332 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



LITERARY. 



LET US SING. 



O. Painter of the fruits and flowers, 



We own- thy wise design, 

 Whereby these human hands of ours 



May share the worlv of Thine ! 



Apart from Thee we plant in vain 



The root and sew the seed ; 

 Thy early and Thy later rain, 



Thy sun and dew we need. 



Our toil is sweet with thankfulness, 



Our burden is our boon ; 

 The curse of Earth's grey morning is 



The blessing of its noon. 



Whj' search the wide world everywhere 



For Eden's unknown ground ! — 

 That garden of the primal pair 



May never more be found. 



But blest by Thee, our patient toil 

 May right the ancient wrong, ^ 



And give to every clime and soil ^ 



The beauty lost so long. 



Our homestead flowers and fruited trees 



May Eden's orchard shame ; 

 We taste the tempting sweets of these 



Like Eve without her blame. 



And North and South and East and West, 



The pride of every zone, 

 The fairest, rarest and the best. 



May all be made our own. 



Its earliest shrines the young world sought 



In hill-groves and in bowers, 

 The fittest offerings thither brought 



Were Thy own fruits and flowers. 



And still with reverent hand we cull 



Thy gifts each j^ear renewed ; 

 The Good is always beautiful, 



The Beautiful is good. 



—J. Q. Whittier. 



