Rural School Leaflet 963 



Worship and praise have centered about flowers and garlands rather 

 than about the fruits that we eat; this marks them to have been consid- 

 ered as of the higher things. All holy and great occasions need them if 

 the occasions are complete. Not a soul but responds to blossoms, even 

 though he knows it not. No soul passes a lily in blow, an apple orchard 

 in the May, a clover field swept with red, or a good garden lying at his 

 feet, but that some reflection of it enters his mind and lodges itself in 

 some nexus of the brain. It would be difficult for any man to imagine a 

 flowerless world; and if he conjured it in his dream he would find himself 

 sitting in some oasis of greenery and bloom. 



There is much speculation as to why flowers ever came into the world 

 or of what necessary utility they are to plants. But we are free to accept 

 a fact; and flowers are facts. I think there must be something more 

 than mere utility to the plant that brought blossoms into existence. But 

 why ever they came, they are joyful things and they are parts in the jour- 

 ney in life. 



To know a flower well and to grow it well are more than botany and 

 gardening. The songs of birds, the feel of winds, the flow of streams, 

 the appeal of flowers, are so real that we are likely to forget them or to 

 lose them; but the flowers excel them all in the ease and completeness 

 with which we may adapt them to personal needs and incorporate them 

 into a process of life. 



LETTERS FROM GIRLS AND BOYS 



District ii; Town of Hamden; Delaware County 



Delhi, N. Y., November 27, 1912 

 Dear Mr. Tuttle: 



! We received your leaflet yesterday and were very glad to get it. I have 

 read every word in it. I think it is very interesting this month. 



I am especially interested in the locust tree as we have a large one in 

 our yard. It is very old and there is not a dead limb on it. I think 

 its blossoms are lovely, and they are so fragrant. How long will a locust 

 tree live? We are going to get a little locust tree on our school yard next 

 spring. They are very easy to get to grow. They grow up very quickly, 

 do they not? 



We were very sorry when the summer birds all went south, but we are 

 watching the winter birds. We are going to hang a piece of suet on the 

 schoolhouse window to see the birds come for it. 



This fall I watched the flowers along the roadside and found the ever- 

 lasting bloomed the longest. 



What beautiful moonlight evenings we are having now! How pretty 

 the little stars look down from the sky on the snow! 



I will close for this time, and I am very anxious to get our next leaflets. 



Sincerely yours, 



Edith L. Pearce 



