136 THE TREE DOCTOR 



the "God over all" is infinite in his attributes than in the fact 

 that He ''bears" with the ingratitude of his erring children. 

 Logically speaking, however, this long suffering is a necessity, 

 to a certain extent, because man is to so improve that, harmon- 

 izing with the will of his Creator, he will yet be the instrument 

 by whom this world will be converted into a paradise, the per- 

 fection, utility and grandeur of which, as yet "the eye hath not 

 seen nor ear heard," and the proof of these future accomplish- 

 ments by man lies in what he has already done. 



Do you want to grow flowers? "Yes, yes, of course we do." 

 All right ; intelligence is the first thing. In sixty years I have 

 been able to gather up a little knowledge, and I offer it to you ; 

 but are you ready to "do the doing?" If you will, then you can 

 have "crops" of any kind, but we will confine ourselves to flower- 

 growing at present. I will suppose that you are a clerk, me- 

 chanic, or in a situation in life that you cannot consistently hire 

 your work done. Are you ready to "cut out" the vaudeville, 

 club meetings, and all the other night-meetings which necessi- 

 tate your being "called in time" to eat a soft-boiled egg, and 

 then run to catch the car to get to the office in time to look in 

 the mirror before your day's work begins to see that your 

 head is "silvering" at the age of forty? You are! All right; 

 listen : 



Did you ever dig a ditch? A real, underground drain, three 

 feet deep, lay the tile, etc., with your own hands? You didn't! 

 Then you have missed half of the pleasure of life ! You pro- 

 ceed thusly : You arise five A. M. (four A. M. in summer) and 

 work two hours real work ; then instead of your wife bending 

 over you and whispering, "Dearie, it is seven-thirty, you will have 

 to hurry to catch the car. Is there anything you would eat this 

 morning?" you will lay aside the pick, spade and shovel, and 

 as you hurry through the hall to the bathroom yell, "Hey there, 

 wife, I'm as hungry as a bear; got anything to eat?" So it 

 comes about, in a kind of unconscious way, having created a 

 stomach that von feel would digest rat-tail files, the first crop 

 you grow is that of "roses" on your cheeks, and you will no 

 longer wonder where such rosy cheeks have been procured by 

 the millions of foreigners that bless America, but become them- 

 selves cursed when they have learned America's habit of turn- 



