74 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1881. 



were found, in response to the invitation extended to them ; 

 notably a horse-shoe, which met with its proverbial luck. The 

 Chairman of the Floral Committee protested, in vain, that the 

 shoe alone was not a type of original design : the opinion of his 

 colleagues concurred against him that the foot in it * must be 

 imagined. 



At a late Exhibition of the Horticultural Society, of New 

 York City, a Floral Grand Piano, upon a bed of White Pinks, 

 was the centre of attraction. No envious competitor • seems to 

 have thought of the infinite possibilities to be developed from 

 the Harp of a Thousand Strings. Tiiere are always, upon such 

 occasions. Mortuary Pillows with their inevitable Requiescat. 

 But why does no one fancy a sweet thing in Coffins ! upon a bed 

 of Mourning Bride ! Why not idealize a Pyramid, combining in 

 the representation a life-size Mummy recumbent upon the sacred 

 Lotus ! Faugh ! the whole thing is without meaning and in 

 wretched taste. The evidences of Design are omnipresent in 

 Nature. Tlie work of imitation involves no exercise of genius 

 or originality, and should never be encouraged. Flowers are, 

 of and in themselves, the highest work of Art ; — whether you 

 consider the lilies of the field, or those strange Orchids of trop- 

 ical climes, that are such a puzzle and wonder to the eye. Em- 

 ploy flowers in all tlieir native grace, in whatsoever skill or style 

 of arrangement or combination. But do not entitle distortion 

 symmetry, or resort to the stable or charnel-house for symbols 

 of beauty! 



The Trustees, by their formal vote, a year since, authorized 

 the Finance Committee to dispose of such property, including 

 furniture, table-ware, &c., as might not be needed for the use of 

 the Society. Nothing has been done under the sanction of that 

 vote, for good and sufficient reasons. The question arises ; — 

 would it not be better to sell all of that property, whether needed 

 or not ; supplying the wants of the Society by the purchase of 

 something better adapted to our present requirements and, at 

 the same time, more tasteful in appearance. Our plates are old- 



* The foot in it was that of His Excdlency the Governor of the Common- 

 wealth, who, having stepped upon the horse-shoe, apologized for the faux 

 pas with characteristic readiness and grace. E. W. L. 



