The age-herald., 1899-03-05
THE. MURMUR
 OF THE WORLD

Some fair women are striving right
 worthily to perfect arrangements for a floral parade during the local carnival festivities in May. They merit the good
 will and encouragement of all good men
 and women-all persons in this valley who
 love flowers and who live with a reason
 able regard for the brighter side of life. There are persons who not for flow
 CTS; but they are best known to the police,
 perhaps. They have no place in civiliza-
 tion's broader plans of salvation. There are great numbers who cannot have flow CTS, to whom the absence of "the sweet
 messengers of love- is source of real loss
 and regret. Flowers were sent by the
 beneficent Father to cheer and gladden. ex- istence upon this planet. Even the birds
 love them, and the bees live upon their kisses. The maiden is lovelier when the rose blends it's bloom with the soft, surg ing blush that mantles modesty's fair face than when no flower rises and falls upon the heaving bosom of her who seeks with
 wide-open eyes to penetrate life's myster-
 ies, whilst she laughs the fleeting hours to the dusty past. Flowers adorn the maid
 and crown the bride, and each is the bet
 ter woman. Flowers at the altar, flowers
 upon the tomb; flowers in the cradle, and flowers in the poor old withered hands of age lying cold and pulseless upon the breast of faith in the darkened chamber where the dim tapers burn; flowers along the
 path to heaven; flowers in all places where love and innocence dwell and hope and faith subsist!
 It is the fading of the flower from the
 baby-face that wounds the mothers heart;
 it is the placing of the little white wreath upon the poor little length of earth that
 breaks her spirit. She rests the wreath in silent protest and in prss'er.
 So flowers come into our lives from the cradle onward. It may be said of them
 some what in that spirit spoken of children:
 They are the living poems; all the rest are dead. They fade and pass, but they come
 back in the springtime in the old form, in the old beauty, the old fragrance The slumberous soul of Narcissus passed into lily, and the world loves Narcissus. The soul of Caesar passed into star, and the world forgets. The noble queen Louise
 nurtured the corn-fiower, and the corn flower blossoms in every lane of the beau- tlful land she loved. The white rose and the red as emblems of strife deluged great land with the blood of brothers. The union of the two has produced the great est power the world has known. The blos-
 som of the golden apple of the Hesperides
 perfumes the bridal altar; the leaves of the oak crown the conqueror.
 In far sunny land I witnessed what an ll.1t (
 Battle of Flowers. wondered they did not call it the Feast of the Roses. The only part flowers have in battle is to catch some drop of the libation that Is drawn from hearts that are pierced by steel. Full many daisy this world around has caught
 to it's pure petals the, life from a brave
 man gone to sleep the soldiers sleep. But
 this carnival of flowers in the far land of the sunshine was wondrous fair. Kings
 were there. princes, great rulers of the earth, and women marvellous fair. How
 wonderful 1t all was! A long line of ve- | hicles of all sorts covered up literally in
 flowers, and thousands of men. women and | children in the roadways pelting
 each other with flowers. I saw one | prince at whose modest little cornfower
 trap were aimed full thousand bouquets
 
 beauty and sweetness in that trystng place
 of the great and the rich.
 | Yet have seen in ten thousand windows
 of humble Scotch cottages little pots with | blooms that seem to me to tell sweeter | tales than that Feast of the Roses at Nice | Those flowers of Scotland told of the striv-
 ing of number folk for the higher ideals | There was never yet one of those little
 Scotch windows that was not kept brightly | clean, and In which there were not bos- | soms of some sort, bright lights in the win | dow to guide My Jamie Hame." What
 civilized and eivilizing custom it isl
 Behind the crystal glass the flowers. beyond | the flowers the pure white chintz curtains, beyond the curtains Mary's radiant face and loving heart! Flowers have helped to make Scotland in some of the essentials of life the first country of the world.
 l Coming back to Birmingham all encour- l agement should be given to the fair women | who have the will for a floral parade, or | whatever name they elect to apply to the event. 1t would prove to be the greatest | attraction, and it would make for good. l It would be an elevating, an ennobling in- 1 Huence, and the woman of Birmingham | should unite in the effort to make it every l thing 1t deserves to be.
 | No life can be entirely beautiful if there be no flowers to brighten. no love to glad | den. Maiden and man gather the violets along tho embowered path and the breezes l and the birds and the humming bees whis- per the melody that reaches their hearts, and in the very intoxication of joy the world for them is still as they loiter in the ~ flower haunted way.
 | THE MURMURER