223 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



mother would like a slip of that. Do you know, I believe that plant has 

 quickened a germ in his soul which will never die ! Do you believe his home, 

 his surroundings, will be like that of his parents?" And tears stood in her 

 eyes as she talked. 



''If I taught in the city and many of my pupils came from the poorer wards, 

 among tenement houses crowded together on the dusty, dirty streets, wliere 

 God's little ones know nothing of the beautiful countiT, with its fresh air and 

 ^reen fields, I would be all the more anxious to make my school-room a beauti- 

 ful home for them. See,'' she continued, as we moved towards the door, 

 ''this is the children's llower stand. Here they arrange bouquets in these 

 vases and glasses, and I look on and give them a hint sometimes of what con- 

 stitutes grace and l)eauty in their arrangement. Even the boys love to arrange 

 bouquets, and I offer a premium for the prettiest, by promoting it from their 

 table to the vase on my desk. I remember that last June I surprised them all 

 by taking for my vase a few sprigs of mignonette and one rose-bud, with its 

 Ions: stem and lovelv leaves. After that no more full-blown roses, with short 

 stems and drooping leaves, were brought without a protest. 



''I have noticed that a few words about colors in a bouquet have had a marked 

 effect on the colors worn by the girls in their ribbons and dresses ; but I have 

 talked too long," she said, as we lingered in the doorway. 



*'0h, no; you have done me good. It cheers me to meet an enthusiast. 

 God bless you, and may you live many years to carry on this blessed work." I 

 glanced back at the bright room, with its pictures, plants and flowers. Just 

 then a gleam of sunshine rested like a halo on the heads of the children, and 

 transfigured their faces with its golden brightness. They no longer looked like 

 children of earth but seemed endowed vwth a heavenly beauty, like the faces of 

 those we read of beyond tlie river. The bright beams rested on the flowers and 

 vines beyond, and they glowed like the flowers of a tropic clime. 



I rubbed my eyes, and there was the sun of a June morning pouring in at 

 the open east window. I had overslept myself ; it was time to get up, or I 

 would be late for my work. My school-house was an ideal one. 



Friends, and all lovers of all that is good and beautiful, how long shall all 

 this be merely a dream, a vision? 



Prof. 13eal remarked that the use of flowers with the children might very 

 appropriately take the place of some of their sports — not that he would deprive 

 them of the good times they have playing together, but by appropriate educa- 

 tion the children would clioose the flowers to play with; and while playing 

 delight in learning and telling their names and the names and location of the 

 different organs. It was his experience that very small children learned the 

 scientific names just as readily as the more common ones. lie hoped the time 

 would come when lessons in oral botany would be a part of every common 

 school curriculum. The next topic was : 



HORTICULTURE AT THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



Prof. Bcal from notes gave a very entertaining address upon the work at the 

 colle2:e under hi;5 charge, and, althoui]fh the hour was late, was listened to with 

 interest to the end. 



He said thr.t, at the college, much of agriculture and horticulture was taught 

 in entomology, chemistry, and botany. Tiie horticultural work has been 

 laro-elv increased at the collcire, but to a irreat extent this branch of tlicir labor 



