ANNUAL WINTER MEETING AT WARRENSBURQ. 227 



1 High Hill, Mo., December 3, 1885. 



Mr. Chairman^ Ladies and Gentlemen of the State Horticultural 

 Society: 



I have been called upon to write an essay, and it being my first 

 attempt will endeavor to be brief as possible, selecting for my subject 

 Flowers, as I find myself a great lover of them. 



Flowers are nature's jewels, and deserving of a place in our hearts 

 as well as our homes; our homes are more cheerful by reason of their 

 presence. Even the dug-out or the log cabin of the pioneer is made 

 attractive by a vine creeping about the doorway pr above the window, 

 with its beautiful foliage and delicate flowers of delicate colors, and 

 fragrant scents, together with a few cultivated flowers, in its adornment. 

 Then let each home have a place for their cultivation. They will 

 reward us with both beauty and fragrance ; they will teach us import- 

 ant lessons. 



The influence of flowers is potent upon all for good ; and sordid 

 must be the person who does not receive pleasure from them. How 

 the little children admire them, and love to pluck them from the bush, 

 and occasionally do, when mamma don't see ; from earliest infancy they 

 behold them with ecstacy. 



The progress of our race is indicated by the care of flowers ; as we 

 grow in importance as -a people it is seen in the cultivation and love 

 cherished for them. No home would be complete without them. How 

 much sunshine they give us when sad and gloomy days appear, which 

 often do in the course of life. They show good taste and refinement ; 

 they teach us to love the infinite and remove from us the bad. Im- 

 mortality and vice can not exist where there is a proper appreciation 

 for flower?. How the invalid appreciates a boquet ; how beutiful the 

 table can be made to look when a boquet of delicate flowers appears ; 

 how much more cheerful and entertaining the parlor can be made with 

 the addition of a few flowers carelessly.arranged and set about for the 

 gi!iests to look upon ; how generous has been the Father in his dissemi- 

 nation of " Nature's Jewels." He has planted them upon every hill- 

 top and in every dell. How often, (when roaming about the hillsides, 

 and along branches, when I see a little panzy peeping up from its rocky 

 bed) do 1 recall child hours when I used to play about the branch and 

 among the hills gathering wild flowers and making wreathes, busy all 

 day long and never tire. 



Hoping that you will excuse my limited paper. 



Respectfully submitted, 



ELLA LYTLE. 



