408 



The Weekly Horists' Review. 



Drcembeb 27, 1006. 



Latent Possibilities. 



The wonderful possibilities that are 

 resident in a handful of seed, or a single 

 seed, is a consideration of no mean pro- 

 portion. How much of human history 

 may be connected with the product of a 

 single seed? The little acorn that you 

 so thoughtlessly throw into the soil may 

 bring forth a plant that shall grow for 

 a hundred years, and men may come for 

 generations to it for shelter and protec- 

 tion. It then may* have attained such 

 proportions that it will serve as a keel to 

 a great vessel that does business in all 

 seas, among the nations. 



The possibilities that lie in a block of 

 marble are seen to those only who have 

 eyes to see. In that block of marble the 

 sculptor sees, in dim outline, a form. 

 It grows more beautiful as he meditates, 

 until at last, a creation of graceful mould 

 and of angelic expression stands before 

 his vision, for the liberation of which he 

 devotes his energies. Days lengthen into 

 months, and months into years, but he is 

 unmindful of them so intent is he on his 

 work. No, that is not the word. It is 

 work, but that does not express it. It is 

 rather the giving expression of himself. 

 It is a travail of soul, a mental birth. 



The product of his genius is almost a 

 thing of life. It was in the block of 

 marble, was it? Yes, and no. To the 

 one man, yes ; to the other man, no. More 

 exactly, it was in the mind of the one, it 

 was not in the mind of the other, until 

 the one had revealed it to the other. 



So it must be in every field of human 

 activity. The boy, yes, the man, must 

 see visions and dream dreams, always 

 with his eyes open. The merchant lived 



old saying is quite true, "the boy is 

 father of the man. ' ' The principle holds 

 good in every craft or vocation in life. 



The Law of Harmony. 



The man who would succeed in this 

 department of human activity must un- 

 derstand well the external elements with 

 which he has to deal. He must see the 

 possibilites vested in a tiny seed, the 

 possibilities in a stretch of wild, un- 

 broken landscape, or a mound of broken 

 rocks. The gardener must have the imag- 

 ination of the poet, the fine discrimina- 

 tion of the artist. He must not only 

 produce the material, but he must see 

 that the material is arranged so that 

 there shall be no " war among the roses ' ' 

 — no clashing among the flowers. 



We have all been in gardens where 

 there was a profusion of beautiful flow- 

 ers, looked at individually, and yet there 

 was, in reality, little if anything, to ad- 

 mire. On the other hand, we have visited 

 gardens where there were only a limited 

 number of plants, of very common sorts, 

 and we were enchanted by them ; com- 

 mon every-day plants and flowers, but so 

 beautiful! They all seemed made for 

 each other, and were so arranged that 

 they were a harmonious feature of the 

 landscape, each one doing duty to the 

 whole. 



We have not far to look for the reason 

 for all this. It is that which, in one 

 woman, makes her never well dressed, 

 even if she is clothed in silks and 

 adorned with diamonds. It is that which 

 makes another woman well dressed, even 

 if the fabric grew in the fields of Ala- 

 bama, and was woven in Lawrence, and 



Azalea Firefly^ a Popular Christmas Plant at Boston. 



in that poor boy we saw some years ago, 

 back there on the farm. We did not see 

 him — the merchant — but the boy we saw 

 was looking him squarely in the face all 

 the while. We saw the boy. It was Abe, 

 or Jim or Dan. But Abe saw Abraham 

 Lincoln (as a young man he confessed 

 as much) striking the shackles from mil- 

 lions of slaves. Jim saw James Garfield 

 meeting the unexpected, whatever turn it 

 took; the spirit was living within him, 

 waiting for the occasion. The occasion 

 came and he was there, because Jim was 

 acquainted with James and knew he could 

 be depended upon in an emergency. The 



unadorned. On this line we might con- 

 tinue indefinitely, but it is not necessary. 

 Is it necessary for me to say that the 

 shepherd must love his sheep, the gunner 

 his gun and the plantsman his plants? 



Not a Question of Money. 



Let us now turn from the work to the 

 workman himself. The sordid question 

 of dollars and cents concerns all of us, 

 for food, shelter and raiment we must 

 have. But the man who never gets above 

 the money standpoint of his calling never 

 gets far toward success in the highest 

 degree. It is the man who becomes en- 



grossed in his work and thinks not of 

 the pay who is doubly paid. 



The genius in his craft is the man who 

 has so much in his soul seeking expres- 

 sion that, work hard as he may, he never 

 quite catches up with himself. There is 

 more yet seeking expression and he re- 

 joices every new day for the opportunity 

 of working out that which is pleading 

 for expression from within. A sense of 

 duty well done is in itself a rich reward, 

 and he who does his full duty is sure of 

 substantial remuneration. Elbert Hub- 

 bard says: "Folks who never do any 

 more than they get paid for, never get 

 paid for any more than they do." 



A Broad Field. 



Look over the whole catalogue of 

 trades and professions and tell me which 

 one has a broader range of subjects than 

 has your calling. Contrast your breadth 

 of vision with that of those who toil in 

 factories. The factory operative stands 

 before a machine year after year doing 

 the same thing, no better and no faster 

 than he could do it at the end of the'first 

 six months of his service there. His 

 movements are almost as automatic as 

 are those of the machine, of which he 

 seems to be almost a part. Dangers are 

 so many that his mind must be con- 

 stantly on his work. He cannot think of 

 other things. ISfot so with you. Your 

 work invites thought, deep, long con- 

 tinued and profound. The book of 

 nature, always open before us, invites 

 our thought. And the more thoroughly 

 we read out the thought of nature, the 

 more nearly right we are doing our work. 

 But it must not be forgotten that nature 

 reveals no secrets to those who think 

 they know it all. 



Victory won gives fresh zest to the 

 victor on every field of conflict. And so, 

 as thoughtful men advance they find no 

 day hanging heavily on their hands. 

 They are borne on by a mighty rushing 

 tide of events. The days are all too 

 short, the seasons pass too quickly. The 

 man had been toiling but he knew it 

 not, for he had not watched the hands 

 on the dial, but nature for her secrets — 

 thinking after God his thoughts. Such 

 craftsmen may grow infirm of body be- 

 cause of advancing years, but never does 

 the man grow old. He grows rich and 

 reverent and profound. Hundreds of 

 such noblemen we have seen. 



Ennobling Influences. 



No priest at the altar deals with any- 

 thing purer than the flowers — the handi- 

 work of God. And he who has part in 

 their creation should feel the dignity of 

 his calling so that none should be found 

 more child-like in straightforward sim- 

 plicity than he.. We must not forget that 

 there are some exceptions, and in some 

 instances, as in Latin, sometimes we 

 thought the exceptions were more general 

 than the rules. How out of place is a 

 man of low degigns and unbridled pas- 

 sions in a bower of pure fragrant flow- 

 ers. How a man of coarse, unwholesome 

 speech disfigures the landscape. How out 

 of keeping with his surroundings a man 

 looks who has po regard for his personal 

 appearance, A^ho allows himself to go un- 

 shaven and unwashed. One feels to say 

 with Hamlet, when he heard the coarse 

 jokes of the Vlown, ' ' Has this fellow no 

 sense of his business that he sings at 

 grave-making?" The true man sees pur- 

 ity in the dew-drops, hears music in the 

 wind as it plays in the branches above 



