186 PROPAGATION OF ROSES 



own care Las brought to perfection. And the 

 mother ! — how many lessons of wisdom can she 

 impart to her children, whilst instilling into their 

 young minds the love of this healthful pursuit, 

 and teaching them to look up from the wonders 

 spread around them, to Him who gave the rose 

 its hue. To the time-stricken matron, also, even 

 after age has deprived her of the active enjoy- 

 ments of this taste, many pleasures still remain ; 

 under the shade of some far-spreading tree, she 

 can, from her rustic seat, enjoy the sight of well- 

 planned arrangements, executed under her own 

 superintendence, or surrounded by some favorite 

 plants, inhale the fragrance which comes to her 

 blended with sweet recollections of the pleasing 

 toils which insured their present luxuriance. But 

 it is to those who have known sorrow and afflic- 

 tion (and who has not ?) that the love of flowers 

 and gardening comes like a boon from heaven, to 

 shed its soothing influence upon the heart. In 

 showering upon this earth such profusion of blos- 

 soms of every odor, God has permitted us to bask, 

 as it were, in his visible smiles, and every Christ- 

 ian will love him better for loving the glowing 

 proof of that goodness which disdains not to 

 minister to every innocent pleasure of his creature 

 man. We feel we have perhaps digressed too far, 



