FLOWERS.
Spake full well, in language quaint and olden,
One who dwelleth by the castled Rhine,
When he called the flowers, so blue and golden,
Stars, that in earth's firmament do shine.
Stars they are, wherein we read our history,
As astrologers and seers of eld;
Yet not wrapped about with awful mystery,
Like the burning stars which they beheld.
Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous,
God hath written in those stars above;
But not less in the bright flowerets under us
Stands the revelation of His love.
Bright and glorious is that revelation,
Writ all over this great world of ours—
Making evident our own creation,
In these stars of earth, these golden flowers.
—Longfellow.
Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity; children love them; tender, contented, ordinary people love them. They are the cottager's treasure; and in the crowded town mark, as with a little fragment of rainbow, the windows of the workers in whose heart rests the covenant of peace.
Ruskin.
[Arbor Day Celebrations].
GROWING OBSERVANCE OF ARBOR DAY.
It adds to the pleasure attending the observance of Arbor Day when we think how many are uniting with us in its celebration. It is but a few years since the day was first known and its observance was limited to a single one of our States. Now the day is known and observed from Maine to Oregon and from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. Not only is this true, but this our tree-festival so commends itself to all that its observance has spread more rapidly and more widely than any other public observance in the world's history. It is already established in portions of England, France, and Italy, in far-away South Africa and Australia, and we shall probably hear before long of its adoption in China and Japan.
And so, as we come together to have pleasant talks about the trees and to march out with songs and banners to plant them in school grounds, in parks, by the road-side or elsewhere, it will be pleasant to remember that so many others are engaged in similar services. It should make the day a happier one for us to think that so many will enjoy it as we do, as it should always increase our happiness to know that others are sharing with us anything that is good.
As it will, doubtless, be interesting to all engaging in the celebration of the day, we give on the next [page] a list of the States in which Arbor Day is observed.