August 16, 1913 



HORTICULTUEE 



209f 



IN WONDERLAND : THE UNSEEN ARTISTS 



We are influenced by the company we keep. Associ- 

 ation with the pure and beautiful will have its impress 

 upon us. When we think of it, there has been large 

 provision for our spiritual as well as material wants. 



Beauty is for immortals. Animals cannot appreciate 

 it. Along in the fifties I used to drive over the vast 

 flower-sprinkled prairies of Minnesota. The fragrance 

 was so profuse you seemed wading in it. In the far-off 

 horizons the emerald of the earth blended with the 

 sapphire of the heavens. I sat entranced, drinking in 

 the scene. But my horse never could take any interest in 



it. Along with the world of mat- 



ter there is a world of soul. And ' _^ 



the soul has tastes as well as the 

 palate. Sometimes I sit down 

 among my flowers and think of 

 them as the most skilled artists 

 on earth, with a refinement of 

 taste, a delicacy of touch no hu- 

 man brain or hand can imitate. 

 In a group there will be an iris, a 

 peony, a columbine and an orien- 

 tal poppy. How courteous each 

 one is to the rights of the 

 other. Under the eartli are 

 unseen influences which baffle 

 all human ken. These tiny 

 roots down in their dark prison 

 are doing what no human artist 

 can do with wide open eyes in 

 the full light of day. Each busy 

 worker knows just what he is 

 about. The peony never steals 

 the tints that belong to the colum- 

 bine. Flowers of the same variety never rob each other. 

 How can those unseen artists pick out and send one color 

 for the outer petals and another for the inner ones? 

 Two varieties of the same family grow side by side. 

 Each may have a dozen shadings and tintings. Never 

 is there a mistake made. No red is sent up when 

 the color should be blue. Each flower must have just 

 what belongs to it — such exactness baffles all human 

 effort. 



See that superb iris, the finest of the whole great 

 Germanica family? The standards are immense petals 

 of velvet and ivory, with that marvelous glistening 

 reflex like that of the richest silk. How could those 

 artists down in the dark manufacture that elusive sheen ' York, Neb. 



Rev. C. S. UabbisoiN 



which flashes in the sunlight? Then those charming 

 petals must be veined and traced with the most delicate 

 tintings, while they are edged with deeper purple. 

 Never is a mistake made in the blending of those har- 

 monious colors. 



The giant macrantha is the largest of all, with petals 

 three inches across. Never a blunder made in the 

 moulding and fashioning of those great blossoms — vein- 

 ing and tinting them with a beauty surpassing the rain- 

 bow. And there is Fairy, tall and princely, with the 

 delicate fragrance of the peach blossom. Who manu- 

 factured that dainty little vial of 

 odors and then uncorked it to 

 pour the aroma out upon the air? 

 Mark that tracery, interwoven 

 with the pure whiteness of the 

 flower. 



There is no blind chance in all 

 this. In this garden of de- 

 light I am at work with God. 

 All these things are the expres- 

 sion of His love. "How precious 

 are thy thoughts unto me, oh 

 God." All these forms of beauty 

 — these miracles of the highest 

 art, are the translations of his 

 thoughts to me. So much for the 

 present. But just over in the 

 unknown are new forms of love- 

 liness which are yet to greet me 

 — new creations. I take a dull 

 piece of earth and plant it to 

 bulbs, roots and seeds, and He 

 and I created this section of Para- 

 dise let down to earth for our delectation. It is all a 

 promise and a prophesy of the "glory to be revealed." 

 I am over fourscore, living on the margin of the two 

 worlds, and instead of growing old I seem on the 

 borders of eternal youth. So I am proclaiming the 

 evangel of beauty far and wide. It is the Gospel of 

 Hope. There is an uplift and inspiration in it. It 

 will make people less sordid and greedy. It will lead 

 the young into paths of pleasantness and peace. 



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