ANNUAL ^lEETING AT LEXINGTON. 197 



the sentiment of purity and peace to our parted friends ? And in 

 conclusion, let me say, out of all the blessed flowers God has placed 

 upon the the earth (if only one flower is allowed to me) 1 say give me 

 the Queen of Fowers. 



LANGUAGE OF FLO^YERS. 



BY 3IRS. DR. GOSLIN OF OREGON, MO. 



In Isaiah we find these words: "The beauty of Lebanon shall 

 come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine and the box together to beautify 

 the place of my sanctuary." 



In every age and country the wise and good have recognized the 

 influence and refining efl'ect of flowers. In every walk of life, from 

 the palace to the lowliest home, they wield an influence unlike anything 

 else, and if tradition be true, they hold an emblematic power over 

 every nation of the earth. Mythology teaches us that even the heav- 

 enly bodies are ruled and reigned over by the flowery kingdom, and 

 the monarch s of the forest ; be this as it may — they have been the 

 medium through which many lessons have been taught. It is said a 

 noted count who was imprisoned for life and become so embittered by 

 his fate as to believe there was no goodness in God and no justice in 

 man, was taught the lesson of submission, patience and a hope of the 

 life to come, by a little flower that sprang up between the flag-stones 

 of his prison walk, by watching its coming into life, surrounded by 

 gloom, with little sunshine and no'«ultivation. Later on it put forth 

 its delicate little bloom and at the appointed time designed by nature 

 in her orderly work, it would die down and pass from sight to come 

 again in the spring, stronger and more beautiful each year, better able 

 to endure its unhealthy surroundings. The language spoken bj this 

 little flower, although silent, made an impression upon a human soul 

 that made the hard life brighter, restored confideece in God and his 

 fellow-man. 



