184 Missouri State Horticultural Society. 



Or, perha2)s they will take the direction of the north jDole to 

 behold the rainbow tints and j^yrotechnics of a northern aurora 

 iorealis, or to stand upon some promontory on the longest day in 

 the year and wonder that there could be anywhere on God's foot- 

 stool, a day without a night, a day on which the sun did not set ? 

 And in our own beloved land : The waters, the palisades, and the 

 highlands of the charming and fascinating Hudson ; the pic- 

 turesque bluffs of the upj^er Mississippi, the canons of Colorado 

 and Montana, the weird caves, cascades and canons of the Yose- 

 mite have held other thousands spell bound, while millions annually 

 visit the Falls of Niagara and uevery weary of gazing upon its 

 grand, ever-changing and awe-inspiring panorama. 



It was asserted just now that a high civilization will show 

 love for the beautiful, not only in the adorning of a person and in 

 beholding and admiring the wonders of nature, but will work itself 

 out in beautifying to every possible extent the home and its sur- 

 roundings. The nomad, the wild hunter and fisherman, with few 

 exceptions, are all lovers of natural beauty, but few of these ever 

 make a true home in a civilized community? In cities we cannot 

 look for much of natural beauty, there everything trlMy beautiful, 

 the architectural beauty of the palaces of the wealthy, like that of 

 the churches and cathedrals with their frescoed pictures and paint- 

 ings, their heavenward pointing sjoires and steeples, also the public 

 resorts and parks, are all the result of art and design ; even the 

 cities of the dead are made beautiful, attractive by the landscape 

 gardener's art and cunning. And it is well that even much money 

 is thus expended for the benefit of the general public, for the cul- 

 tivation of taste and refinement, and with it the morals of the 

 people ; because all have free access to the parks, the churches and 

 the cemeteries, to the latter if not while living, then when dead ! 

 Our houses of worship are made more attractive by the presence of 

 floral beauties and living plants which surround the sacred desk. 

 And why not? Was it not in a garden, even Eden, that man first 

 worshiped, when he first beheld the works of creation, which, when 

 their Maker saw he called good ? 



Is there not a responsive chord in the breast of every true man 

 and woman drawing us to look from nature up to nature's God ? 

 Is there not superhuman design and an incomparable beauty in all 

 nature while yet untouched or unimproved (?) by human hands or 

 skill? The lilies of the field and the cedars of Lebanon were 

 planted by our Creator for a good and wise purpose, even to show 

 unto us the goodness of tlie Lord? 



