290 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
the unknown tongue of hal)yhood and the most expressive 
gestures of eliildliood he poured forth one of the most elo- 
([uent outlmrsts to which we ever listened. 
Some times I think I inherited some of my enthusiasm 
fi’om the ra])tures of tliat baby boy. 
Thus it is ever. The beauty of the Lord has a trans¬ 
forming ])ower. A llorist once said to me “When I see a 
pure and beautiful La Tulipe in full bloom, pouring its 
fragrance on the air I feel ashamed that I ever uttered an 
oath.” 
Years ago in Chicago I saw^ six policement trying to 
land a drunken amazon in jail. I never saw such a po\ver- 
ful woman. Her hands were like tiger claws and she 
was making ribbons of those fine uniforms. The air 
was sulphurous with her terrible oaths. When landed 
she raged like a wild beast. A quiet little woman saw 
it all and said “I will go and see wild Mag.” She 
bought a beautiful bunch of fragrant roses. She wished 
to go in but the jailer said “you will be torn to 
pieces.” She went in however. Mag said “what are 
you here for? You get out or I will throw you out.” I 
love you Mag and called to see you.” “You lie, ther'^ 
don’t any one love me. Every body hates me and I hate 
everybody. Now go.” “Wait” said the little woman “and 
see what I have brought you.” She took the flowers from 
the box and when she saw their beauty and purity they 
awoke her woman soul and great sobs shook her massive 
frame. The gentle woman put her arms around her and 
their mingled tears bedewed the flowers. 
Teach your girl to love and care for dowsers and she 
will be a lady of refinement. Association with ^he 
purest and best dressed company on earth will have its 
influence. Teach your boy to spend some of his time in 
the front yard, and not all of it in the barnyard and you 
will have a gentleman and not a boor. 
A father was greatly worried about a wayward son 
One day he took him in a green house and then they 
walked through a flower garden on the outside. “Dad. 
this is something 1 like. Lets go out a little ways and get 
some land and go to raising dowers.” The father gladly 
consented. The boy was saved and became an enthus¬ 
iastic dorist. 
Flowers have an elevating and ennobling induence on 
character. I have had the pleasure of an acquaintance 
with some of our great leaders. The lamented Thos. 
Meehan was a genial, great souled man. The beauty of 
the Lord was upon him, moulding his character. He 
was at the front at the resurrection of a new era of 
progress which transformed the home. 
Samuel Parsons was a poet. He was a companion of 
the rose and his life was sweetened by them. What a 
visit we had. We forgot the passing hours. 
T. C. Thurlow was the drst to call the attention of the 
people to the Peony. He was one of the most winsome 
men I ever knew. His home was in fields of dowers. 
Their fragrance and beauty seemed to transform his life. 
When he was dying his children would bring in great 
armfuls of his favorites and they would refresh his de¬ 
sponding. spirit and sooth his pain. 
The induence of these men. though quiet, was per¬ 
vasive and powerful. Soldiers of peace. They left no 
path of ruin behind them filled with wrecked homes and 
broken hearts, and sad troops of widows and orphans. 
The paths they left were margined with dowers and over¬ 
hung with lucious fruits. They left behind them 
smiles, benedictions and blessings. The time is coming 
when we will give due honor to the heroes of progress 
and peace. For war with its disaster, ruin and sorrow is 
a vanishing delusion. 
Beauty is the ultimate, the dnish of all things. Your 
apple orchard is a dow er garden in spring time and more 
beautiful in the fall when the ripened and fragrant fruit 
done up in red and gold peers from its leafy coverts. 
When God produced the best—the strawTerry, he w^as 
not satisded simply to minister to the taste. He wraps 
it up in a tissue of beauty no brush can reproduce. When 
he finished the various regions of the earth He spread His 
beauty over them. The great Saharah, though a vast 
reach of desolation is often adorned wnth matchless 
beauty. The morning is ushered in mantled in glory. 
The gates of the evening are painted with molten gems 
wdth exquisite skill. There is a play of varying tints 
and colors on mountain, hill and plain. Some times a 
w^eird and mysterious light is spread over the sands so 
you seem Avalking on doors of gold. So delightful and 
inspiring are these desert scenes, the Arabs call the 
Saharah the Garden of Alla. 
In our owm land wm have vast desolations which are 
called the Painted Desert. There are surprises of beauty 
awaiting you on every hand. There are petrified for¬ 
ests, hills, mountains and plains over w’^hich the clouds 
cast their exquisite shadings and tintings, transforming 
sands and rocks into gardens of radiance. In the vast 
tundras of the North are fields of dowers of millions of 
acres. Even the Arctic night is brilliant wnth those mov¬ 
ing pictures of dashing splendor. In the Tropics wdiat 
treasures of loveliness! There are the exotics which em¬ 
bellish our green houses. There are the famous orchids 
for which men have laid down their lives. All through 
our North land how" entrancing were our forests. In 
the East the Kalmias, Azalias and Rhododendrons. In 
the West the Viburnums, Wahoos and hosts of ornamen¬ 
tals. In the mountains the most beautiful trees on earth 
held in reserve for the supremest adornment. Even the 
oceans are not forgotten. The doors of the sea are em¬ 
bellished with surpassing loveliness. In the bay of the 
Catalina Island, people go out in boats with glass bottoms 
so they can look into the deep where sea dowers are at 
their best. Some of you have heard of that wonderful 
feather of the Bermuda seas. The young man, William 
Phips heard of a Spanish vessel bearing enormous wealth 
which struck a reef and went dow n. Phips saw^ one of 
the survivors 50 years after and determined to find the 
vessel. What a task, worse than finding a needle in a 
hay stack. But he w^ent to England and secured a man 
of war and went on his quest of dnding a vessel in a vast 
ocean. He anchored in that Southern Sea and sent a 
crew in a great canoe. The men were despondent. 
What show had they of finding a ship lost 50 years ago. 
One of the men looking down saw an immense sea 
feather, the largest ever seen. They sent an Indian diver 
down to tear it loose. He came up with bulging eyes. 
“What great guns there was down there.” They found 
the sunken ship guarded by that sea feather. They took 
from the vessel 300.000 pounds in gold, silver and jewels. 
