THE ANNUAL MEETING. 219 



girl ifc would be a vision of beauty and taste that would forever onward propel 

 them along; tlic lines of culture and virtue. 



And what can more fitly decorate the walls and altars of the Church of 

 God, than llowers in the various forms of beauty and taste they assume under 

 the hands of those who were "first at the sepulchre and last at the cross.'' 

 And as we bring these beautiful tokens of our Heavenly Father's love to 

 adorn the temple of God and the Sunday-school room, we can say with em- 

 phasis with him who is the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley, "■ Come 

 unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;" 

 *' Suffer little children to come unto me." 



"We thus throw around the worship and instruction of his house tlie charm 

 which a God of nature and peace gives the lily and the rose. And as rre form 

 them into stars of stainless white they remind us of that *'star in the east" 

 that guided the wise men to the cradle of the Kedeemer of the world. And 

 then a^ain, as under the deft fingers of love and taste, they assume the form 

 of shields, their matchless beauty calls to mind the shield of faith which 

 enables us to overcome the great adversary of souls, and defend the faith once 

 *' delivered to the saints." And again, as they become harps and lyres under 

 the cunning device of woman's loving art, they sympathize the songs of the 

 Kedeemer the sweet richer music that will swell upon the ear, when the wor- 

 ship of earth deepens into the seraphic praise of heaven. 



And when the name of "Jesus" looks down upon us in the matchless 

 purity of flowers, what can make more attractive and charming, the founda- 

 tion of all our hope, the joy that underlies all the shadows and sorrows of 

 earth. And will not these beautiful emblems of spiritual truth and their 

 exquisite adornment of the sanctuary lead us from nature up to nature's God, 

 through outward manifestations of His wonderful creations to the love and 

 service of his brighter, sweeter, richer worship in the paradise above. 



Secretary Garfitdd read an essay prepared by Miss Emma Field, of Grand 

 Rapids, prefacing it with remarks of his own. He made several pictures for 

 the audience of places where flowers were employed in exquisite taste. One of 

 which was a little flaxen-haired child on the lawn in the sunshine playing with 

 a hat full of wild flawers. He suggested in a jocular way that there were 

 cases where flowers were out of place. When we get a window so full that a 

 man can't see his neighbor's wife go by, it is carrying the thing too far I He 

 spoke of the use of flowers in bad taste as ornaments. Those who love flowers 

 will use them tastefully, and people should use them because of a liking for 

 them, and not because, as they wear cardinal ribbons, it is fashionable. He 

 said childi-en should be early taught the names, structures, habits of growth, 

 and uses of flowers, and called to mind the little girl of a beloved teacher of 

 his, who would spend hours together, gathering flowers with her father and 

 pulling them in pieces learning the structure and parts. 



Tiie essay of Miss Field dealt wholly with 



FLOWERS IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM. 



Once upon a time (pray do not imagine from tliis old-fashioned beginning, 

 that 1 am tibout to tell you a fairy story), my guide took me through a lovely 

 valley. 



For miles the road was sheltered by great over arching trees whose branches 

 half met, and made the way seem like the entrance to an Eden. Oil either 

 Bide stretched large farms, with their wealth of verdure, and orchards of fra- 



