A PERSONAL LETTER, TO YOU 
Dear Floral Friends, 
I would like to write you a ten page letter today but the catalog material restricts 
the space. 
_ I want to thank you for the greatly increased volume of business and the many 
friendly letters also your forbearance and understanding for occasional delays. 
__ For twenty years, I have prefaced my catalogs with a personal letter,—to each 
individual customer. You may already have judged that they are for the purpose of 
promoting a love for flowers and their culture; to promote harmony and kindliness in 
families and communities; good will between races and nations; better health for all; 
better, wiser, more educational advantages; higher standards of living and a fuller, richer 
life for all; attention to the spiritual realities, to that voice within which will guide our 
thoughts and actions because it is the Voice heard by Moses and Jesus, by many even to 
the present, who live useful lives; fair play on the part of both labor and capital; 
freedom for all as the Atlantic Charter proposes. 
This is a large and ambitious objective. Too large for me, but we should all do 
the little or much that we can. 
Recently I have often discussed the war phases. The present time seems inoppor- 
tune to do that. Let us only express the hope that our leaders may be able to realize 
the principles of the Atlantic Charter. That means a free Poland, free China, free 
Philippines, free East Indies and India. That means Asia for the Asiatics and America 
for the Americans. Very small countries needing the alliance with greater powers will 
no doubt remain in such alliance until peace may be made more secure by a world 
organization able to restrain aggression and maintain peace. We do hope that inter- 
national power politics may end. There will never be peace until it does. 
' The love of flowers has done much to sustain the morale of the English speaking 
peoples in this war. Very many soldiers in training camps and even a few at the front 
have asked for and received our catalogs. A couple of our boys have written to us from 
the south-west Pacific, describing rare and beautiful flowers and one has even undertaken 
to collect seeds and forward to us. Some even make a garden from collected plants 
and move it when they advance. 
Many boys at the front are thinking about the flowers they may have at home when 
they return and even buying them, sending them to a friend to take care of. When we 
at home grow flowers, we are made stronger to endure and are insuring that our boys 
may find comfort and relaxation in them when they return. 
The death of my mother occurred on Dec. 3. Because her life was helpful not only 
to her family but to others, I am sure that I could write nothing more inspiring than to 
quote a part of the editorial of A. T. Richardson of the Pomona Progress-Bulletin. He 
wrote: 
“The present- world strife is bringing a heartache to every home, but it’s also 
making us realize, to some extent at least, what are the most important things to us as 
a nation as well as°to us individually. The belligerent nations of Europe not only 
attempted to stamp out religion and any enduring hope that religion brings, but they 
wrecked what home life they had and degraded womanhood. 
“When we look back over our history and think of the influences that have made 
this country great, our thoughts must center upon the home and the fine ideals of 
motherhood that have been upheld. | os 
“Among the pioneers who pushed the development of this country into the wilds of 
the west were great women who not only backed their pioneer husbands with courage 
and faith, but who, while enduring the hardships of those days, built a home life which 
is the foundation stone of our national existence. 
“Today funeral services were held at Glendale for the mother of Cecil Houdyshel. 
Mrs. Houdyshel was one of the outstanding pioneer women of this country. She set an 
ideal for motherhood that emphasizes one of America’s great riches. 
“Che, like her husband, was from a family of pioneers. The Houdyshels emigrated 
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