Another, one of the finest in the grove, more than three hundred feet high, was skinned alive to a height of one hundred and sixteen feet from the ground and the bark sent to london to show how fine and big that calaveras tree was – as sensible a scheme as skinning our great men would be to prove their greatness. this grand tree is of course dead, a ghastly disfigured ruin, but it still stands erect and holds forth its majestic arms as if alive and saying, "forgive them; they know not what they do." —"save the redwoods," john muir what is the purpose of the appeal in this passage? to prove that felling the great trees is wrong by presenting reasons and evidence to evoke sympathy for the tree with striking imagery and language to emphasize that the loggers are not responsible for what they have done to establish muir as an expert on the subject of the redwoods