ANNUAL MEETING. 807 



cxclndc the flowers, for tliey are u part of this same whole, jnsb a word for 

 them, for this topic can't be squeezed into five minutes. Travel where you 

 will through our land, where flowers abound in the front yard, the garden, or 

 twine about the door-way, tliere you find strong evidences of intelligence, 

 tinift, peace, and contentment; these are some of the fruits derived from 

 flowers. In such a place, where all, old and young, care for and prize them, 

 there you may safely rest for the night, for a week, or month. Who ever 

 heard of a murder or burglary being committed by a person with a rose in 

 button liole and a bouquet in each hand. Never; " hardly ever." No one 

 thinks of going among the roses or lilies to hatch up crime, or plan evil 

 deeds. Flowers have been called angels' food ; whether they are or not, their 

 fruits as we know them, are excellent, and long keeping; not like the apple, 

 for a few months, but for years, a life time, fitting us for something better. 

 Let this influence be such that when called to cross " the river," bright angels 

 can attend us to the " Sweet fields of Eden, where the tree of life is blooming 

 and fruits immortal grow." 



BRING THE FLOWERS TO THE FRONT, 



Was the topic upon which Mr. A. U. Healy, of South Haven, was called out. He 

 thought we could not give too large a place to our floral treasures, in the 

 home, in the hall, in the church, and in the park, and especially where the 

 children are. Flowers of some kind are appropriate everywhere. He was a 

 flower lover and a flower grower himself, and found in this branch of horti- 

 culture a rest that satislied him as nothing else could. 



A. L. Aldrich, responding to the sentiment, ^ 



"PLANT A TREE," 



Spoke as follows: I remember to have read many years ago, in a volume pub- 

 lished by Thurlow Brown, some paragraphs which made a deep impression on 

 -my mind. He was addressing himself to a class of men who had wasted their 

 lives, dissipated their moral forces, — in short, had lost their manhood. He 

 said, "When you have so degenerated that you are only a burden to your- 

 selves and a curse to your fellow men ; when the future holds out to you no 

 hope of retrieving your lost character, and presents only a dreary perspective 

 of worthless vagabondage, then go and plant a tree, — if not in garden or 

 field, then by the roadside, so that in the days to come the weary traveler rest- 

 ing beneath its shade may call down benedictions on your memory." 



Twenty years ago, I knew a man in the western part of this State whose 

 friendship I valued highly. He was a man of vigorous personality, and 

 impressed himself strongly upon the community in which he lived, and indeed 

 upon the whole State, for he was a number of terms a member of the legisla- 

 ture, and helped to make laws for the commonwealtli. I refer to the late 

 Hon. Philatus Hayden, of Van Buren county, known in his lifetime to many 

 in this audience. In the year 1844 he planted a row of maple trees on either 

 side of the old territorial road whicli ran through the large farm which was 

 his home, for a distance of half a mile or more. In the intervening years 

 these trees have grown strong and vigorous, with huge boles and widely 

 expanding branches, which now interlace with each other above the center of 

 the street. They make one of the gi'andest avenues I ever saw. lu all that 

 region there is nothing else so handsome in the landscape, and to drive 



