50 AGRICULTUEE AND EURAL-LIFE DAY. 



ground, and lo, a mystery. In a few days it softens, it swells, it 

 shoots upward ; it is a living thing. 



It is yellow, but it sends up a delicate spire, which comes peeping, 

 emerald green, through the soil. It expands to a vigorous stalk; 

 revels in the air and sunshine ; arrays itself more glorious than Solo- 

 mon in its broad, fluttering, leafy robes. At last it ripens into two 

 or three magnificent batons, each of which is studded with hundreds 

 of grains of gold. It sucks from the warm breast of earth the 

 watery nourishment for its growth; it quivers and thrills with the 

 forceful mystery of sense; it ministers to the higher mystery of 

 thought. Heaped up in your granaries this Aveek, the next it will 

 strike in the stalwart arm, and glow in the blushing cheek, and flash 

 in the beaming eye. The slender stalk which we saw shaken by the 

 summer breeze, bending under the yellow burden of harvest, is in- 

 deed the " staff of life." 



— Edward Everett. 



THE REPUBLIC'S EMBLEM. 



The rose may bloom for England, 



The lily for France unfold ; 

 Ireland may honor the shamrock, 



Scotland her thistle bold ; 

 But the shield of the great Republic, 



The glory of the West, 

 Shall bear a stalk of tasseled corn. 



Of all our wealth the best. 



— Edna Dean Proctor. 



THANKSGIVING HYMN. 



Praise God for wheat, so white and sweet. 



Of which to make our bread ! 

 Praise God for yellow corn, with which 



His waiting world Is fed ! 

 Praise God for fish and flesh and fowl 



He gave to men for food ! 

 Praise God for every creature which 



He made and called it good. 



Praise God for winter's store of ice. 



Praise God for summer's heat ! 

 Praise God for fruit trees bearing seed, 



" To you it is for meat." 

 Praise God for all the bounty 



By which the world is fed ! 

 Praise God, ye children all. to whom 



He gives your daily bread ! 



— Anonymous. 



