An Illustrated Monthly Rural Magazine 
-FOR EVERY ONE WHO PLANTS A SEED OR TILLS A PLANT.- 
Subscriptions 50 cents per year. 
-:o:- 
ADVERTISING SPACE 55.40 PER INCH. 
Vol. 6. 
DECEMBER, 1885. 
No. 12. 
DBG B®M BBR. 
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Ji^ solen^ toi^es December Wise 
wl^ite o[t seVere, 
Brings to our tl^at fateful n^on^ 
tb e[ ? f^' es 
viCar. 
So full of c^aritu; 
So greet tl^c conpii^g 
LET US SING. 
O Painter of the fruits and flowers 
We own Thy wise design. 
Whereby these human hands of ours 
May share the work of Thine! 
Apart from Thee we plant in vain 
The root and sow the seed; 
Thy early and Thy later rain, 
Thy sun and dew we need. 
Our toil is sweet with thankfulness. 
Our burden is our boon; 
The curse of Earth’s grey morning is 
The blessing of its noon. 
Why search the wide world everywhere 
For Eden’s unknown ground 1— 
That garden of the primal pair 
May never more be found. 
But blest by Thee, our patient toil 
May right the ancient wrong, 
And give to every clime and soil. 
The beauty lost so long. 
Our homestead flowers and fruited trees 
May Eden’s orchard shame; 
We taste the tempting sweets of these 
Like Eve without her blame. 
And North and South and East and West, 
The pride of every zone, 
The fairest, rarest and the best, 
May all be made our own. 
Its earliest shrines the young world'sought 
In hill-groves and in bowers, 
The fittest offerings thither brought 
Were Thy own fruits and flowers. 
And still with reverent hand we cull 
Thy gifts each year renewed; 
The Good is always beautiful, 
The Beautiful is good. — J. G. Whittier . 
