WHAT WILL IT MATTER? 
BY MRS. M. J. SMITH. 
The world holds a mixture of sorrow and pain; 
But what will it matter a hundred years hence, 
If we drink its wine bitter or quaff from its sweet¬ 
ness, 
Gather up its full treasure, 
Or its scanty crusts measure, 
Clasp hands with its poverty or double its pence? 
We walk through the world in a thorn-begirt path, 
And few are the blossoms that brighten our way; 
And oft, when the sun drappeth low in the west 
Night shuts down so starless, 
That we, almost prayerless, 
Much doubt if for us there will come a new day. 
There are burdens we bear, temptations we meet, 
And sometimes we falter and think we must fall 
When we come where the briars have grown to 
a hedge, 
With feet that are bleeding, 
Kind sympathy needing, 
While of friends once around us there’s no one 
to call. 
But what will it matter that the pathway is rongh, 
That under each rose hides a canker or thorn? 
The evenings and mornings, time counteth off 
swiftly; 
Then, courage, my brother, 
Let’s cheer one another. 
For the glad sound, “well done,” we shall hear in 
the morn. 
Chicago, III. 
The Mission of Flowers. 
“We are too poor to cultivate flowers,” 
-said a woman one day, as she looked at my 
garden in its blaze of autumnal glory; “but 
I have always loved them.” 
“Too poor to raise flowers!” I exclaimed. 
“That seems an impossibility. They will 
-cost you nothing but the earth and water; 
cuttings are easily obtained. They will be¬ 
stow inestimable riches upon you in return 
for the labor you give them, because they 
will turn your thoughts heavenward.” 
I wish I could impress upon every woman 
the necessity of cnltivating flowers, for even 
one pot of flowers will exhale a brightness 
around her and give her peace that passeth 
understanding. Weary with the daily rou¬ 
tine of cooking, baking, sewing and making 
•over garments, how many women of this 
<lay will sit down perfectly discouraged 
with the burden they are forced to endure ! 
Now, if from all this needful drudgery of 
life they could turn to a window full of 
flowering plants, and water them and dig 
up the soil round the roots, and remove the 
faded leaves, almost insensibly their hearts 
would become lighter, and their souls 
brighter, and with renewed zeal they would 
return to their tasks. I have kept five win¬ 
dows filled with plants through this long 
winter — over four months of unbroken 
sleighing and snow-drifts — and every cold 
night they have been put to sleep with the 
newspapers tucked behind them and around 
them, and only once, when the mercury 
fell 23 degrees below zero, were any of them 
removed from the casements. Not a plant 
has been chilled, though they have had to 
depend upon an open fire on the hearth in 
one room and a soapstone stove in an ad¬ 
joining room. And now they are filled with 
buds and flowers, and repay me ten-fold for 
all my attentions. Do raise flowers, my 
dear sisters, and learn for yourselves their 
heavenly mission. Let the little children 
have them own flower garden where they 
can dig and plant at their own sweet will, 
and refine their hearts by their toil among 
the plants, for it is, indeed, the pleasantest 
labor which God has given us. The richest 
home is truly poor without the flowers 
which the poorest home can possess, forja 
five cent cent packet of seeds will make the 
most humble home beautiful.— Bowditch's 
American Florist and Farmer. 
The Garden. 
BY SAM LAWRENCE. 
'^Vegetarianism is no hobby with my diet, 
nor do thoughts upon the subject trouble 
my mind very much. Nothing is better 
relished by me, or sweeter to the taste than 
good juicy meat where it is nicely cooked 
by “Eliza Jane.” We have a ‘plenty of 
meat on our table at all meals, and I don’t 
think there is the least danger of a' sensible 
person eating too much of it if the festive 
board is well supplied with lettuce, onions 
asparagus, rhubarb, peas, beans, potatoes, 
cabbage, turnips, corn, cucumbers, toma¬ 
toes, squashes, celery, egg-plant, straw¬ 
berries, currants, raspberries, grapes and 
other fruits and vegetables of which the 
ones named are but a smattering. Such a 
diet as can be had would be likely to make 
