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INTRODUGTION. 
FLOWERS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
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bal s we turn over the leaves of the great book | 
GS of nature, and examine the bright-hued, | 
gracefully-formed, and perfume-haunted characters ! 
inscribed thereon ; when we muse upon the beauti- | 
ful and holy thoughts, the refined fancies, and the 
tender and pleasant memories associated there- 
with ; we cannot fail to acknowledge gratefully the 
wisdom and goodness of Him who has scattered 
them so plentifully over the face of the earth, for 
man’s pleasure and instruction. 
Well and truly has it been said that “‘stars are 
the flowers of heaven,” even as “‘ flowers are the 
stars of earth ;” and when those beautiful adorners 
of our terrestrial and transitory abiding-place are | 
all withered and dead, then, as though to compen- | 
sate for their loss, and to lift our hearts to the con- | 
templation of higher and holier things than can be 
met with here, do the number and radiance seem 
to increase of those shining forms that sprinkle the 
expanse of that celestial realm where we are taught 
to look for our everlasting habitation. 
It was only natural, that from an early period, i 



