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Our 

 Children and Their Flowers 





One of the children be- 

 side the Snapdragons. 



IN this chapter I will endeavour to tell how our children 

 came to be interested in flowers, and how, in connection 



with their gardening, we have had special opportunities 

 to teach them many useful and interesting things. 



And what an important item would be added to juvenile 

 education if flower culture, no matter on how limited a scale, 

 formed a special subject, and the love of Nature were by 

 this means awakened in the mind of the child. 



Children and flowers ! Does it not seem that they are 

 inseparably connected ? Both are such great sources of 

 joy. Both stand to us as symbols of innocence and hope. 



Flowers Grow for Those 

 Who Love Them. 



Children and flowers have equally great need of sun- 

 shine and love. The cheeks of our little ones grow pale 

 during the sunless days of the long dark winter in Sweden, 

 or if they are deprived for a little of fresh air ; and flowers 



cannot exist at all without 

 sun. Sun is their life-elixir ; 

 without it they wither away. 

 It is clear that children 

 must have loving care ; and 

 there are many who hold 

 that flowers thrive best when 

 tended by loving hands. 

 Personally, I, too, believe 

 this theory, judging by my 

 own experience in gardening. 

 Many a time have I 

 found strong and beautiful 



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