The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1907-04-06
BEAUTIFUL TALK ON NATURE TO
THE PADUCAH WOMAN'S CLUB
Mr. Saunders Fowler Leads Minds to Study Nature in Vega
table Kingdom Delivered by Him at Open Meeting
Under Auspices of Ciyics Department

RNNt~N-~1
stolen from the rainbow of promise.
"Even before the dawn of civiliza-
ton the Egyptians worshiped the
Lotus flower as the emblem Of the
creation of the world from water,
Homer in his Illiad tells us of the
seductive influence of the Lotus flow
ers upon the soldiers of Ulysses,
causing them to forget home family
and country, and asking that they
might remain forever on the island
of the Lotus eaters.
"The Persian lover communicated
with his sweetheart confined in the
harem, by the means of flowers, and
to an Egyptian slave the language of
the flowers would be unintelligible.
Today among the civilized nations of
Europe certain flowers have a com
mon Significance. The Rose for love
and beauty; the Lily for purity; the
Violet of modesty; the Daisy OF in
nocence; Rosemary for remem-
berance; the Amaranth for immor-
tally: the Asphodel of death and the
unseen world; the Pansy Of thought;
the Hyacinth of sorrow; Narcissus
for standardization, and the Poppy
for Oblivion. The Laurel has long
been accepted as the emblem for
glory and the Oak for patriotism.
Historical and national associa-
tions cluster around certain flowers.
The violet was the flower of Athens.
The red and white roses of the
houses of Lancaster and York gave
name to a great civil war in England,
The War Of the Roses The rose Of
England thistle of Scotland
Shamrock Of 1reland-the Flenr-de-
lis Of France-all have a significance.
but here in the United States we
have the Golden Rod. which is very
poor national flower in my opinion.
"The history Of flowers is inter-
woven with legend and lyric. The
flower world is so full of beauty
whether it be in the spring-time when
they are waking up from their win
ter slumbers, or in the autumn
when they are closing their bright
eyes in sleep. they afford range OF
study almost incomprehensible. The
growing Of flowers is within reach of
us an, then why not cultivate 1t and
nourish a taste for the beautiful? Are
we not taught by divine injunction
to consider the lilies of the field?'
Even the lilies and other flowers can
teach us a lesson of truth.
"The Romans represented their
goddess Flora as a beautiful female.
with wreath of flowers on her head.
Her temple at Rome was situated
near the Circus Maximus and her fest
wal was held each year from April
2Sth. to May 1st 1t was the delight
and ambition Of all Romans to own
villa surrounded by vines and flow
ers, olive groves and citron trees.
Horace and Virgil abound in odes
addressed to their patron saints con-
nected with flowers and agriculture.
in the Greek mythology we find
the beautiful legend as to why the
flowers bloom in the summertime and
not in the wintertime. Listen and
will tell 1t to you. The poet Ovid
tells us that Proserpine. the beauti-
ful daughter OF Circes. was stolen
by Pluto and carried by him off to
the Internal regions. Ceres. her
mother, consulted the Fates who
ruled over the destinies Of men and
they promised that Proserpine should
be restored to her mother six months
out of each year. Ceres was so happy
at having her daughter with her
THAT she caused all the earth to be
,decked with flowers, and the crops OF
corn and wheat to grow. Proserpine
is the JOY and beauty of earth. which
when she leaves, goes back to win.
ter. for Ceres was again unhappy
this is why we have summer and
winter. and why the flowers bloom
only in the summertime.
Eve also get from the Greek myth
ology the beautiful story of how the
flower Narcissus got It's name. We
are told that the nymph Echo met ths
beautiful boy Narcissus. and Sc
praised him for his beauty that he
,eaned over the side Of stream II
order to see his image reflected II
the water That he became so fasc
mated with his picture he said h
wanted only to sit there and look a
himself, and when his friends came
to take him away they found onl'
the beautiful lower into which hi