1900.] ESSAYS. 31 



women themselves, demand that the thing which satisfies them 

 shall he perfect. I believe, however, the charm of life is found 

 in these hopes of the future — dreams of the future that .shall 

 come to us when we realize a perfect existence. 



Now, a flower is the nearest approach to perfection. One of 

 the visible sources of good. Take a rose or a lily, or any 

 highly-developed flower in its prime and examine it thoroughly, 

 and you can scarcely find anything in it that will give you occa- 

 sion for criticism. It is the nearest approach to the ideal thing 

 of which we have any knowledge, and for that reason it makes 

 its unconscious appeal to man and woman, speaking to the worst 

 as well as to the best of them, as a prophecy that, bye-and-bye, 

 all of their hopes will be realized in some good coming time. 



You look at your nice rose. Take the most perfect specimen 

 you can find, in its prime, and you will find that there is scarcely 

 any flaw or blemish in it, and for that reason it makes its strong 

 appeal to the souls of men. 



Thomson, one of our English poets, sings to us of the pleas- 

 ures of hope. I do not think that any body of people in the 

 world know so much about the pleasures of hope, as does the 

 true flower-lover. We are sustained and upborne by hope 

 nearly all the time. You take hope away from our lives and 

 there is very little left. Something came to me in thinking of 

 this branch of my talk, that had never crossed my mind before, 

 and when that thought was put down, one of the old memories 

 exercised itself in my thinking, and that old hymn came to me : 



"Bright star of hope 

 Come shed your beams on me 

 And send a loving message 

 From far across the sea," 



and I remembered that the emblem of hope many times was that 

 of a star; and then, by quick transition, flower after flower 

 passed athwart my imagination, and in almost every one of them, 

 I recalled that you find a star imprinted somewhere or other, 

 either in the petals of the flower or in the calyx. You look at 

 the rose or the carnation, and there you will find the star in the 

 calyx. You may go all over the floral world and you will find 



