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HORTICULTURE, 



December 10, 1910 



THE MISSION OF BEAUTY. 



(Paper read Dee. 6th before the Minnesota 



Hortieultiiral Society at Minneapolis, 



l)y C. S. Harrison.) 



The fullest development of race gives 

 the highest development of art, taste 

 and beauty. The rich man puts mil- 

 lions Into his residence. The skill of 

 the architect is exhausted on those 

 costly adornments. This is a prophesy 

 of that future when we will all be rich 

 and each one will have an eternity 

 lease of a mansion adorned with the 

 high art of God. 



As the great Horticulturist gave a 

 charming covering to the apple, the 

 peach and the pear when created, so 

 after He made the world He threw 

 over it a mantle of splendor. Who can 

 describe the charm of the old ocean 

 or the grandeur of the mountains glint- 

 ing in the effulgence of the sunlight? 

 Even the cold North has a lure of 

 beauty where the stately Aurora with 

 fingers of light paints those curtains 

 on the distant sky as if all the colors 

 of the stars were thrown on the can- 

 vas. There is a fascination when the 

 vast northern prairies of the Arctic are 

 a-bloom with a beauty no pen can por- 

 tray. There is hardly a spot on this 

 earth but what has its attraction. 

 Travelers on the Sahara speak in rap- 

 tures of the iridescent glow which 

 trails its glory over sandy plain and 

 rooky mount. The Arab loves his bar- 

 ren land, drawn there by attractions 

 he does not find elsewhere. 



What is Ihe mission of all this finish 

 which God has given to his work? 

 Beauty is for Immortals. You cannot 

 interest your horse or dog or cow in a 

 flower garden or a sunset. It is food 

 for the soul and is as necessary for our 

 higher natures as is food for our bod- 

 ies. Nothing is made in vain. The 

 creation of beauty on such an exten- 

 sive scale on the earth and in the uni- 

 verse implies its need. Watch the 

 progress of fruits. Down in the Arnold 

 Arboretum of Boston you see the half- 

 dozen original apples varying from the 

 size of the currant to that of the 

 cherry. Mothers and fathers are these 

 of the luscious fruits of today. God 

 took great pains to give us the founda- 

 tion of beauty in the flowers. He 

 turned single specimens over to us and 

 said: "Be co-workers with Me and 

 double them," and we did. What vast 

 families of transcendent loveliness 

 adorn the earth today! A garden of 

 flowers is as necessary to feed the soul 

 as a garden of fruits and vegetables 

 to teed the body. ■ 



Acquaintance with the beautiful 

 gives leflnement. Association with the 

 pure and lovely in nature changes the 

 hoydenish girl into a lady. The boy 

 instead of becoming a boor is a gen- 

 tleman. The wickedest Amazon in Chi- 

 cago, as teirible as a tigress to the 

 police, became as a- little child with 

 the gift of a charming bouquet of 



roses. The soul of the poor invalid is 

 cheered by a tribute of love in the 

 shape of flowers. There is an inspira- 

 tion which comes to us in the presence 

 of the great procession of beauty, each 

 vi(>in_a: with the other to put on the 

 fairest gala dress to please us. A fam- 

 ily well-fed will show it in health, 

 strength and comeliness. A soul well 

 ted will also show it in an undefinable 

 grace and symmetry. 



Here is a farm, the front yard a hos- 

 pital for disabled machinery — no adorn- 

 ment whatever. All around the dull 

 grind of toil. The whole place a great 

 pasture for i aising slouch. Here is an- 

 other. Five acres of the 160 are set 

 aside for adornment. Here are the 

 silver-robed trees of the Rockies, the 

 stately Concolor and in the background 

 the sturdy Ponderosa. There is a Black 

 Hill spruce in charming symmetry. 

 There are the ornamental shrubs — the 

 great family of syringas, lilacs, spi- 

 reas and viburnums. There a pair of 

 great tree lilacs with heads adorned 

 with immense clusters of bloom, state- 

 ly and imposing. There are beds uf 

 lieonies with their witchery of beauty. 

 Masses of iris which seem to unite the 

 beauty of two worlds. There are gieat 

 beds of columbine with the harmonious 

 blend of loveliness. The phloxes come 

 in to carry the procession down to the 

 hard frosts of autumn. That five acres 

 is worth more than the other man's 

 farm. 



You plant trees and God glorifies 

 them. The orchard is a garden of 

 fragrant ilowers in spring time and in 

 autumn you have the fascination of 

 beauty in the fruits, blushing in their 

 leafy coverts, and in the blending of 

 the red and the gold. Green is the 

 universal cover. It is refreshing and 

 restful to the soul. Frost comes and 

 touches shrubs and trees, forests, 

 mountains and plain and what a 

 change! Earth's grand landscapes are 

 glorified by (he brushes of unseen ar- 

 tists and you have a rich and fascinat- 

 ing riot of loveliness — a witchery of 

 charm. How rich those tints and 

 shadings! The whole earth seems in 

 a second spring time and in a wild 

 I'olliclnng abandon of loveliness — all in 

 gala dress just before the solemn lent 

 of winter. 



This earth is the porch of another. 

 To some of us who are nearing the bor- 

 der there comes the foreshadowings of 

 the glory to be revealed. The universe 

 in lis vastness is planned along the 

 lines of beauty. Systems, suns and 

 stars all have their imperial adorn- 

 ment. God's capital is the climax of 

 the art of Him who wove the mantles 

 for the stars, tinted the petals of the 

 flowers, and painted the bow of hope 

 on the brow of the storm. So let the 

 beauty of earth be prophetic of the 

 life beyond. 



The Commercial Side of Beauty. 



Talk with the average man about 

 home adornment and he will tell you 

 there is no money in it. Never was 

 there a greater mistake, and it is sad 

 to think that one of the greatest 

 ■sources of weal;h should be overlooked. 

 We lose millions on millions every 

 year from this narrow view of ihings. 

 Beauty and symmetry bring the high- 

 est price. Here is a horse. He may 

 have speed and endurance but he lacks 

 style. He looks like a common plug. 

 Put him on the market and with all 

 his good qualities what will be bring? 



Here is another, no faster, no stronger, 

 but what a splendid bearing he has! 

 See those flashing eyes, those distended 

 nostrils, that arched neck. He prances 

 along as if stepping on the clouds. In 

 Burlington, Vt., 1 saw a matched team 

 that sold for $40,000. $39,000 was for 

 beauty. How is it wilh cattle? Here 

 is a scrub. How much will he 

 bring? Just the price of the lowest 

 grade of beef. Here is a registered 

 short horn, perfect as if run in moulds 

 — his symemtrical form laid out with 

 square and compass. How is it with 

 fruits? Raise an apple with the shape 

 and color of a poiato and can you sell 

 it? Instinctively the eye must be fed 

 as well as the stomach. Color en- 

 hances the value of the Wealthy and 

 Jonathan. 



Well, here is a man well-equipped 

 mentally for his work. He goes out 

 to find employment without putting 

 on any finishing touches. He wears a 

 slouch hat and the well-worn clothes 

 of a common laborer. Will anyone 

 take him? Let him make himself pre- 

 sentable — be well dressed and modern 

 in his make-up and his very appear- 

 ance is in his favor. Two girls of 

 equal ability start out to find places 

 as typewriters. One dresses like a 

 washerwoman and wears a frown. She 

 looks a long time for a place and can- 

 not find it. The other, though not 

 extravagant, is neat and tasty in her 

 dress and wears a smile which glorifies 

 her face to the value of several hun- 

 dred dollars and all the doors fly open 

 before her. 



More and more the world regards the 

 value of a pleasant and cheerful coun- 

 tenance. It is the finishing touch of 

 both personality and character. In one 

 of the dining halls of Omaha there was 

 a lady with such a cordial and wel- 

 coming smile that we used to go in for 

 that as well as for the meals. It was a 

 cure for loneliness and homesickness. 

 There is a difference between a smirk 

 ;ind a smile. One is a made-up affair; 

 the other is spontaneous. When God 

 made the world He looked it over and 

 was pleased with it and called it very 

 good. The beauty of the flower, the 

 charm of the landscape, the glory on 

 the gates of the morning, the splendor 

 of the sea and the sublimity which sits 

 upon the mountains are all the smiles 

 nf God, crowning His finished work. 



You men of the Northwest have done 

 wonders in calling fruits out of the un- 

 known to adorn your farms and give 

 cheer to the people. But just before 

 you there is a vast empire which has 

 hardly been explored. Minnesota is a 

 giand state. I can't get over my early 

 love for it when In 1S57 I settled here 

 when it was in its virgin loveliness- 

 Minnesota, "land of the sky-tinted 

 waters." 



It is the duty of the farmer to have 

 a home which will not be as a plague 

 spot on the face of nature, but which 

 will match the splendor of God's out- 

 of-doors. His singing brooks, spark- 

 ling lakes, noble forests, and wonder- 

 fuf flower gardens His own hand plant- 

 ed and those marvellous sunsets when 

 He hangs the mantles of the stars as 

 curtains in the west to shield the re- 

 tiiiiig day. 



You have been too much afraid of 

 your own grand state. You have not 

 dared to trust her. But I want to tell you 

 one thing, her soil and climate are bet- 

 ter adapted to raising beautiful things 

 than any of our western states. I have 



