FORETHOUGHT IN FARMING. 115 



which they would not, had no coming fair held out its induce- 

 ments ? Has no farm had more careful working, no garden 

 more thorough attention, no cattle better care, no horses a 

 better training, no vines a better pruning ? In short, no mind 

 a better cultivation for the fair which to-day pleases us ? 



Go into yonder hall, and amid its exhilarating beauties, feel 

 an answer vibrating along every nerve of your emotional nature. 

 Read athwart the western wall, these encouraging words, made 

 doubly encouraging by abundant fruits in trying times : " The 

 earth shall make its dividends, though every other depository 

 fail." Then let your eye like a pendulum swing across and 

 read from the opposite wall, " He that tilleth his lands shall have 

 plenty of bread." Linger for a little while in that little grove 

 of flowers and catch their inspiration as well as their fragrance, 

 and then look up and feel the depth of that simple wish, " Bring 

 flowers." Oh, where are flowers inappropriate ? 



Bring flowers to crown the cup and lute, 



Bring flowers, the bride is near ; 

 Bring flowers to soothe the captive's cell, 



Bring flowers to strew the bier. 



Look once more in that other corner, and lay to heart the 

 wisdom of that other motto, " I die if neglected." How many 

 a flower, how much fruit, how many a budding mind, how 

 many a blossoming joy has died through neglect. As you 

 ponder these lessons, can you fail to see that those Avhose hands 

 have been busy in arranging as well as cultivating all that is 

 beautiful, have had their minds alive and active with thought. 

 As you see original methods of arranging fruits and flowers, 

 and notice how much arrangements add to native beauty, and 

 mark also, how much superior is this year's display to its prede- 

 cessor, can you fail to see mental culture exhibited in greatly 

 improved taste. The retrospective glance, revealing merely the 

 products of skill and industry, is not enough. 



Imagine how much has been done that can never be seen. 

 See in how many departments of human industry the desire to 

 do something has been awakened or created, by the stimulus of 

 approbation evoked by the society. From the cottage and the 

 palace, from the workshop and the farm, from the merchant 



