ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING 391 



MARY HOWITTS USE OF FLOWERS. 



HERE is another of those beautiful gems which can never 

 be brought to the light too often. And when more appro 

 priately than in the middle of our spring-time, while burst 

 ing buds and fragrant blossoms are delighting every 

 sense ? 



God might have made the earth bring forth 



Enough for great and small, 

 The oak-tree and the cedar-tree, 



Without a flower at all. 



Wo might have had enough, enough 



For every want of ours, 

 For luxury, medicine, and toil, 



And yet have had no flowers. 



The ore within the mountain mine 



Requireth none to grow, 

 Nor does it need the lotus flower 



To make the river flow. 



The clouds might give abundant rain, 



The nightly dews might fall, 

 And the herb that keepeth life in man, 



Might yet have drunk them all. 



Then wherefore, wherefore were they made 



And dyed with rainbow light, 

 All fashioned with supremest grace, 



Upspringing day and night ? 



Springing in valleys green and low, 



And on the mountains high, 

 And in the silent wilderness, 



Where no man passeth by ? 



Our outward life requires them not, 



Then wherefore had they birth? 

 To minister delight to man 



To beautify the earth. 



