[Vol. 2 



18 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



for the absurd price of a penny a copy, the cheapest of all 

 known commodities of general use ; and I often think that the 

 advertisements constitute the most interesting and serviceable 

 part of the paper. That is not the only reason why we print 

 so many of them, I am bound to admit, but it certainly tends to 

 ameliorate the condition and to make the habit almost in- 

 nocent. As for the advertiser as a dictator of editorial policy, 

 we do not find him very insistent or obstreperous. In a life- 

 time of experience, I have never yet known an advertiser to 

 solicit any selfish advantage or assert any right of arbitrary 

 interference on account of his patronage ; but it is a common 

 thing to have them come forward in earnest and practical 

 support of projects for the common good. We owe it largely 

 to the advertisers, the business men, that we have the Veiled 

 Prophet with us every year; that we had an incomparable 

 World's Fair; that we produced the unequaled Pageant and 

 Masque; and I don't believe they will permit the reproach of 

 failure to overtake the Symphony Orchestra. And I'm going 

 to include the Free Bridge in this assurance, though just now 

 I do not see any practicable way to connect with it. 



This brings me to the point of chief interest, to the Missouri 

 Botanical Garden, with its immense display of floral splendor, 

 its infinite sources of delight and instruction, of admonition 

 and of consolation. I wish I could botanize about it in the 

 thorough and skillful manner of our distinguished scientific 

 visitors. But alas, I have to make the bashful admission that 

 I probably know less about botany as a science than any other 

 person on your program to-night — unless it may be your 

 Toastmaster. The fact is, I have had less to do with flowers 

 than with quadrupeds, such as the Donkey, the Bull Moose, and 

 the Elephant — God bless him — begging the pardon of those of 

 you who don't happen to like him as well as others of us do. 

 But I am tolerably familiar with the part which flowers have 

 played in the affairs of the world. I know how all literature 

 is pervaded by their fragrance and their symbolism. I am not 

 unmindful of their cherished associations in the lives of all 

 classes, from the cradle to the grave. I know how, in many 

 instances, when wisdom reaches its limit and language fails, 



