The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-04-19
brown stalk should certainty have been

ciowh stalh enouio certdiniy nave Deen forthcoming.
 Oh. science, here we can escape your tnrall! We can turn your facts into fairies! We will play like" that the
 mysterious agent" Is a dainty, green robed. tiny creature who possesses the power from on High, to catch the danc- ing sunbeams on the surface of the plaint, and imprisonins them in the Juices Of stem and leaf. turn the mix. ture into the exquisite emerald that delights the eye
 The fairy's name is chiorophyl. and when she does her duty (which is nearly always) we say. How green and fourishing is the plant" Just as we say How rosy is the childr
 Another lesson the lily teachers us Is the habit of doing things right. Let us see. Did you ever stop to think how many leaves, and where to place them, were points decided by the lily, for itself. as 1t grows? Oh, no. The pattern for It's shape, the arrangement on the stem and the average number of leaves used by the lily family since the first one lifted Itself to be named of Adam, was ordained" when that first bulb was planted by the Great Gardnerer. ere the coming of the first rain and the waking to life of all grow ing things. As lilies succeeded lilies. all obeying the Divine Law. each lily got so Tn the habit of doing just as had been done by the parent-lily that it could not now get out of the habit if 1t tried. Sc. each lily sits and spins in the sun; 1 spins root and scale. leaf and stalk, bud and bloom for the morrow! l All this work is so infinitesimal that tt can be packed in the compass of small seed or tiny bulb.
 But the bulb we planted. and that has made leaf and stalk so green, is budding to bloom. The bud is a green fish white: it is ridsed; and the num- Der of ridges shows the number of petals Cor '1eaves') the flower will have. The dews of heaven fall upon 1t; the sun entreats it, with kisses. to open. In a day or two 1t accepts the invita- ton. There it hangs in sunlight, from the top of its tall green stalk. thing of beauty.
 Is it any wonder as 1t seems to pal pitate with the joy of new life. that we think of 1t as offering itself as a chalice of praise to it's Maker?
 Within the radiant circle of tho snowy petals, we behold a strange ar- rangement, a long silvery green col urnn rises from within the base of the shorter. slender columns. bearing on their eXtremitfes daintily poised recep- tacles. seemingly flle6 with the dust of the Gold of ophir." They surely do "obe;sance" to the central figure, as they sway and nod in the gentle breeze.
 As one thinks on the litlies of far Palestine and hears again the voice of the Master as He says. Consider" one can but see Him in the center of the lily and those few potent figures that were inseparable from Him-the few who really did His work.
 Within the lily's alabaster walls. she does her divinely appointed work. The pistil and stamens unite to set agIow that spark of life that shall live on and on in succeeding summers of lily-time. Think of it---the mouths or the bulbs- to-be. open in the pistil In the center of the bloom; while away down uu- der the ground. snugly slowed away between the scales of the large pulh. a tiny film of threadlike substance con meets one with the other through the lilys stalkl
 The wind shakes the anthers of the stamens, the golden dust, or pollen. falls on the gaping mouths of the pis- til and another lily-bulb is fed into being!
 we have said the lilly spun in the sun"~and yet the Master said: They
 
 blind. human "spinners" think the word work must necessarily mean toll: but toll. according to our best author ities. means "to struggle" ito labor in a fatiguing manner" Consider the lilies; do they appear to "toil?"-yet they do the Masters assigned work
 Performing their predestined work in so natural. so cheerful. so perfect way. it becomes glorified and a joy. So the thrill of Gods will is felt through Nature. and the erring sons of God respond in their blind way, and struggle to get into accord.
 As the thrill runs from stamens and pistil to the wee plants under ground, they telegraph back. send the food leaves now; or another day, more material we are making the white flowers for next year now"
 The work goes on! and what we call "a little bump" on the parent bulb is a perfect plant!
 By and by the plantlet can take care of itself: it is wrapped in many extra warmth and food for the long season of inactivity. It becomes separated from the parent-bulb.
 On digging up your plants you say: "The lily has made other bulbs" So 1t has; and in doing so has kept its fam fly from extinction.
 Ye who have never planted a lily get one; and watch for the resurrect- ion that will surely come! And surely you will hear the Divine Voice as It said: Yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these"
 No-no such snowy purity of life as this, for Solomon no sucH beauty of good work as this. for Solomon; no such harmony. by perfect obedience of human nature to Divine Law as in this plant nature
 Has it taken 1900 years and science, to teach the human children of The