LUTHER BURBANK 
wealth of detail than could be hoped for in a 
glossary or an appendix to these volumes. 
“A few years after I came to Santa Rosa,” said 
Mr. Burbank as he was sitting on his porch one 
evening, “I was invited to hear a new minister 
preach on a subject which, I was assured, would 
be of interest to me. 
“It was not my own church, so I tried to find 
my way to an unobtrusive seat in the rear, where 
I should disturb no one. But, as if by prearrange- 
ment, the usher would not have it that way—I was 
led to the front center, where I was given a pew to 
myself. 
“As soon as the sermon began, I saw the reason 
for it all. That preacher, with a zeal in his heart 
worthy of a better cause, had evidently planned 
a sermon for my own particular benefit. He was 
determined to show me the error of my ways. 
“He began by describing ‘God’s complete 
arrangements’ as evidenced in the plants about 
us, and rebuked me openly for trying to improve 
on the creations of Omnipotence. He held me to 
ridicule as one who believed he could improve 
perfection; he predicted dire punishment for 
attempting to thwart Nature and tried to persuade 
me, before that audience, to leave God’s plants 
alone. 
[226] 
