SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS. 235 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Kellogg — The paper just read by Mr. O'Neal is a very prac- 

 tical one. and I think will do a world of good among the house plants 

 and the ladies. The best way to bring out sutdi f'ai-ts is l)y asking 

 (|uestions. 



Moved that a vote of thanks be tendered Mr. O'Neal for his in- 

 teresting paper. Carried by a unanimous vote. 



S. G. Minkler — We are glad to have such papers in our Trans- 

 actions; it will be of interest to the ladies. When I see flowers in a 

 house it shows to me that there is peace and happiness in that home. 

 They make home cheerful and attractive, and we can keep our boys 

 at home. I should be glad to have all these picket fences removed, 

 and in their stead evergreen fences and flowers to beautify your 

 homes. It will make your streets look wider, and beautify your city. 

 We shall be glad to continue to meet and work here in your place if 

 we can prevail upon you to do this: and above all. 1 should like to 

 see the picket fences removed from the cemeteries and evergreen 

 fences take their place. 



NATURE AND ART. 

 BY MRS. L. K. K. BECKER, ELGIN. 



" Nature tlie Mother and Mistress of her Field." 



How many-sided Nature is! How great — how simple. She 

 smiles, she laughs, as on a warm spring morning, with sunny skies 

 and l)a])bling brooks, and bursting seeds and swelling buds, her pres- 

 ence is felt everywhere. She weejjs in the long dismal northeast rain 

 storms that beat with cold and ])itiless severity on her young things 

 just out of their covers: and she knows how to look s(denin for days 

 together, as when, with sonil)re leaden skies, she will give but cool 

 and austere greeting to any comer, and very likely turn him home 

 again in a blunt way she sometimes exhilnts Avhen adverse winds are 

 blowing. 



lint what a mother she is. with all tJie traditional traits of the 

 ideal mother — symi)athy. tenderness, fortitude — and at the same 

 time she embodies the peculiar characteristics of the thrifty. Her 

 work is (lone at home under her supervision, and with the most un- 

 tiring industry. While her kitchen fires are burning every moment 

 is utilized; her workrooms are full of busy workers; her laboratory 

 overflowing with expert workmen filling her countless orders. 



