222 State Horticultural Society. 



stand here for an hour and tell you things that you know quite well, 

 and have known always. He who' cares for flowers will find a way 

 to grow them. Aly mission is to try to make you care for them. If 

 they were not of great value in the economy of creation, there would 

 not be such a bewildering variety of them, each vieing in loveliness 

 with the other. 



The true value of flowers was exemplified at the great World's 

 Fair in St. Louis. What would the grounds there have been 

 without these silent, beautiful, brilliant creations? They seemed to 

 be about the only spiritual and spiritualizing things there. Amidst 

 all the beauty, they were the most beautiful, amidst all the marvels, 

 the most wonderful, and how profuse they were everywhere; along 

 all the terraces, in the sunken gardens, in plats by the wayside, on 

 the slopes leading up to the great Agricultural and Horticultural build- 

 ings, in the small lakes, along the lagoons, surrounding and dignify- 

 ing nearly all the states' buildings, and everyone of the foreign build- 

 ings, there they were in all the radiance and richness of their wonder- 

 ful colorings, their variety of textures, their brightness of foliage; 

 truly might one have said, with the great Hugo, "When I see a little 

 child, or a beautiful flower, I feel that it would be no sin tO' worship 

 them." Human life, with its varied experiences, its fleeting joys, and 

 many sorrows, would be much sadder than it is, were there no floral 

 emblems of God's care and love on earth to soothe and cheer our 

 hearts. 



On all festive occasions we use flowers. Did you ever think 

 of this? And how much less festive these occasions would be with- 

 out them. They symbolize every phase of human emotion ; they 

 make radiant the wedding day, and whisper of the resurrection when 

 lying in fragrant masses on the caskets of our dead. I have known a 

 rose to woo back to health and strength the life of a little child, the 

 joy that pulsed through its faintly beating heart when it held in its 

 weak hand the fragrant flower, set its pulses going at a steadier and 

 better pace, and because it was made glad, it began to get well. In. 

 times of loneliness, of depressions, of sorrow, have you not seen the 

 bestowal of a few flowers from the hand of a friend bring light to an 

 eye dim with weeping, and peace to a heart over-burdened by many 

 cares? My friends, the commercial value of flowers is the smallest 

 part of their true worth. Their value lies in their ability to make 

 human beings see the spiritual side of life and sometimes get clear 

 away from all the hard practical facts (however essential these are) 

 and to spend some precious soulful moments in considering the lilies. 



