. if ‘ 
44 | ANNUAL REPORT. 
f 
REPORT OF FINANCE COMMITTEE. = 
i - . i aa 
The report of the finance committee was accepted and placed on 
file... , . oa 
wei gnats 
. ~¢ 
Yonah 
BAY WINDOW PLANTS—AN ESSAY BY MRS. GEN. VAN CLEVE, OF EAST MIN- 
NEAPOLIS. READ BY THE SECRETARY. peat tot 
My pretty setting room is bright and elegant this cold winter 
morning, and looking all around it with calm content, I see no rose- 
wood furniture, no Brussels, Axminster or Wilton carpet, no lambre- 
quins or fleecy lace window draperies, and no ‘ what-not” in the 
corner, filled with rare and costly articles of vertu, and I mentally 
exclaim, what is it that so beautifies and brightens this homely little 
room? 
On one side hangs a fine engraving of Ary Scheffer’s ‘‘ Christus 
Consolator”—a constant source of delight and encouragement; on 
another, a ‘‘ Landseer,” so life-like that the dogs almost greet me 
audibly. Scattered about, in approprate positions, are some pretty 
chromos and fine photographs. On either side of the window, on 
rustic brackets, stand an Apollo, and she who went mad for him, the 
shy modest Clytie, just in the transition state from the broken-hearted 
maiden to the sun-loving Helianthus, and between these statuettes 
a bay window filled with lovely plants. As the bright sun streams 
through and over them making summer in my room, it is hard to be- 
lieve the report just brought in: ‘‘ Mercury down to 25° below,” and 
this window is what gives an air of elegance to our plainly furnished 
but wonderfully cosy, family room. A friend once said to me, “a 
painting of that size representing such a bower of beauty, could not 
be purchased for a thousand dollars.” 
Sometimes when busied and perplexed with cares and wearisome 
duties, I come into this room, look at my plants, and get so filled 
with a sense of God’s goodness in creating such loveliness, and his 
love in placing it within my reach, that, after resting a few moments, 
my weight of care seems lightened, and there creep into my heart, 
sweet thoughts of the fadeless flowers of that beautiful land, where by 
God's grace I hope some day to find my home, and remembering 
‘‘ that the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be com- 
pared with the glory that awaits those who love God,” I rise up 
refreshed, comforted and strengthened, and go singing to my work, 
which although just as hard as ever, has, through the influence of my 
‘‘ bay window plants,” been made endurable and even pleasant. 
Such a window then, is not only beautiful to look at but has a real 
moral influence, and it rejoices my heart that so many of my neigh- 
bors are making efforts to establish in their winter sitting rooms, 
window gardens which not only gratify themselves but cheer the 
passers-by. 
Now one of the chief sources of satisfaction to be derived from 
‘‘ Bay window plants” is the pleasure they give to outsiders. I never 
put a curtain to the window nor close the blind, but as soon as it 
grows dusk, just ‘ ’twixt the gloaming and the mirk,” light a lamp, 
placed conveniently for the purpose, which with the light from our 
