THE VOICES OF FLOWERS. 21 



said to be fragrant. The delicate fraxinella will dart out little 

 flashes of light when held near a flame, as if angry at the proxi 

 mity of so terrible an enemy. After that its fragrance ceases, 

 because you have broken up and emptied the little bottles of 

 sweet odors that nature opened so softly and carefully to the 

 air. From every flower which exhales a sweet breath, a fra 

 grant oil can be distilled, with more or less difficulty according 

 to the character and delicacy of the fragrance. Associated 

 with the little atoms of which we have just spoken is a mys 

 tery, and a truth more surprising than the mystery. For what 

 object in the great world of design and beauty were these 

 little oily globules made? Is the answer simply this? &quot;That 

 they might impart to our senses the joy of their rich and varied 

 perfumes.&quot; Then, if this solves the mystery, there is left a 

 wonderful truth. If the object was nothing more than to charm 

 us with the perfumes which plants and flowers exhale the 

 world over, then these little floating atom-worlds of fragrance 

 tell us of a Creator s love as eloquently as do the shining planets 

 that roll on in their grand courses around the same sun that 

 bathes these little atoms with its light. Did these little balls 

 spring away from sweet flowers under the impression that they 

 too were pollen-dust and were designed to some end, or had 

 some immortality to spend? Then, as the dying naturalist 

 Buffon exclaimed in view of a blessed immortality, &quot;if a decep 

 tion, tis a glorious one.&quot; And not entirely a deception; for 

 they live : these little atoms live, in their effects upon the hearts 

 and thoughts of millions who enjoy the flower-world and 

 every morning bless God that in creation he had some ends 



