234 3Iissouri State Horticultural Society. 



nature this principle of strength as birds do, wlio, before they are 

 born, are armed with a bill hard enough to break the thick shell 

 which confines them." Before this he had written upon the walls 

 of his cell with a piece of charcoal, ''chance is blind, and is the 

 sole author of creation." He now wrote beneath it — "perhaps ! " 



A new thought has dawned upon his mind, and to care for 

 this plant engrossed all his thought. Patiently he cared for his 

 new friend, and after patient watching he saw, at lengthy evi- 

 dences of bloom. 



" Oh ! the flowers ! the flowers," he cried, "the flowers that 

 will expand their beauty for my eyes. Whose perfume shall exhale 

 for me alone. What form will it take, what shades will color its 

 petals ? Without doubt it will offer me new problems to solve and 

 throw a last challenge to my reason. Well, let it come ; let my 

 frail adversary show herself armed at all points, I will not shrink 

 from the contest. Perhaps only then shall I be able to comprehend 

 her in her completeness, that secret which her imperfect formation 

 has thus far hidden from me. Wilt thou flower ? Wilt thou show 

 thyself to me one day in all the glory of thy beauty and its adorn- 

 ment, ' Picciola ? ' " Thus he named his flower. 



To follow Oharney through his companionsliip with his 

 Picciola in health and sickness would require too much time. 

 When convalescent, after a severe attack of sickness, his first 

 thoughts were of Picciola. When seeing her beautifully arrayed 

 in bloom he was led to ask of what use are flowers, why fragrant? 

 Do they enjoy it themselves ? No ! Is it a pleasure to animals ? 

 Who has seen a sheep or a dog stop before a rose to. breathe its 

 sweetness ? It is for man alone then that they pour forth that 

 fragrant treasure. Why ? To make him love them, perhaps !. 



One day, after studying his plant, he became violently agitated. 

 Thought succeeded thought in his brain, and for a moment, raising 

 his face heavenward, was led to exclaim, 



'• Powerful God ! Source invisible whence flows all harmony, 

 all life, too much false science has obscured my reason, too many 

 sophisms have hardened my heart, so that thou canst not easily 

 penetrate' it. I cannot yet hear thee, but I call thee. I cannot see 

 thee, but I call thee." On entering his chamber his eye caught 

 the inscription upon the wall : "God is naught, but a word." He 

 then added, "That word, may it not solve the grand enigma of the 

 universe ?" Thus this great scholar, this teacher of false re- 

 ligions, is conducted to the infinite by the simple plant through its 

 beauty and fragrance. 



