SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 461 



ningsky; his grandeur blazes in the sun, and his majestic footsteps are 

 heard in the storms that streak the skies with lightnings and shake the 

 mountains with thunders. In every blade of grass that grows ; in every leaf 

 that trembles in the wind ; in every pebble on the seashore; on all Nature is 

 the stamp and divinity of God ; and we bow with reverence, awe and admi- 

 ration to his greatness and goodness as we walk among all the wonderful 

 exhibitions of the infinite. But it is to the bloom and perfume of the 

 flowers that in this vale of tears and bereavements, and heartaches and 

 churchyards, that we turn oftenest to find the face and heart of God. It is 

 the sweet scented rose that tells more of his sympathy and love than human 

 lips can tell. It will catch the tear, and conceal amidst its mellowing charms, 

 or holding it to the sunlight of heaven, reflect to the torn and bleeding heart 

 a sympathy that calms the fountains of sorrowing grief. It spreads a mantle 

 of life over the cloud of death, and lights up a world from which the sun 

 seems blotted by inexplicable providence. As we go forth to the cemetery 

 to express our "devotion to the dead, the lips close and thought is paralyzed 

 as words fall short of the description of the holy sentiments of our hearts. 

 And then we appeal to heaven for an inspiration to utterance that shall be 

 eloquent as angels and sincere as God. The response is the flower — the mu- 

 sic, the purity, the laughter, the eloquence, the sincerity and sympathy and 

 love of joyous, modest innocence. Thank God for flowers, the higher lan- 

 guage, the inspiration of sentiment, the soft sunshine of divinity among 

 hearts that so often throb amidst gloom, and starve for warmth. 



Frenchmen and Flowers. — Some one in commenting upon Parisian flower 



exhibits remarked : 



To a Frenchman, especially to a Parisian, it seems utterly incomprehensible 

 that a young fellow with means should think of devoting his spare time to the 

 cultivation of his garden, or should go through fatigue and hardship for the 

 purpose of winning a prize which does not represent one-tenth of the expense 

 that he has gone to for the purpose of obtaining it. It is not that he does not 

 like flowers; on the contrary, they are a real pleasure to him; but to spend 

 money, to go through the worry and anxiety that amateurs do with us, is some- 

 thing he cannot understand. To go through any amount of squeezing, to re- 

 sort to any dodge for the purpose of getting a place at a premier representa- 

 tion of a new play, to be made into a pancake at the reception of some grand 

 lady, is quite a different thing, for the other he has no inclination; the exhibits 

 are, therefore, merely confined to the growers for sale. 



