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tions, as in gardens and amongst flowers. For them, 

 and not for om'selves, we reclaim the scattered blossoms 

 along the wildernesses of Nature ; we ask of them a more 

 tasteful care in the cultivation of their beauties, and for 

 their pleasure and adornment, we mingle their glorious 

 hues into innumerable shapes of grace and loveliness. 



Welcome, then, for this, if for no other cause, the Hall 

 which you have thus prepared, and decorated and gar- 

 landed with the choicest treasures of the Spring. Long, 

 long may it stand, an evidence of no vain or idolatrous 

 worship. Unlike those grosser handiworks of cold and 

 glittering marble, which crowned, in ancient days, the 

 barren cliff, or looked, in lifeless beauty, 



Far out into llie melancholy main, — 



but touched with the spirit of every gentle and noble 

 association, and consecrated by the soul of all our dearest 

 affections, welcome, to them and to us, be this Temple of 

 the Fruits and Flowers. 



