28 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1900. 



that the influence of all things that are pure, the influence of all 

 things that are good and that are beautiful are continually acting 

 upon their lives. They color our thinking in some strange 

 way ; they influence our conversation, and the very thought that 

 our minds are occupied with the concern of things that are 

 beautiful in themselves, works within us its constant miracle of 

 improvement by which we are made better than we would have 

 been without them. So, certain things I want to say this after- 

 noon will hinge upon the thought I have given you in my brief 

 introduction. 



You know someone, I forget what poet it was, has said that 

 "Man is never, but always to be, blessed." The idea of the 

 poet I imagine to be this : that pleasure is something that 

 seldom materializes. We can scarcely ever say of the existing, 

 passing moments, that this is the very happiest one. The joys 

 of life sometimes haunt us when we think of the past through 

 which we have lived. They are worth having, but there are 

 better ghosts than these, — the ghosts of the joys that are yet to 

 come, of the pleasures that we shall have in the bye-and-bye, the 

 good possessions that will be ours when the days and months 

 and years have passed away ; and the wise man and the wise 

 woman does not think so much of the existing, fleeting moment 

 as he or she thinks of the morrows that will come; and what- 

 ever measure of power we have, if we are wise, we shall use so 

 that the morrow may be better than today as we go on. 



Now, the fact is, I say that wise people are always making 

 arrangements, so that tomorrow shall be better than today, and 

 everything in life has some influence in shaping our thoughts 

 and our activities, and I ask you whether there is anything in 

 this world that can so cultivate the habit of forethought as the 

 culture of flowers. 



Every man and woman that is a true flower-lover must answer 

 by thinking of the time that is coming; not so much about the 

 occupation of the present as about something that must be done 

 to make ready for the spring, summer or fall, that shall be here 

 even in the bye-and-bye. 



If you were to look through the different professions and 



