TIIE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
53 
highly prized by the sick poor than what seems to be 
more practical relief. One okl woman said, “ Why I 
didn’t know any rich people cared enough for me to send 
me flowers,” and a man who had a beautiful white 
Lily taken to him shortly before his death handled it 
lovingly and said, “I don’t know the lady who sent it 
to me, but she will know me in Heaven by this Lily. 
“ We had rather have these flowers than our dinner,” 
said two mothers as we strewed the lifeless forms of two 
tiny children with Rose-buds, and they had known quite 
well what it was to be pinched by hunger ; but the lov¬ 
ing care bestowed upon those who must so soon pass 
from them was more appreciated than gifts of food. 
Of eleven children at the Ear and Eye Infirmary only 
two had ever seen any woods, but all knew and wanted 
Buttercups. One sweet little child, suffering from 
spinal disease, begged the nurse to “give him a dink of 
water to put his flowers in,” and one invalid, after re¬ 
ceiving her box of choice flowors for several weeks, 
happened one week to be neglected. Her husband said 
she actually cried, her disappointment was so great. 
Sometimes a man refuses to take flowers, but this does 
not discourage them, as there are few who can resist 
their sweet influences, and the tender memories they 
often recall soften many a hardened heart, so that a 
knowledge of the way to a better life can be implanted. 
One day a German refused to take the flowers from 
one of the ladies saying, “ The other lady will give them 
to me.” Why he wished it was because two years 
before he had been in the hospital and he remembered 
this lady as having been kind to him. When she gave 
him the Roses he said, “You don’t recollect me, but I 
shall never forget you; and through the Winter as I lay 
very sick in my little home a good lady came and 
brought me delicacies, and it reminded me of your work 
here, and I loved to think there were so many ready to 
help us afflicted ones.” As this lady left his ward he 
said, “Will you come next week?” When again she 
saw him he lay dying, but amid his suffering he smiled 
and put out his hand for flowers, saying, “ I will talk 
next time.” That night he passed away, but his parting 
smile and blessing will never be forgotten by her who 
received so much gratitude for only a few flowers. 
One hardly know:-., in looking back over the records 
of the work, whether tho history of the beneficiaries or 
the contributors be the most touching. One mother of 
a dear little boy, whose interest in the Flower Mission 
began when he was just emerging from babyhood, and 
/ 
who had scarcely left it behind when he was gathered 
to the Lilies of Paradise, still sends most generous gifts 
in his memory, while a little cousin in Florida, whom 
he interested in the work, beside sending us beautiful 
scrap-books of her own making, has formed a band of 
little girls who work regularly for the mission. 
In addition to the thousands of bouquets sent out by 
the New York Mission there have been many pots, baskets 
and cans of growing plants distributed ; over a hundred 
jars of jelly, many dozens of fresh eggs, quantities of 
fresh fruits and vegetables, and such delicacies as the 
sick would appreciate. While among hospital patients 
more than a thousand fans were distributed. 
The jelly, milk, fruit, and delicacies were given out by 
sick nurses, city missionaries and Bible readers ; so care 
is taken that nothing shall be given except to such cases 
as have been investigated. During the past year con¬ 
tributions have been received by this Mission from one 
hundred and fifty-seven towns, of these eighty-eight 
sent flowers regularly, some as often as twice a week. 
The New York Flower Mission has been established since 
1870, as has also the one in Boston, so that it is by no 
means a new charity, for its growth has steadily in¬ 
creased until now many other large cities have entered 
upon this good work, and the opportunities for making 
contributions are within the reach of all. 
Lilacs, Lilies, Roses and sweet Geraniums seem to be 
the greatest favorites, although all varieties are ac¬ 
ceptable. The best methods for transporting them 
(which we take from their report) is to “ cover the bot¬ 
tom of your box with a damp newspaper or a few leaves 
or ferns sprinkled. If the flowers are to be tied in 
small bunches, ready for distribution, care should be 
taken to put a sweet or bright blossom in each bunch, 
and not to cut the stems short. The upper layer should 
be sprinkled and covered closely with paper to exclude 
the air as much as possible. As bouquets are crushed 
more easily than cut flowers, they should not be packed 
till just before the box is started. A paste-board box 
answers all purposes, and avoids the trouble of being 
returned.” 
As the time for sowing seeds is so near at hand we, 
have thought best to remind our readers of this good 
work in time for them to enlarge their flower gardens, 
with the view of doing practical work with the beauty 
with which nature rewards them, knowing that as often 
as her gifts are bestowed on others, so much more ready 
will she be to bless the giver. 
Flowers. —Let there be some one to set a tuft of 
Mignonette by every sick man’s pillow, and plant a 
Fuchsia in every workingman’s yard, and place a Gera¬ 
nium in every sewing-girl’s window, and twine a Cy¬ 
press about every poor man’s grave and, above all, may 
there come upon us the blessing of Him whose footsteps 
the Mosses mark, and whose breath is the redolence of 
flowors .—From Out-of-Doors. 
Nature is one vast mirror in which we may see the 
dim reflection.of a nobler field of thought, than the con¬ 
flict of jarring atoms, or integrals of atomic force can 
ever supply. We need first to gauge downwards that 
we may presently look upwards; and, turning from the 
shadow to the substance, from tilings seen and temporal, 
to the unseen and eternal, may vail our faces before the 
vision of a greatness that is unssarchable and a good¬ 
ness that is unspeakable.— Prof. Birles. 
TnE warm days in spring bring forth Passion Flowers 
and Forget-me-nots. It is only after midsummer, when 
the days grow shorter and hotter, that fruit begins to 
appear.— H. W. Longfellow. 
Beautiful lives have grown uj) from the darkest 
places, as pure white Lilies full of fragrance have blos¬ 
somed on slimy, stagnant waters. 
