Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1884 — THE INFLUENCE OF FLOWERS. [ARTICLE]

THE INFLUENCE OF FLOWERS.

BY HENRY WALTER. JR.

When, on a bright midsummer’s day, we stand in a portion of Nature’s wide domain, and cast our eyes furtively over a field of wild flowers, and our thoughts wander forward in bright anticipation to the future, how quickly do we acknowledge the value of these gifts from our Creator, as an emblem of His presence and watohfulness. How exhilarating do the flowers then appear! How captivating to the eye! How infinitely predominating they seem! Like an oasis in a desert, at which a weary traveler may quench his thirst, they appear like fertile spots in our pathway; we may either stop and enjoy their fertility or pass on and be lost to it forever. Thus, we may live on entirely ignorant of our rich possessions without utilizing them, while, if they were, they would repay us a thousand fold. They would be our comfort in youth and middle age. They would be our oomfort in old age. There are thousands of persons who yearly go sorrowing to the grave, while, if they had directed their thoughts in this direction, their lives might have been full of pleasure instead of sorrow. How quickly would they, too, have acknowledged the value and importance of the flowers. Accustomed to see them in every day life and benefited by their beauty and perfume when prostrated on beds of sickness, they might, indeed, have proved a blessing. So it is with men who work. After a hard day’s work how pleasant and recreating is a visit to our flower-garden. Then the cool*air of the evening, commingling with the perfume of the dainty blossoms, transports us, so to speak, from a state of weariness to one of comfort and satisfaction. The flowers that during the day drooped and faded under the sweltering rays of the sun, are now braced up by the cool air, and vie with each other in producing the most agreeable perfume. Our garden is the threshold to beauty and purity. Within it we find an assemblage of merry faces, upturned to the sun to catch its last rays ere it sinks from view in the west. Within it we behold the beauty for which these merry faces are noted, and inhale the delicate perfume which is emitted from their lips. What a beautiful sight it is! How eagerly do we pause and take a second look! Wrapped up in these flowers is a secret that remains for each of us to unfold. What a study for the painter, and for the sculptor, and each of these in his turn has knelt at the shrine of Flora. Poets have vied with one another in portraying her charm in language of explicit sweetness. Likewise have artists striven to excel one another in paying homage to her beauty. But, seemingly, how vain and fruitless have been their efforts. Not that their productions were not meritorious, but that the original was so infinitely perfect that it was next to impossible to produce a perfect likeness. Each generation, in the march of time, is making rapid advancement in floriculture, and the flowers of to-day are far more numerous and varied in character than they were a hundred years ago, consequently our poelts and artists have a greater work to accomplish ; but, to meet this argument, it may be truly said that, in this enlightened age of ours, they, likewise have made rapid advancement in their chosen arts. The influences to which we are subjected in the cultivation of flowers are alike numerous and benefiting. They give us pleasure and mental improvement here, and a bright insight into the future, where, we are told, light and sunshine are perpetual. They afford us ample employment for our spare moments, by which we not only accomplish good but are ourselves directly benefited. Our knowledge of the subject in question is thus increased; our thoughts are directed in that line; oui jndgment is rendered shrewder; and the mind, under these joint actions, is strengthened and rendered more competent to cope with subjects of greater depth. And, with the impetus thus gained in our given s£udy, how bright and merry indeed appear our lives. And, if but for a brief period our knowledge forsook us, into what a sad predicament would we be thrown. But such a thing cannot be. As the flowers increase so also does our knowledge increase; and as years roll on, these little lessons in floriculture may be turned to advantage and our vivid thoughts advanced on the subject may have become so eroneous and fixed as to be shining lights. —Floral World.