1 
(XIX) 
be found, unhappily, strong suspicions of sheer naturalism, gairish worldliness, 
exaggerated sentimentality, gushing emotionalism, and of a tendency, little dis¬ 
guised, to cater to the merely sensuous—if not precisely sensual—element in our 
being: defects that are unworthy so high a theme and, by their equivocal con¬ 
sequences, most likely to cause failure of the object intended—and greatly desired. 
It will not do, forthsooth, to fly off into lackadaisical ecstasies over an un¬ 
suspecting daisy; or to fall into sham rhapsodies beside the unoffending butter¬ 
cup; or simperingly to croon in mock-heroics at the sight of victimized cowslip, 
an affectation intolerable save among the social and political dilettants of “prim¬ 
rose leagues,” formal or informal! 
Whilst such wildly enthusiastic outpourings of perfervid flower-love, are 
in the main commendable and, on principle, justifiable, there is, better, a sub¬ 
stantial, demonstrative manifestation of equally rapturous delight, with accom¬ 
panying sane enjoyment, but right guardedly and soberly expressed, because de¬ 
rived and ensured from an intelligent insight into the true significance of Na¬ 
ture’s cheery ornaments. And this will endure, and improve mind and heart and 
character, inspiring, as it does, “thoughts that breathe and words that burn.” All 
true poets have succeeded here, instinctively eschewing the lapses just noted. For 
ah! Flowers and Sister-Plants, though frail their form, and slender their texture, 
and exquisitely winsome their mien, are verily not such “trifles light as air” as 
to receive only inept, namby-pamby treatment; but, from their endearingly speak¬ 
ing object-lessons, they deserve to be hailed, first of all, with outbursts of philo¬ 
sophical and religious appreciation, the outcome of rational admiration. Their 
proper study will easily unfold to us how the mental, moral, and social life of man 
—a child of earth, and heir to Heaven—is to be built up; will repeatedly lay 
before him tableaux of the Fair, awakening and evolving within him the sense of 
the Beautiful, enhancing generally his esthetic tastes, adding degrees to his cul¬ 
ture; and will plentifully provide him with friendly or didactic means and occa¬ 
sions for rendering this earthly mode of existence pleasant and profitable to 
others, as well as enjoyable and beneficial for himself. 
His higher spiritual nature is, perforce, still further elevated and sustained 
by the serious and interested contemplation of the many-sided floral spectacles 
of whatever dimensions. Instantly he is thereby put in mind of the Beauty and 
the Bounty of God—for the Designer of these things must be infinitely more 
beautiful and bountiful than they-—and he is forthwith impelled to yearn after 
the one, to be profoundly and practically grateful for the other.—One morning, a 
Saint rushed into a garden in full bloom, to quiet a brain throbbing with super- 
