The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1909-04-09

The next order OF exercise was the
presentation OF the flowers to those
who had won prizes; but before this
was done. the president of the Little
Mothers society arose on the plat
form and said:
Children, we will give you your
lilies in a pot in a few minutes, but
before we do so / want to tell you
something about the history of this
wonderful flower. which Is regarded
all over the world as the symbol of
the Christ, because of its great
beauty and purity. The mother of all
the lilies is called the Gigantic lily.
its Latin name Is Lileum. In the
world there are 1900 kinds of lilies.
The Gigantic lily grows across the
sea in New South Wales. But lilies
grow all over the world. The lily has
been celebrated in song and story for
hundreds of years. A very celebrated
woman, by the name of Julia Ward
Howe, who lives in Boston, wrote a
great hymn calledd The Battle Hymn
of the Republic 1t is set to the tune
of John Browns Body 1t is consid-
cred to be one of the greatest hymns
eve written In America. At the open
ing of this hymn the author alludes to
the lily in the following words:
I'm the beauty of the lilies, Christ
was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that trans
figures you and me,
AS he died to make men holy, let us
die to make men free,
= As we go marching on"
But little Mary Ellen Ryan couldn't
wait to hear any more moralizing
about lilies. She wanted her individu.
al flower. Stepping up to the plat.
form and holding a flower pot up to
view, from which no bloom sprouted
and from the bottom of which flowed
a small stream of water, she said:
Teacher, kin | have me flower?
Katy Kinsella a y I can't have none,
cause mine is dead. But | tried so
hard to keep 1t alive-'deed | did.
teacher. They must have been some
thin the matter with mine, / didn't
do nothin' 'cept put water on it, jest
as Miss Hope tot me, but the posy
went away. | got a tin quart pail.
what mamma got the lard in, an I
scrubbed it with ashes till it was
bright like the lookin' glass, an | car
ried it down FIVE stairways into the
yard, where they is a big pump, an
| filled the pail six times every day
here her voice broke-"an' / carried
it upstairs, cause they amt any water
pipes in our house, an | poured 1t all
on the posy. But before / poured all
the water or it it growed real nice.
TIL jamie Barlow, that lives on our
floor, swiped the green top of nv
flower to make a full dress bouquet
for his girl that was goin' to a ball."
Here Mary Ellen's voice was
drowned for a minute in the flood tide
of lamentation. Then she slowly
emerged from the swelling tide, as
Miss Hope muttered under her
breath:
"Oh, dear! oh, deari I shall have
to go out; I surely can't stand this
Then Mary Ellen resumed, as her
head emerged:
III watered 1t, an I watered IL.
Till the cold came an froze the pump
the pump, an couldn't get any more
water; an l had to go to Mrs. Muir
phys next door to get some. An
when the wind was comm in the
winder, an the fire was out in the
night time, I put my dress around the
posy an hid it under the bed. But 1t
never come back, it never come backi
That was three weeks ago, an sister
says that | put SO much water on the
posy that Ill" Here the tides
OF regretful emotion the
gentle soul once more, and she CON.
GUIDED, with a passionate burst of
yearnlng, Sister says that I thought
the posy was too thirsty an IL
drowned 1t with too much water"
The next morning Miss AmarylIis
Hope went into the most exclusive
flower shop on Broadway. She picked
out a Philippine lily, three feet tall.
with a golden heart and a bell flower
eight inches across. She said to the
clerk:
this down to Christie street
Miss Mary Ellen Ryan-and tell her
not to use the water so plentifully
this time"