1915] 



ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION BANQUET 19 



they have the gift of talking to us and for us, in a form of 

 expression which we can grasp only with our feelings and 

 emotions, and which our hearts rather than our heads must 

 interpret and utilize. 



But I must not deviate too far from the relation of the editor 

 to floriculture, which is similar to that of the boy in Mr. 

 Lincoln's story who, being asked if he liked gingerbread, re- 

 plied, you remember, ' ' I reckon I like gingerbread better than 

 any boy in this town, and get less of it. " So it is mainly with 

 the editor and the bouquets. He is more apt, as a rule, to have 

 stale vegetables thrown at him, figuratively speaking, and to 

 be condemned to wait for his flowers until he reaches that point 

 in his career where he no longer has use for anything else. 

 But, happily, the editor is nothing if not a philosopher. The 

 discipline of his profession teaches him patience and tolerance 

 and sweet reasonableness. In the nature of things, he gives 

 more attention to other people's affairs than to his own — so 

 much so, indeed, that now and then he is accused of being over- 

 zealous, not to say over-inquisitive, in that respect. If a 

 bouquet comes his way it surprises and confuses him, since it 

 contradicts his personal experience that if virtue be not its own 

 reward, then it usually remains unrewarded. Nevertheless, 

 he goes on boosting instead of knocking, because it is his 

 mission to spread the gospel of good cheer and make more 

 room in the sun for those who inhabit the earth. He welcomes 

 particularly an occasion like this, where he can help to cele- 

 brate the choice taste, the fine civic spirit, the munificent public 

 benefaction of a man like Henry Shaw. And his pleasure is 

 doubled when to such an opportunity is added the chance to 

 compliment the Missouri Botanical Garden upon having for 

 President of its Board of Trustees a man with the many ex- 

 cellent qualities of Edwards Whitaker. Science is the basis 

 of the great enterprise which Mr. Shaw founded, of course, but 

 science needs trained business sense to invest its service with 

 the highest practical usefulness. Mr. Whitaker has shown in 

 a marked degree his realization of the possibilities of his posi- 

 tion, and the steps by which the benefits of Shaw's Garden, as 



we familiarly call it, can be materially multiplied. I feel 



