SECOND ANNUAL FLOWER SERMON. 23 
aspirations, which led to the determination that the lessons 
of these mute preachers should not be lost: and hence, the 
provision, that an interpreter of these voices should not be 
wanting to illustrate and enforce what they were daily teach- 
ing. There was deep religious feeling at the bottom of 
this provision; not exhausting itself in simple introspec- 
tion; but, embracing the Deity as well as humanity, seek- 
ing to promote the glory of God and the good of man, 
by reiterating through the centuries the lessons of the 
divine wisdom and goodness. 
In the spring of 1874, Canon Kingsley, the enthusiastic 
botanist, as well as broad-minded, warm-hearted man, 
world-renowned for his literary labors and philanthropic 
efforts, visited our city ; and it was my privilege to take 
him to the Garden and introduce him to its unassuming 
proprietor. At once there sprang up between them a 
_ sympathy in the cultured devotion to a favorite science, that 
made their brief intercourse a mutual delight. We visited 
the choice and extensive collection of exotics, and the 
Canon showed himself as familiar with their botanical 
names, as if they were the members of his own family, 
and discoursed as readily of their several habitats and dis- 
tinguishing characteristics, as of old acquaintances. This 
quickly insured the full sympathy and confidence of his 
host, and there was no lack of topics of conversation 
between them, among the wonders of the vegetable world. 
‘* With the exception of the Kew Garden, ’”’ (said Canon 
Kingsley,) ‘*I have seen nothing in any part of the world, 
that compares with the rarity and variety of the collection 
here.’”? And on our return to the city he remarked, that 
he was amazed that there had been so little recognition on 
the part of our people of the immense service done by Mr. 
Shaw to the cause of science, and apparently so little re- 
spect shown to him personally. And he warmly expressed 
his intention, upon his return to England, of securing in 
his behalf the honor of an appointment as a Fellow of the 
Royal Society. But he was not permitted to carry out his 
