day after day goes by and he is not chosen. He becomes morose and turns to his memories for comfort. He remembers how wonderful it was to be in the woods, firmly planted with his roots reaching down into the safe earth.

Sob!

This is definitely recommended for anyone who is weary of all the heartwarming holiday tales out there. If Rudolph's visit to the Island of Misfit Toys makes you sad, avoid this one like a fruitcake. Morley presents a sobering look at the dark side of Christmas, although in the end, the story is not entirely discouraging.

I found this in an online copy of a 1957 Boy's Life magazine - https://books.google.com/books?id=Ae1... idn%27t+get+trimmed&source=bl&ots=NwqizsWb1D&sig=AGnGIxMosarvYg-ftrEjwXMuGhk&a mp;hl=en&sa=X&ei=rIyUVNLuK63LsASj2ILYDg&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=tree%2 0that%20didn't%20get%20trimmed&f=false

Truth be told, I enjoyed scrolling through the mag, looking at the old ads more than I enjoyed the story. If I only had a time machine, I would SO BUY that archery set for only $8.95!

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a nice story, let me say that. However, it is only 19 pages long, and those pages have a very small amount of text on them. But the description says that this book is 108 pages! And it is - but most of those pages are blank! It's totally weird! You read for just a few minutes, get to page 19, the story ends, and then there are more than 80 blank pages after that. I cannot believe that this costs $15. And it's especially ironic since it's a waste of paper in a book that talks about not letting trees go to waste.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, only 19 pages long, but also as others have said, a little odd. It's unclear if this is intended for younger children or adults--not sure who would believe trees really want to be cut down. This seems a very old-fashioned idea: let's put a bright spin on our desire to cut down beautiful trees so they can dry out in people's houses (a tradition I've also engaged in, but that sounds very odd when you spell it out). I do like the idea of trying to get every last use out of the things that we do such as using the tree trunk for other purposes which I'd never heard of, but this being the age that influenced my parents so much--never throw anything away or waste it; find a use for everything--then that's a cultural marker we could relate to as we try to recycle to save the planet from the next phase that hit the world, the throw-away culture.

But it's still a little weird.

[Alex Sarll]

Well, that was an emotionally complicated ride. What looks like it's going to become an arboreal Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot instead veers off into unexpectedly reassuring territory (even if it all the same left me feeling very glad that we'd already brought home and dressed a tree with a forked top). I believe I have some more Christopher Morley somewhere, and this makes me keen to read it – he catches the little notes we all recognise from the festive period ("Christmas is always a little sad, after such busy preparations") just as well as he world-builds without ever making it obvious that he's doing anything of the sort ("trees feel with their branches, but they think with their trunks").

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I question why anyone would waste their time on this « book, » actually a mini kid’s story. It’s an inane tale about how fir trees dream of being felled to be decorated for Xmas. I love trees, and can’t imagine why anyone would read this tripe about how they crave their own slow death from thirst. One extra star over how I really feel about this book is awarded for being mercifully short.