The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1884-05-08
LOYAL W0MBN'S WORK
A Chat About Fl0wers---Our Young
Recruits---Relief Corps Notes.


Now that the balmy May zephyrs have begun
to blow and the tardy North to put on the gar
ments OF Spring, we find ourselves wondering
how many Of the hundred thousand homes into
which THE TRIBUNE enters viii have its vine
over The door, or its little plats of warmth and
color bordering the somber walks. We wonder
how many busy little hands are turning up the
moist sweet soil, and crushing the yielding
Jumps Of earth with their fingers and picking
out the sticks and stones and bits of bones and
deeayed roots, and scattering over the leaf
mould, or the rich black fertilizer that lies
hidden in the shady corner of the barn, under
the straw and the fodder that the cattle have
been tramping: and laying the bulbs and sow
ing the seeds, and turning the geraniums and
begOnlas from their cTampsd-up pots, to throw
of their sickliness and pallor in the warm sun
bath and tonic breezes.
We would ike 10 think that in every home
in the land the happy eyes Of the children were
watching the growth OF the vines and flowers
that they themselves have planted, both in
fower-bed and garden; that at night, before
the darkness came on, they were peeping down
to see if the beans were sprouting, and then in
the morning Were running out joyfully to find
they had burst their thick shells and had come
up like the little chicks with the egg-shells on
their backs, looking daZed and scared and hardly
knowing which way they had better run for
feel that they are waiting anIiously for the
first rapturous flush Of May pinks and carefully
estimating not only how many rose peonies and
snoWballs VIII be ready for Memorial Day,
but whether the mignOnette and the heliotrope
viii surely be blooming for mammals birthday,
and the four o'cloeks be as double and varie-
gated as last 4th Of July. We would ike to
know that the heart Of every reader of THE
IRIBUNE, young or old is as full of the
breath Of flowers rs it Is Of the sweet air, that
is the common Boon Of all, and the sunshine
that blesses and beauties everything animate
and inanimate.
We would have everybody love the flowers
because that love carries with it the purest and
sweetest happiness known under the sun. But
those who simply enjoy the sight Of them with
oUt giving some time OF thought TO their care
lose half the charm OF their influence. To love
them as sou ought, You must know them; know
how they respond to every touch and how glad
ard beautiful they grow when properly cared
for and tended. God might have made the
world without flowers, just as He might have
made the grass white and the sky gray; but He
chose rather to surround rs with manifold re-
1iectiOns Of the divine perfection, and whoever
fully makes the acquaintance Of flowers will
catch the heavenly radiance whichever way he
turns, as one catches j new and beautiful ray at
every turn Of The prism.
HOW TO DO IT.
And now, some one tells Us, she would gladly
plant flowers if she only had the right kind OF
seed to SOW, or bulbs TO set out, or some one to
stir up her beds and make them into proper
shape. Now, this strikes Us as very much like
the boy who would mol eat his supper because
he could not have some Of the ice cream and
cake that was all eaten Yesterday Suppose
You have no fine flowers and no one TO make
your beds into pretty oval and diamond shapes.
Turn mp the sward yourself in patches. If you
have nothing better use butcher knife I'VE
have done II ourselves many time) put four
oclOcks, tIlickly sown, IL one patch; in another
some asters, in another some yoUth-and-old-
age, or marigolds, or poppies. Only see that you
have them thick enough, so as to form mass Of
c0iors when IN bloom, and If too thick they
can be rhinned cut and planted elsewhere If
you have no vines for your porch or lattice, go
70 the woods and dig up some Virginia creep
eTs. only be careful You get the fye-lobed leaf
the three-leaf is always poisonous. Or find a
woodbine decorating an old fence, or stump,
as nature always viii cover up ugly defects, and,
digging away the grass give it half chance to
root and run. 1t VIII DO your heart good TO
sec it climb and cling and hang on with a
Thousand tenacious fingers when the wind
comes down upon it to drive it away.
Very tender and gentle are the hearts that
love flowers. We care not how rude and I'M
cultivated that man or woman may be, if only
he has made friends with the flowers he is
friend enough for Us. Flowers without and
peace within. That IS the story many hum
bic home IS telling Us, with the pinks growing
among the cabbages and the hollyhocks run
ming races with the lima beans. Dear boys and
girls, living in the bright, beautiful country
VIII You not each plant one little flower for the
hOmesick heart Of the editor, far away, in time
and space. from the sweet -briar that used TO
peep with the sun into her chamber window,
arousing her from her slumbers with its swing
ing censors, and saying: Come out and see
how your verbenas are growing"