74 TKANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



profusion of bloom. As we pet and train our costly exotics, let ns 

 not forget the tried and true friends, the annuals, who repay us so 

 bountifully for a little trouble, especially those which were a delight 

 to our young hearts — our mother's favorites, Clove Pinks, Sweet 

 William. Hollyhocks, China Asters, Four OVlocks. and even that, 

 perhaps too-highly scented Marigold. 



Near by this spot of loveliness we would have our fruit and 

 vegetable garden, so as to combine, as near as possible, the useful 

 and the beautiful. From this source we would bring to our home 

 table fresh, crisp vegetables and luscious fruits in their season, to- 

 gether with a gem from the flower garden, crown our board with 

 beauty and lift our souls above the mere pleasure of appetite. And 

 we would remember to be as nice as the lower order of God's crea- 

 tures, and " lay by a store to eat in winter hours." Thus having 

 taken a hasty glance at our surroundings, let us approach that 

 "sanctum sanctorium" of earthly bliss, the house and its appoint- 

 ments. Dr. Fallows describes this place as being "crowned with 

 clambering vines, amid the cooling shade of trees, surrounded by a 

 verdant lawn, with golden fruits, pendant berries and clusters of 

 purple grapes — a place grand with pictures, refined by books, and 

 gladdened with song ; homes in which there are no scorching blasts 

 of passions nor polar storms of coldness and hate ; homes in which 

 the wife and mother will not lose all her attractive charms by unre- 

 mitting toil and drudgery, nor where the husband and father starves 

 his brain and dwarfs his soul by hours of over-work; homes in whith 

 happy children may see the beauty of love and the beauty of holi- 

 ness. Angels from the fruits and friendship and flowers of the hom*^ 

 of the Upper Paradise would be lured to dwell in these earthly 

 Edens." In this quotation the eminent doctor leaves flowers out of 

 the earthly home and classes them among the heavenly adornments. 

 This is hardly as it should be, and is no doubt an oversight, for were 

 we to leave flowers out of our homes, angel visitants, although they 

 would come and be helpfully near us, would so miss the lovely flow- 

 ers that they would not be lured to stay long, and we would thus lose 

 two of the most helpful mediums between ourselves and heaven, for 

 flowers are as necessary to the perfection of home as they are to the 

 perfection of a plant, and through them we gain a certain spiritual 

 vision which helps to more perfectly understand and respond to the 

 commands and infinite love of our Creator. Especially is this true 

 when we place them under the microscope. A world of grandeur is 

 opened up. to our vision. It is said that there is nothing more exqui- 

 site than flowers when subject to this criticism. Try it ; examine 

 each leaf, stamen, pistil and petal.. Take a stamen of the common 

 scarlet cypress vine, place it under a moderate glass ; what a won- 

 der ! "It looks like a delicate shell carved out of a single ruby, stud- 

 ded over with pearls of the purest shimmering white, like Venus 

 rising out of her jeweled shell." Try the petal of a pure white ro.^e 



