190 
So to the church give generously of 
your choicest and most appropriate 
blooms. A single beautiful Rose and 
its foliage in a dainty cut-glass vase 
that would be exquisite, full of charm, 
and quite sufficient in the home, would 
dwindle into comparative insignif- 
icance in the spacious dimensions of 
God’s temple. Some flowers, like the 
chaste Easter Lily and the stately Calla, 
seem peculiarly adapted for church 
decoration. A beautiful, pure flower 
in its proper place is a sermon in itself. 
“ Thou art a preacher, sweet and good 
And this low niche, where thou hast stood 
Thv pulpit, from whose tiny walls 
A sermon quaint and earnest falls.” 
— ( May R. Smith.) 
Give flowers to the sick, cheerful 
flowers, with little perceptible odor as 
a heavy scent is often depressing to a 
sufferer. For an invalid, a growing plant 
in bud is preferable, as it is more ex- 
hilarating to the sick to watch a bud 
unfold, than to view the fading and 
dying of cut flowers. 
Give flowers to the poor that 
‘‘Ye have always with you.” — (Matt. 26:11.) 
There are many deserving flower lov- 
ing persons who after attending to the 
pressing material wants of the family 
have nothing to spare for the purchase 
of the luxury of flowers. It is touch- 
ing to see some of the pathetic attempts 
of poverty-stricken people, in some of 
our crowded cities, to coax back to 
health, under adverse conditions, some 
plant which was probably obtained 
through a worthy flower-mission. To 
pass through such a congested district 
with flowers is to be promptly besieged 
by childish appeals for them. The 
love of flowers seems universal in chil- 
dren, and thr< ugh this medium it is fre- 
quently simple to bring some brightness 
into the hard and often cheerles^ lives 
of their elders. 
The gift of a plant is a philanthropy 
that will not be resented by the poor but 
proud and its influence for good can- 
not be estimated. Such a gi t has been 
known to completely revolutionize the 
mode of life of a slovenly family. 
First the window had to be washed to 
admit light to the plant ; then the room 
and its scant and soiled furnishings 
cleaned to correspond. With the home 
more comlot table, pleasant and sani- 
tary, the men of the family began to 
spend more of their leisure time in it 
until finally, due to their efforts to live 
up to the constantly improving sur- 
roundings, the family life was uplifted 
through the wholesome influent e of a 
blooming plant. Verily, this giver 
proved a true missionary and entitled 
to the reward promised — 
“ Give to the poor and thou shall have treasures in 
heaven.” (Matt. 19:21.) 
Give flowers to the rich, a gift of flow- 
ers is fine enough even for royalty; and 
often those cloyed with the lavish gifts 
of wealthy associates would appreciate 
keenly a simple gift of a home-reared 
plant, mothered by the tender care of 
the true flower-lover, and bearing that 
intimate, personal touch that gold can- 
not buy. Such a gift may bring back 
sweet memories of less prosperous but 
happier days when acquaintances were 
measured by true worth and not by 
dollars ; and when the circle of friends 
made up for what they might lack in 
Gfye Slower (Brower 
accomplishments and worldly goods, 
by hearts that weie kind and true. 
“ Kind hearts are more than coronets." 
— (Tennyson.) 
Yes, many a lonely heart beats under 
bejewelled and silken raiment. 
Give flowers to the old, though they 
may have lost their strength and can- 
not attend to flowers as in their prime, 
still the love of flowers with them, has 
been increased instead of lessened, by 
the accumulation of honored years. 
Through their many and varied asso- 
ciations with flowers, the old may be 
enabled to live over again many of the 
eventful incidents in their lives. 
Give flowers to the young To im- 
bue a love of flowers and a deeper ap- 
preciation of nature in the heart of a 
child, is to give a prh eless legacy. 
Give flowers to the dead. Let their 
cold hands hold this last token of your 
love and enduring esteem. Place gar- 
lands on their graves and on those of 
the soldier dead. 
“ And bring the nob'est flowers for all 
The nation’s laddies dear. 
Let Rose and Lily o'er them fall 
And birds sing requiem clear ” 
- (Ruth Raymond.) 
Give flowers to those bereaved, for 
these sweet comforters bring balm and 
consolation to the heart bowed down 
by grief. 
Give flowers to the gay, they will 
make their happiness more complete. 
Give flowers to the wedding guests, 
and above all give flowers to the blush- 
ing bride. 
“ Bring flowers, bright flowers ! for the bride to 
wear, 
They were born to bloom in her shining hair, 
She is leaving the home of her childhood’s mirth, 
* * # * 
Her place is now by another's side, 
Bring flowers to deck the fair young bride.” 
(Mrs. Hemans .) 
Give flowers to thote steeped in 
crime. Such pure messengets wdl 
brighten the gloomy cell and may 
bring thoughts of days that were inno- 
cent, of those dear ones upon whom 
has fallen unmerited disgrace, and 
lastly, a desire to turn from evil ways. 
Give flowers to the indifferent Who 
knows but that a beautilul flower 
graciously and opportunely given may 
be the direct means of awaking a la- 
tent love of flowers and their culture 
that may prove a benefaction to man- 
kind and a benediction to the once dis- 
interested individual. 
Give flowers and potted plants at 
Easter time and Yule-tide when they 
are peculiarly appropriate on account 
of their emblematic significance As 
December flowers are rare treasures, 
and convey the Christmas spirit better 
than any inanimate and less beautiful 
objects can, a floral gift is, indeed, 
a gracious one and at Christmas when 
the spirit of “peace good-will,” and of 
giving is at its height, is an especially 
good time to preach and practice the 
gospel of flower giving which should 
extend throughout the entire year. 
In short if you are able you may 
give flowers to all and on any occasion 
with the assurance that the gift will 
be in perfect taste, and when the time 
comes to pass to your reward, you 
may feel the “saving grace” that Betty 
Briarose did, who says : 
“When I come to stand at the pearly gates, 
I fear a stern voice may say : 
‘ ’Tis a sinful and thoughtless mortal 
December, 1920 
Who often forgot to pray.’ 
Then I hope some saint who knew me here 
Will look down from glittering towers 
And say, 'She wasn’t entirely bad. 
In that naughty planet of ours 
She gave away millions of flowers.’ ” 
Work for Commercial Clubs. 
First, the town must be made a good place 
to live in. And it must look like a good 
place 10 live in ! 
Materialists and (he Commercial Club is 
usually ninety eight per cent, strong on ma- 
terial results usually overlook the commer- 
cial value of the aesthetic. A man mav live 
in a pig sty and get used to it; but even he 
notices the difference when he gets out. A 
town may be so used to dogfennel and ragweed 
on the streets and mosquito breeding ponds 
along the lower r ads, and tin cans and rot- 
ting rags in back alle\s-that it does not 
have nerves and the blues and chills every 
time it sees itself. But the stranger who 
sees it afar off, even from the car window, 
does not stop unless he is compelled to, and 
then gets away on the next train. Moreover, 
the looks of a town unquestionably affect the 
spirits of its people. And a raggedy town has 
a raggedy soul. 
Instead of sweating to raise a fifty thousand 
dollar bonus to hire some alleged manufac- 
turer to come to town, the Commercial Club 
had better raise five hundred dollars to clean 
up the town and make it fit to come to. 
Trash cans and street sweepings should 
not be left to the Women’s Wednesday Club. 
The Commercial Club should make sentiment 
— big, solid sentiment in favor of every 
modern device for keeping the town clean 
and sanitary; and it should even back the 
city council and push it, if neces-ary, into 
having free garbage wagons, employing an 
official grass-cutter, and keeping the public 
property in such shape as to be a perfect ex- 
ample 
It is easy to say that bread is more import- 
ant than flo vers And it is. The most im- 
portant things in the world are bread and 
shelter. But ninety-six per cent of the peo- 
p e in the countn to tns and small cities are 
above the bread line. At least ninety per 
cent of them huive some luxuries. The first 
and most important luxur\ is a pleasant en- 
vironment Pra tically all the people see the 
town even day. 
If the streets are dean, the lawns well 
clipped, flo-vers in the yard one does not re- 
quire either wealth, taste or culture to enjoy 
that. Consciously, or unconsciously, every 
person on the streets gets some sort of pleas- 
ure from a to vn of that sort. It makes peo- 
ple want to stay. And when people want to 
live in a town — when it is so healthy, so 
attractive, so pleasant that they love to get 
to it tnd hate to leave they are going to in- 
vent their o-vn occupations and build their 
own f ictories Thev will find wavs of mak- 
ing a living. — Wm. H. Hamby, in “The Com- 
mercial Club in Our Town” in Saturday Eve- 
ning P>st. 
Unusual Fall Weather. 
Reports reach us from many sec- 
tions of the unusually late blooming of 
many different kinds of flowers Ro-;es 
in bloom as late as the first week of 
November are not uncommon this year, 
and perfect bloom is also indicated. 
The editor’s garden also has borne out 
the reports from other sources ; Pan- 
sies, Hollyhocks, Delphiniums, Phloxes, 
and other things blooming through 
October into November. We shall not 
expect to see another fall like this for 
many years to come. The unusual 
October has been followed by an un- 
usual November and an early winter 
may be the logical sequence of an ex- 
tremely mild October. 
