The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1906-07-25
A TRIBUTE TO GRASS.
Poetic EuIOEy That Was Pronounced
L.. Ia.ualln

| Poetic EuloKy That Was Pronounced
by senator Ingalls,.
! The following tribute to grass, writ
ten by the late Senator Ingalls, of Kan
sas, should be preserved:
Majestic. fruitful, wondrous plant!
| The corn triumphant, that with the aid
| OF man hath made victorious process
sion across the tufted plain and laid
foundation for the social excellence
that is and IS to be. This glorious
plant transmitted by the alchemy OF
God, sustains the warrior in battle, the
poet In song and strengthens every
where the thousand arms that WORK
the purposes Of life.
Next Ia Importance 10 the divine
profusion OF water, light and air, those
three great physical facts which rem
der existence possible, may be reek'
oned the universal benehcence of grass.
Exaggerated by tropical heats and va
pors to the gigantic cane eongested
with its saccharine secretion or dwarf
ed by polur rigors to the fibrous hair
OF northern solitudes, embracing be
tween these extremes the maize, with
its resolute pennons. the rice plant OF
southern swamps, the wheat, rye. bar
ley oats and other cereals no less
than the humber Yerdure Of the Till
side, pasture and prairie ia the ten
perate zone. grass IS the most widely
distributed Of all vegetable beings and
Is at once the type OF our life and the
emblem Of mortality. Lying In the
sunshine among the buttercups and
the dandelions OF May, scarcely higher
In Intelligence than the minute ten
ants Of the mimic wilderness, our ear
Hest recoliections are Of grass, and
when the fitfu fever Is ended and the
foolish Wrangle Of the market aud the
forum Is closed grass heals over the
scar which our descent into the bosom
OF the earth has made and the carpet
Of the infant becomes the blanket of
the dead
Grass is the forgiveness of nature,
her constant beueiiction. Fields tram
pied with battle. saturated with blood,
torn with the ruts of cannon, grow
green again with grass. and carnage
Ii forgotten Streets abandoned by
traffic become grass grown like rural
lanes and oblterated Forests decay,
haryests perish, flowers vanish. but
grass Is immortal. Beleaguered by the
sullen hosts Of winter, 1t withdraWs
into the impregndbie fortress of its
subterranean vitality and energies up
on the drst solicitation Of spring. Sown
by the winds. by wandering birds,
propagated by the subtle horticulture
OF the elements. which are Its ministers
and servants. II sOftenS the rude out
line of the world, Its tenacious fibers
hold the earth In Its place and prevent
Its soluble comp0nents from washing
into the wasting sea. 1t inVades the
solitudes of deserts, climbs the inac-
cessible slopes and forbdding pima
cles Of mountains, modifes climates
ana determines the history, character
and destiny of the nations tnobtru-
sive aud patient ii has Immortal Yigor
and aggression Banished from the
thoroushtare and the field. it bides its
time to return, and whel vigilance Is
relaxed or the dynasty has persisted II
silently resumes the throne from Which
it has been expelled, hut which 1t nev-
er abrogates. Ii bears no blazonfy of
bloom to charm the senses with fra
GRANGE OF splehdor, but It's h1mely hue
Is more enchanting than the lily or the
rose, 1t yields 40 fruit IN earth or air
and yet should it's harvest fail for a
single year famine would depopulate
the world"