PREFACE. 



M 



iK'snity and of liis frailty. Tlioy lead us by flowery patlis from earth to heaven, where 

 the Jimvei-s fade not away. Shall we then eoMly disre<rard the tlowers that our God 

 has uiiule h) wonurously fair, to k'autify the earth we live on? 



M.thers of Anieriea t^nieh your little ones to love the Wild Flowers and ihey will 

 love the soil (»n whiih they }rrew, and in all their wandeiinLTs throujrh the wcHd their 

 hearts will turn l.aek with loving reverence to the land of their birth, t( that dear 

 home endeared to their hearts by the remembrance of the flowers that thty i)lucked 

 and wove for their brows in their happy hours of jrladsome childhood. 



How manv u war-worn soldier would say with the German hero of Schiller's 



tragedy: ^ 



" Oh Ldadly would I give the blood stained victor's wreath 

 For the llrst violet of the early spring, 

 Plucked in those «iuiet fields where I have journeyed." 



Schiller.. 



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