354 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the prairie, just an ordinary, monotonous prairie, until we came out 

 on the banks of a valley where a beautiful little village clustered 

 down in the center of it, gracefully nestling among the hills on 

 either side, running back to an elevation of one hundred to one 

 hundred and fifty feet. Over at my right was a beautiful lake, 

 green as emerald, flashing in the sun like a gem ; over to the left 

 was upland, and on the side hills were grazing flocks and herds 

 I asked the driver to stop for a moment, and I pointed out and refer- 

 red to the beauty of the scene spread out before us. Over all there 

 was a sky as blue as ever shone over landscape, flecked with those 

 fleecy clouds that but added a distinct charm, and it seemed to me 

 to be more delightful in Minnesota than in any country I have ever 

 been in. I said to those gentlemen, "Here is a scene right before 

 us that is just as beautiful in every respect naturally as the scenery 

 in England, the rural scenery of England that has been celebrated 

 in song and story for centuries and centuries. They come here and 

 talk to us about the beautiful rural scenery of England. There is 

 nothing more beautiful, except time and labor has supplemented 

 the natural beauty, but the natural beauty is no greater than that 

 which is spread out before us." One gentlemen said, "It is pretty. 

 I have lived in this country a good many years, I have driven over 

 these roads hundreds of times, but I confess I have never seen the 

 picture before." If that man when a child had been brought under 

 the kind of instruction Mrs. Underwood talked about he would have 

 seen the picture, and he would have been enjoying it all these years, 

 instead of having it lie there a perfect blank before him. It is 

 because we want to get this sort of things into our lives that I want 

 to see papers like this discussed. They ought to be talked about, and 

 we ought to go home resolved that not only will we cultivate this 

 sentiment within ourselves, but that we will teach it to others, 

 especially to children, and endeavor to develop this sentiment, this 

 love for the beautiful, that will stimulate all that is good within 

 ourselves, and out of that love of the good will come better citizen- 

 ship, an intenser loyalty and all those things that make for a better 

 country and one more enjoyable to live in. 



One thing more : A few weeks ago I was in a town in the Red 

 River Valley. I had not visited the place before in fourteen years. I 

 recall the time distinctly, I wanted to know just how long it had 

 taken to make the metamorphosis I saw. This was on the bleak 

 prairie where they thought they could not grow anything but wheat. 

 When I was first in the town it was only a prairie village of the con- 

 ventional kind, with no trees in sight. When I visited the place 



