LESSONS WITH PLANTS 93 



party is over they are valueless. Flowers greet us with a 

 burst of color and fragrance on a perfect morning in June, 

 awakening feelings of delight, and we associate the pleas- 

 ing emotions with them. On the other hand, the same 

 flowers, sensed in some striking way at a funeral, become 

 unendurable because of the associations they arouse. 



When Queen Louise was fleeing from Napoleon with 

 her family, the carriage broke down ; and while they 

 were waiting, to soothe little William's crying, the queen 

 made him a crown of the blue corn flowers by the road- 

 side. Ever afterward they reminded him of his mother's 

 eyes and became his best-loved flower, Centaurea Emperor 

 William. 



The problem of developing love of flowers thus becomes 

 one of forming pleasing associations with them, and it 

 should be remembered that the strongest and most per- 

 sistent association is that related to the ivill of the indi- 

 vidual. Under normal condition/ a person will love those 

 things about which his work centers, to which the effort 

 and energy of his life is devoted. This is the only real 

 "treasure" of life, and "where your treasure is, there 

 will your heart be also." Parents, even, do not love their ^ 

 children, nor children their parents, unless they work and 

 sacrifice themselves in each other's behalf. In fact, love 

 is often defined as the desire to do good to the object 

 loved, so fundamental is this aspect of its development. 

 In a word, we may say that the affections form and grow 

 about our habitual doing, if this be pleasurable. 



With these preliminaries clear, we may begin by asking 

 the children : What flowers do you like best ? Why do 

 you like these better than any others ? 



