1880,] TKANSACTIONS. 39 



and realize that the same power that adapted the flower to the 

 insect, and the insect to the flower, is also moulding your life, 

 and by varied labor and discipline fitting you for a higher 

 destiny. No one who loves nature and studies it can ever long 

 feel alone or unloved in the world. 



Let us then cultivate these God-given fruits and flowers, not 

 alone for the dollars we may get from them, but for nobler 

 objects also. Every tendency in their whole cultivation is to 

 ennoble, to elevate, to refine. They add new joys to our homes, 

 and new pleasures to our friends. They give health and vigor 

 to our bodies, both in their cultivation and consumption. Let us 

 grow them in abundance, and spread them upon our tables with 

 a generous hand. Unlike much of the food we eat, there is no 

 deception in their manufacture, no adulteration in their substance, 

 no lurking poison in their delicious flavor. In their presence our 

 homes shall echo with the laughter of happy children, made glad 

 by the lessons of truth, purity and happiness that fruits and 

 flowers shall teach ; and through our love of nature shall come 

 love in its manifold forms, — love of our work, love of truth, love 

 of integrity, love of man, and love to God. 



