1893.] ESSAYS. 83 



lutely necessary for the enjoyment of life and the maintenance of 

 health. Digging in the soil makes children strong and healthy, and 

 contact with it by cultivation is beneficial to men and women as well. 



Again, the proper use of flowers in the home grounds is a source 

 of education and improvement of mind and heart. The love of 

 Nature and the taste for the beautiful are an acquisition desirable, if 

 not indispensable, to any well-developed character. 



Most children seem to have a natural desire to cultivate flowers, 

 and have some of their own, and if this propensity was duly encour- 

 aged it would become a permanent trait of their characters. It 

 would make them observing and familiar with the laws of Nature. 

 To know the names of the different flowers and plants of one's coun- 

 try, and the wondrous processes of their growth, is almost equiva- 

 lent to a liberal education. 



Such knowledge enlarges the mind and softens and refines the 

 nature, and therefore we should allow our children, girls and boys 

 alike, to have their little flower-beds in pleasant and well-prepared 

 places, instead of out-of-the-way spots, as is usually the case. If 

 our boys were taught to love and cultivate flowers they would not, 

 when they become husbands, as husbands now sometimes do, be- 

 grudge their wives suflicient land for a decent flower garden. 



Flowers also teach us the method of transmission in Nature from a 

 lower to a higher life. When we watch the growth and development 

 of a seed springing into life in the soil, and expanding in the air 

 until its branches are covered with leaves and adorned with smiling 

 flowers, we realize the possibility of the transition of ourselves 

 through the death portal into " the life elysian." The flowers awak- 

 ing into life and beauty which, every morning, verify the miracle of 

 resurrection before our eyes. 



" In all places then and in all seasons, 



Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings, 

 Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons, 

 How akin they are to human things. 



" And with child-like credulous affection. 

 We behold their tender buds expand : 

 Emblems of our own great resurrection, 

 Emblems of a higher and better land." 



