24th February, A. D. 1898. 



ESSAY 



BY 



Rev. G. W. KENT, Worcester. 



Theme: — What the Hoses have taught a Minister. 



Mr. President^ Ladies and Gentlemen: — It is not only an 

 honor and delight to address you this afternoon, but I feel an 

 inexpressible relief and comfort in times like these, when the 

 air is thick with threats and rumors of war, to turn away from 

 it a little space and talk to you who cherish and cultivate that 

 art which I think you will find through all ages has been the 

 gentle genius of Peace and Good-will. Indeed, do we not 

 know that man first began to turn from his wild, fighting sav- 

 agery when he settled down and began to cultivate the soil ? I 

 hope to find for you this afternoon, as I trace only a single 

 chapter in the art of gardening, the better and gentler meaning 

 which lies, I think, behind the sad secret of man's fierce, selfish, 

 combative nature. 



Let me confess at once I know nothing of the technical, 

 practical side of your art of gardening. I hardly know one 

 tree or shrub from another. I feel almost ignorant enouuh of 

 such things to join the ranks of those who have assailed the 

 devoted and disinterested service which your l)eloved and hon- 

 ored President has given to the city, only that I have a little 

 sense in my ignorance. I simply look up with wonder and 

 reverence to those fortunate people who have love and genius 

 for gardening, and I realize that there is health, happiness, and 

 profit in it if you only can ; I can't, but I can appreciate it in 



