246 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



the size of a pencil, and lo, there is your reward. Your skill and suc- 

 cess are such no human skill can fairly represent. So you are an 

 artist, far transcending the mere copying art. 



All around you are those masses evoked by your skill. No deft 

 hand, however well trained can reproduce them. You see an interpre- 

 tation of Gods love to man. Every radiant graceful form is but an 

 expression of His "precious thought" to us. You may never be a 

 painter but you can be a florist. With a littje effort you can take a 

 piece of unsightly brown earth for your canvas and put upon it a 

 fairer scene than ever fell from painter's brush. This is not all. You 

 stand in the very gateway of the eternal beauty. You are a co-worker 

 with God, with the great Artist who paints life, who puts the resplen- 

 dent bow on the brow of the storm, who hangs the mantle of splendor 

 on the sun, who tints the mountains of cloud with amber and amethyst, 

 as they stand sentinel of the dying day. Is it not wonderful that this 

 Artist of everlasting beauty will come down and work with you, and 

 second all your efforts? 



You plant the seeds and bulbs, and wield the hoe, and the simple 

 instrument is a wand in the hand of a king. You touch the earth 

 and miracles of beauty spring up. Then the unseen brushes begin 

 their work. In the sweet still and dewy morning, in the calmness of 

 the night, and in the heat of the noon day He works with you. 



Plant the rose, the peony, the tulip and the columbine and care 

 for them, and lo the silent partner comes without noise or heraldry, 

 and the blessed work goes on. Soon a thrill comes to you. You feel 

 the honor of it, the glory of it — this partnership with Him who paints 

 the splendors of the suns. All unconsciously you feel an ache and 

 eagerness as though some unknown pressure were brought to bear 

 ■upon you, and you are mightily moved with the fact that it is the 

 yearning of God to reveal Himself through your brain and hands and 

 hoe. He wants to be introduced to the world so people can under- 

 stand him. 



Yes, in a short time you can rival the splendor of that famous 

 <;arpet which was the world's wonder and for weeks revel in its 

 delights, allured by its restless facination. How you will rise in 

 your own estimation — thankful that you can invoke the "oeauty of the 

 iLord to glorify your garden of delight. 



Address given at Duluth, Minnesota, before the Garden and 

 Floral Society, December 10, 1913. 



ABOUT EARLY SAV^EET PEAS. 



By L. H. Cobb. 



The prettiest sweet peas are those that bloom before the weather 

 Ijecomes so hot. The seeds are very hardy and they can be planted 

 so early that they are ready to start with the first warm days. The 

 plants grow nicely when the soil is cool, and are sturdy. 



