PALMS AND TROPICAL PLANTS 



5H 



gently with the slightest breath of wind. Sitting in the 

 white-paved pergola at Montecito, with overhead a leafy 

 shelter of pink-flowered passifloras, looking out over the lit- 

 tle lake, its surface dotted with water-lilies, its banks fringed 

 with drooping shrubs and vines, the hum of the bee and 

 the bird in the air — I looked down over this wonderful col- 

 lection of nearly 200 rare palms and listened to the music 

 that floated up from their waving branches like that of a 

 thousand silken-stringed Eolian harp; and there came into 

 my mind visions of a people that shall be strong with the 

 strength of great hills, calm with the calm of a fair sea, 

 united as are at last the palm and the pine, mighty with 

 the presence of God. I turned to greet my young host with 

 the thought that it is indeed a privilege to bear, as he does, 

 and as others may, a commission to make Beautiful Cali- 

 fornia more beautiful. Shall we not all, as home builders 

 and as our means may allow, thus try to serve the State? 



[51] 



