Music of the Wild 



ers have no perfume ^vhate^'el• and are not visited 

 by ,s^^'eet-]o'^'ers. If color Mere only a signal to in- 

 sects, it miglit as well ])e all red or yellow. If 

 ])etals ^^■ev(i solely an attraction to honey-gatherers, 

 why call bees and butterflies to bloom having no 

 s^^'eetness? It is as sure as can be that flowers are 

 not only for s\\eet-loA'ers, I)ut for us, to give pleas- 

 ure, to glorify the landscape, to set a joy-song 

 singing in tlie soul. 



Flo\\er forms are complicated, beautiful past 

 describing, and their colors Aaried to suit every de- 

 The gree of taste and circumstance of usage. The 

 Patent- Lord gave the blossoms decorating the earth, as a 

 Divinity masterstroke, a finishing touch, the patent-right of 

 Divinity stamped uj)on the face of His work. 

 Then siu-ely it is an offense to Him r\ithlessly to 

 tear u]) ]dants by the root, and to kill them for 

 the moments gratification. Any one who wishes 

 to preserve a pro])er s]nrit of gratitude to God for 

 His gift of the flo\'\'ers will cut a few carefully, 

 and leave the plant to bloom another year, or ma- 

 ture its seed. I think, furtJier, that any person of 

 refined taste not oidy will leave a plant alive, and 

 a part of its bloom to mature seed ; but he also will 

 leave some of its ftoxccrs for tlie next traveler of 

 the road. The highway stretches endlessly, and 

 human soids more sensitive tlian you would dream 

 are uix)n it each hour. There is not always a song 

 on every lip. The lines on some faces indicate wea- 



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