The Kanzas news., 1857-11-14
The KanzaS News.
IA, 1857.
Henry ward Beecher on Flowers.


Mr.. Beecher said it had been stipulated
that regular speech should not be expected
from him, but that he should be permitted
to address the assembly In an oH-hand man
ner and if his remarks had no other merit
they should have that of appropriateness.
He found himself embarrassed, not by the
poverty, but by the richness of the subjec
So many things presented themselves that
he hardly knew which to choose; but on
the whole he had come to the conclusion
that he would speak of the flowers, rather
than Of the fruit not that be desired to as
sert the superiority of either to the other,
for he liked them both, and thought that
either of them was inferior to both of them
together. daughter.
He deemed that man thoroughly world
ly man who thinks the time spent on flowers
is wasted There were those who thought if a
flower helped mans tongue or pocket, or
the coarser part of his nature, it was good
for something. But tell such a man that a
flower was good for thought, or to elevate
the imagination, and made for mans better
nature, and he would not appreciate it, If
there was such man here, or lady, who
stood in the way of horticultural pursuits
on the part of their families, he would adj
wise them to go home and repent-not in dust
and ashes-yet at least in good garden soil.
(Renewed laughter
We were inclined to Judge of things by
the effect they had upon us, as if we should
think the God who made the mountains
greater than He who made the flowers. But
he Mr.. B. thought there were more evil
dences of loving thought and care in flowers
than In anything else-even than In the
birds. Nowhere did he respect the divine
hand so much as where it had manifested it
self in the creation of flowers, which alone
were complete proof of the natural good
ness and wisdom and taste of the divine
nature. He liked to ride through the open
fields and see what God most approved of
and he thought that the divine being had
approved of the dandelion, for it was scat
tered all over the continent, with its starry
blossoms, Its ducats, its golden spots.-
There was everywhere enough of them
Many and many plant, which usually went
by the name of weed, he Mr.. B. had put
in his list of flowers, because he Judged
from its frequency in what high estimation
it was held by the maker. And the many
hundreds of thousands of kinds of flowers
strewn over the world, showed him that God
had lingering love for fiowers-that he
never grew tired of creating them and
from the man that told him he should not
love and study the flowers. he would turn
away as from an evil counselor. The very
disposition of flowers In the natural world
was to him an emanation from God, scat
tered here and there as they were, in such
rich profusion, and in all positions and sit
uations, for only man ranged them in rectil-
linear rows. He could talk till morning, of
the revelations of Gods nature which flow
ers made to him, but time forbade it, and he
would pass to another phase of the pleasant
subject
He had been thinking since he had come
here of relieving the formality of religious
worship by the introduction of natural OBJ
jects, and he believed he might suggest,
when he returned home, how much better it
would be if his pulpit should be adorned
every Sabbath morning with flowers
Christ drew his lessons from the beauties of
nature, and preached in natural temple.
Some of the pleasantest recollectiona of the
speakers childhood were with the brass
flowers which adorned a portion of the
church where in his boyhood he went to
hear his father expound the Bible, and it was
always a relief to him, after passing up the
square wooden walls of the pew aisles, to
see his favorite flower in its place. He had
begged the old brass flower, when the old
country church was torn town, and he still
preserved it as precious memento.
The divine mind had always employed
fruits and flowers as the means of instruct
ing and of blessing men. Did we ever re-
t1aaf hot
garden of Eden-that the garden of Joseph
of Arimathea held the grave of the Savior
that gardens had been the scenes of many
sacred events. Even in the adornments of
the temple of David, fruits and flowers bore
conspicuous part. When man was in
the highest and purest state of mind, then
he was most susceptible to the influence of
flowers. No man that had ever passed
through the period of youthful love, but
did not remember how naturally, when we
loved, we also wished for flowers, and saw
IN them the fttest medium of expressing
gentle thought. So, when love was not
quenched, but the object of it was, and wel
We're called to lay the loved ones in the grave,
We wished for flowers. Never did he find
poverty so bitter as when be was called to
attend funeral among those who were too
poor 10 provide flowers for the dead and
ne always thought il as much his duty in
gong to such scene TO carry flowers as TO
carry his Bible
lie never was so overwhelmed as on one
occasion. when called to oficiate at the fu-
neral of a young maiden of sixteen, whose
parents and friends, in the extremity of their
greet, did not think of the details of the bu- |
nal preparations When he saw the fair
young creature laying in the coffin, he in
Voluntarily went out of the house, and seek
ing neighbOring florist, brought back with
MN to the place of mourning orange bios
SONS, all the white blossoms of whatever
pant ne could secure hastily. Before he
could cross the room with them, the mother
embraced him in transport of feeling. so
Ial he c0uld hardly crat To fh.a .ooffir la,