Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 April 1883 — Artificial Flowers for Churches. [ARTICLE]

Artificial Flowers for Churches.

Ten dollars’ worth of artificial flowers, tastefully arranged in a different way each Sunday by some of tbe\ skillful ladies of the church, will last k whole season and do the work of sloo\worth of the real products of the hot-house. It is believed that this artificial business was first introduced in Brooklyn. It may be a comfort to genuine florists to know that one of the churches which conspicuously engaged in this sort of work came to grief at the hands of the Sheriff, and is now used as a place of worldly entertainment. A clergyman, who was supplying for the day a pulpit which was decked with “artificials,” happened to bring into his sermon an illustration on the growth of the flower from the seed. To clinch this illustration with the very best effect, he reached to a basket of flowers which stood near the pulpit and was about to pluck from it a pretty flower. “See,” said lie; “the rich colors of this dainty flower. Note its delicate fragrance. It’ grew from a little seed no larger than the head of a pin.” Just then, with thumb and finger, he laid hold of the stem of the delicate, dainty and presumably fragrant thing, with a view to removing it from the basket and holding it up to view. Great was his sudden disgust to find the stem made of wire inwrapped with green muslin. When in the next moment the horrid revelation dawned on his mind that the whole basketful was a lot of counterfeits, he looked as if green potatoworms had suddenly crawled upon hftn from out the pulpit desk. The congregation smiled, and the preacher pushed on with his sermon as best he could. —Philadelphia Press.