HOETICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 247 



with the ones standing bereft of these things, no rose bushes, nor 

 hollyhocks, nor verbenas, nor pansies, nor fruits of any kind for 

 the children. Oh, how barren it is! Then picture in your mind's 

 eye the other; it may be just as plain a house and has cost not a 

 dollar, but it is made beautiful and attractive by a wealth of fruits 

 and flowers. Now this is what I came for, — just to tell these old 

 friends and younger ones engaged in this Horticultural Society, 

 how thankful I am for their work. 



When 1 was a child we thought we were pretty well off for fruit. 

 I will tell you what we had. In the garden and orchard we had 

 currants, one gooseberry bush, one quince bush, apples, pears and 

 pumpkins; that was the extent of it. We had in the fields, black- 

 berries and huckleberries; and many, and many, and many a day I 

 have walked two, three and four miles and spent the whole day in 

 the hot sun, picking huckleberries so as to have enough. If I 

 could tell you how fruit tasted then, if I could possibly put into 

 words how fruit tastes to a child who is growing six inches every 

 year, up and down and crosswise, I tell you these friends here with 

 fruit trees to sell, would be after me to go around as an advertise- 

 ment. If you could but remember as I remember, how hungry 

 such a child is, down to his very toes, for everything in the shape 

 of fruit, you would give your children lots of it. Now, because 

 these things taste so good to children, they ought to have them. 

 It makes me young again just to see children enjoy good fruit, and 

 I want them to have enough of it, of all kinds. I want to say to 

 the fathers and mothers here, "think about this." I will tell you, 

 if you would pay more for fruit, you would have less to pay for 

 drugs. If you would fill your children up with good, rich, ripe 

 fruit, you would have less hours to spend nursing, and less com- 

 plaint of pale cheeks, and weaknesses. We want to grow a hardy 

 and a hearty race, and to do that, we must give our children plenty 

 of good fruit. 



1 have just been thinking what a good thing it would be to enlist 

 our boys and girls in this work. We remark that it does us all good 

 to come in contact with the earth, to be cultivating something. 

 Sometimes I hear parents complain that their boys go away from 

 home. Now, if you fathers and mothers would interest your chil- 

 dren in raising fruits and flowers, if you would give them early 

 something of their own, something that they will take care of, if 

 you would buy them some seeds, and give them a little space in the 

 garden, you would fiud it would keep them from a great deal of 

 mischief; it wonld make home bright for them, and make them 

 willing to stay at home. It would be a good thing if our friends in 

 the business could get the boys interested in their enterprise. If 

 I were selling trees and vines, I think I should make agents of 

 these boys and girls, give them some of my stock to cultivate, and 

 I am pretty sure that, by and by, I should get interest on my mon- 

 ey, over and over again. Interest the children in bringing fruit 

 into their homes; have fruit put away in your cellar, so that, in the 

 coldest months, and furthest from the summer time, you will have 

 it always on your table. The Lord meant that we should be blessed 



