506 
RURAL HOURS 
And sucli has always been the case ; the rudest savage, the 
semi barbarian, and the most highly civihzed races have ahke turned 
to the vegetation for their models. Architecture, as we all know, 
has been borrowed almost wholly from the forest, not only in its 
grander forms, but also in its lesser ornamental parts ; the lotus, 
the honeysuckle, and the acanthus, are found carved on the most 
ancient works of man yet standing upon the earth — the tombs and 
temples of Hindostan, and Egypt, and Greece. In short, from 
the most precious treasures of ancient art, down to the works of 
our own generation, we find the same designs ever recurring. The 
most durable and costly materials the earth holds in her bosom, 
stone and marble, gold, and silver, and gems, have been made to 
assume, in a thousand imposing or graceful forms, the lines of the 
living vegetation. How very many of the proudest works of art 
would be wanting, if there had been no grace and dignity in trees, 
no beauty in leaves and flowers ! 
Probably the first rude attempts at pottery were modelled upon 
the rounded forms of the Eastern gourds. The rinds of vegeta- 
bles of that kind were doubtless the first vessels used by man in 
antediluvian times. Wherever they are found, they are employed 
in this way by the savage races of the present day. The Indians 
of this part of the world were using the rind of gourds as water- 
vessels in their wigwams, when the Dutch came among them ; the 
colonists also borrowed the custom, glad to turn the " calabash " 
to account in this way, since crockery and other hardware were 
not easily procured. Before tin- ware and crockery had become 
so cheap, calabashes or gourds were constantly seen in American 
farm-houses, as water- vessels, in common use ; very possibly a 
few may yet be found here and tliere, in rural, inland districts, at 
the present hour. 
