122 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



a?sthetic taste, to our sense of beautj^ and sweetness, and I am often glad 

 that God has put into the world such a richness of flower to make us see 

 that there is something worth having besides what we eat and what we 

 wear and what we put over our heads. (Applause.) 



Take the cars and ride down towards the south of Minnesota, and see 

 the fields pink with beauty; go even in the cars through that most deso- 

 late and uninviting and miserable country, It seems to me, that I have 

 ever seen — from here to the "Soo" — and see the everlasting expanse of 

 pink flowers all the way. It is beautiful! It does not feed anybody, ex- 

 cept those who are very a?3thetic, but it does feed them, and it appeals to 

 all that is best in their nature. 



I have never in my life seen such glory as resulted from the roses growing 

 upon the least attractive kinds of houses,as in that valley in which Words- 

 worth lived and loved and appreciated all the things that were beautiful 

 in nature. The traveler who comes down that valley looks upon a view 

 that we cannot find in this country, because this country is so large we 

 have not yet had time to cultivate it down to so fine a point; but the time 

 is coming when this great continent of ours will be as thickly settled, 

 and that same closeness of culture will be necessary. The time is coming 

 when the traveler as he goes through this continent of ours, not merely 

 upon the great lines of our railroads, but by the side roads we so often 

 travel, will see the flowers blossoming at every porch and over every window 

 where the outside culture is possible, and where it is not you will find 

 the roses blossoming in all the windows on the inside, and will meet the 

 sweetness and fragrance of the flowers within. And, as showing how 

 much there is in flowers, what one of you traveling anywhere in a strange 

 part of the country would feel afraid, even in the most wild and desolate 

 part of the country, to entev a house where flowers are loved and cul- 

 tured and appreciated, and where they are blossoming in their beauty 

 and sweetness, and who of us would be willing to be barbarian enough to 

 have a house and live in it year after year and never have the voice of the 

 flowers heard within it? (Applause.) 



President Underwood: I will ask Prof. Pendergast to res- 

 I)ond to ' 'The Rose as a Teacher. " 



Prof. W. W. Pendergast: There has been a mistake made here, in fact, 

 there have been several of them. Yesterday I was given my subject, and 

 when 1 came here this evening I found it had been assigned to somebody 

 else. President Northrup has made my speech, and I will submit to you 

 it has been a very good one, and I want to have the credit of it. (Laughter.) 



President Northrop: I was over to your place yesterday 

 and got it. (Laughter. ) 



Professor Pendergast: Now I know why I felt the inspiration going 

 out of me ever since you left. (Laughter.) I suppose I have been assigned 

 the subject, "The Rose as a Teacher," because I have been a teacher myself , 

 all my days. It seems strange to me that in a gathering of this character 

 an old granger like I am should be called upon to talk about the loveli- 

 est flower in existence. In the part of the country where I live, it is 

 always the custom to put the little wheels forward and let the big ones 

 bring up the rear. 



President Underwood: This is a bicycle arrangement where 

 the little wheel steers the big one. 



