SUMMER MEETING AT LOUISIANA. 109 



plants and vines about the doors and windows. But flowers too, form 

 an important part in decoration, when arranged with taste and skill 

 they transform the humblest dwelling into a pleasing retreat where we 

 can toil in forgetfulness of the jars and discord of every day life. 

 Flowers have an irresistable way of robbing our labor of its dull 

 monotony. Culture improves and art utilizes flowers. But art while 

 utilitarian to a degree does not rob the floral gem, fresh gathered from 

 God's garden, (earth,) of its beauty, rather it steps into natures help 

 and prolongs that triumph. Left to decay flowers soon becomes un- 

 sightly objects. The love of flowers grows with us, as we are initiated 

 into the mystery of their culture and habits, in watching the germina- 

 ting of plants from minute seeds, and the formation of tiny rootlets 

 to little cuttings in sand. 



Flowers, from time immemorial have been the theme of poets and 

 philosophers, and bards of old, tuned their lyres to sing peons to their 

 beauty and fragrance. 



The ancients delighted to idolize and symbolize objects, they 

 placed their God's and Godesses in cups of flowers, and we may trace 

 in our own sympathies toward certain plants, the lingering still of 

 heathen mythology. We desire to see the tastes of all, and especially 

 our young people elevated and reflned, and this can best be done 

 through the refining influence of a pleasant and tranquil home, which 

 in my experience can always be found, where flowers grow. 



EVEEGEEENS. 



BY CHAS. PATTERSON, KIRKSVILLE. 



Even in my boyhood days, when I sometimes had occasion to get 

 enough of dark, dismal forests, I involuntarily regarded those upright, 

 stately monarch s as a superior creation to other trees, both in appear- 

 ance and usefulness. This veneration has naturally been increased by 

 absence from their association, and a corresponding value placed on 



