IMPROVEMENTS IN CEMETERIES. 109 



perfection and glory. How beautifully does the English bard 

 express this sentiment, — 



"Your voiceless lips, flowers, are living preachers; 

 Each cup a pulpit, and each leaf a book." 



Who would not listen to their teachings ! How intimately 

 do they enter into our joys and affections ! Who would not 

 live with them forever ! With what tenderness and affection 

 does Milton describe the sorrow of our mother Eve when 

 bidding farewell to her flowers in Eden, — 



" flowers 

 That never will in other climate grow, 

 My early visitation, and my last 

 At even, which I bred up with tender hand 

 From the first opening bud, and gave ye names, 

 Who now shall rear ye to the sun, or rank 

 Your tribes, and water from the ambrosial fount ? " 



And here let me recognize the refining and chasteninsf in- 

 fluence of woman, which so signally characterizes the prog- 

 ress of civilization, and the finer arts of modern times. 

 This is especially to be seen in her inter st for the cultivation 

 of fruits and flowers, and the adornment of " sweet, sweet 

 home." It is but a few years since woman was permitted to 

 grace the festive board of our agricultural and horticultural 

 exhibitions. Now, no occasion of this kind is deemed com- 

 plete without her presence. Formerly our tables were sur- 

 rounded only with the stalks of humanity ; now they are 

 adorned with the flowers of female loveliness, not "born to 

 blush unseen." Nor is this all ; she is now among our most 

 successful cultivators, training with tenderness and care 

 plants as delicate as her own person. Welcome woman, then, 

 we say, to these festal occasions, to the grounds we cultivate, 

 to our gardens and greenhouses, to all the beauties of nature 

 and the pleasures of art, and to a paradise regained on earth. 



Another strong evidence of the progress of refined taste 

 and culture is seen in the establishment of our cemeteries, 

 and the improvement of our burying-grounds. These once 

 neglected and gloomy resting-places of the dead, casting ter- 

 ror and horror on the minds of children and youth, are fast 

 giving way to the shady retreats and sylvan scenes of the 

 wood and forest. Where formerly decaying grass, tangled 



