SUNSHINE AND FLOWERS. 337 



sunshine and flowers as friends of the 

 "shut-ins." 



MRS. JONATHAN FREEMAN, AUSTIN. 

 (Southern Minnesota Horticultural Society.) 



The other day I was reading' a description of the imprisonment of 

 the French exile, Dreyfus. He is confined in an iron hut on a pesti- 

 lential island; this hut is surrounded by a palisade so high that he 

 cannot see the ocean near by. In his one living room is an iron 

 cage, in which a sentry constantly sits, watching him. What little 

 food is furnished him, he must prepare himself, and at night he is 

 chained to his bed. No word is spoken to him, and he is condemned 

 to perpetual silence. Such severity cannot be justifled by his sen- 

 tence. The life of a person so "shut-in" must be horrible in the ex- 

 treme. The sunshine of love and the sweet-springing flowers of 

 hope are denied him. There seems to be no relief for him but death. 



Let us turn from this sad picture, to the cheerful, sunny life of our 

 cherished "shut-ins." 



There is scarcely a family but what contains an invalid. Some- 

 times the dear one is shut in for only a few weeks. Then it is a 

 pleasure to surround the friend with all the comforts and pleasures 

 attainable. But if the imprisonment is prolonged for months and 

 even years, then the old time service of pleasure becomes a duty.and 

 you soon see plainly what path of work God has marked out for you. 

 The life bf a " shut-in," even at its best, is dull and featureless com- 

 pared with yours. There are days of suffering and pain, days of 

 weakness and weariness, days of nervousness and depression that 

 must be lived through and endured patiently or impatiently, accord- 

 ing to the disposition and disease of the patient. You tire of the ex- 

 acting demands and many idiosyncracies. You think if it were you, 

 you would be less selfish, less tiresome. Ah! indeed, if it xvere you! 

 Think what it would be like, to be shut in from all church and lect- 

 ure-room privileges; shut in from social pleasures; shut in from 

 helping others; from caring for the sick and dying, the poor and 

 destitute; from accomplishing philanthropic work. You would be 

 "laid upon the shelf," shut in by the "four walls of home." At least, 

 do what you can in a common sense way for these unfortunate suf- 

 ferers. It is not necessary to hazard your own health to minister to 

 every whim, but you are fortunate if you can give them in great 

 abundance God's free gift to mankind, the blessed, life-giving sun- 

 shine. Roll up the curtains and let in the flood of light. It will 

 chase away the " blues," destroy the germs of disease and, maybe, 

 prove a cure-all where medicine has failed. 



The sweet, fragrant flowers, the "stars of the earth," are another 

 important source of comfort to our dear " shut-ins." In our great 

 city hospitals the inmates are often gladdened by visits from repre- 

 sentatives of floral organizations, whose pleasure it is to cheer the 

 heavy hearts and shorten the long hours of the sufferers by gifts of 

 simple, lovely flowers. 



Once I remember being in a large department store in one of our 

 growing cities, one day in early spring. A premium had been 



