ABOUT FBUrrS, FLOWERS AND FARinXG. 119 



exercise, and temperate living in all respects ; and that tho 

 great objects of our existence, in respect to ourselves, is a 

 virtuous and pious character, and in respect to others, the 

 raising and training of a family after such a sort tliat 

 neither we, nor men, nor God, shall be ashamed of them. 



Now we are not quite so enthusiastic as to suppose that 

 floriculture has in it a balm for all these mentioned ills. 

 We are very moderate in our expectations, believing, only, 

 that it may become a very important auxiliary in main, 

 taining health of body and purity of mind. 



When once a mind has been touched with zeal in floricul- 

 ture it seldom forgets its love. If our children were early 

 made little enthusiasts for the garden, when they were old 

 they would not depart from it. A woman's perception of 

 the beauty of form, of colors, of arrangement, is naturally 

 quicker and truer than man's. Why should they admire 

 these only in painting, in dress, and in furniture? Can 

 human art equal what God has made, in variety, hue, grace, 

 symmetry, order and delicacy ? A beautiful engraving is 

 often admired by those who never look at a natural land- 

 scape ; ladies become connoisseurs of *' artificials," who live 

 in proximity to real flowers without a spark of enthusiasm 

 for them. We are persuaded that, if parents, instead of 

 regarding a disposition to train flowers as a useless trouble, 

 a waste of time, a pernicious romancing, would inspire the 

 love of it, nurture and direct it, it would save their daugh- 

 ters from false taste, and all love of meretricious ornament. 

 The most enthusiastic lovers of nature catch something of 

 the simplicity and truthfulness of nature. 



Now a constant temptation to female vanity — (if it may 

 be supposed for the sake of argument, to exist) is a display 

 of person, of dress, of equipage. In olden times, Avithout 

 entirely hating their beauty, our mothers used to be proud 

 of their spinning, their weaving, their curiously-wrought 

 apparel for bed and board. A pride in what we have dorie 

 is not, if in due measure, wrong or unwise ; and we really 



