The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-03-20

Little fiower-but if l could under
What you are, root and ALL and all
! should know what God and man is" "
And RusIiin, that poet who chose
to write in prose. realized it. when in
one of his finest passages he exclaims:
TO dress it and to keep it, That
then was - lie our work. Alas,
! What Work have we set ourselves up
on instead. How have we ravageJ
! the garden instead Of kept it-feed-
ing our war horses with its flowers,
and splintering it's trees into spear
shafts And at the East a flaming
sword. Is it's flame quenchless? and
are those gates that keep the way in
deed passable no more? or is it not
| rather that we desire no more to
| enter? For what can we conceive of
| that first Eden that we might not
yet win back, if We chose. 1t was a
place full of flowers We say. Well:
the flowers are always striving to
grow wherever we suffer them; and
the fairer, the closer. There may. in
deed have been Fall of Flowers as a
Fall of Man: but assuredly creatures
/! such as We are can now fancy moth
| ing loveler than roses and lilies
which would grow for us side by side.
leaf overlapping leaf, till the earth
| were red and white with them, if we
! cared to have it so. And Paradise
was full Of pleasant shades and fruit
full avenues Well: what hinders us
from covering as much of the world
as we like with pleasant shade. and
pure blossom, and goodly fruit Who
forbids it's valleys to be covered over
with corn till they laugh and sing {?
| Who prevents it's dark forests. ghastly
and uinhabtable, from being changed
into infinite orchards, wreathing the
I hills with frail-floretted snow. far
| """S ~ tHC Hall lSHleu nOrlZOn OF
April and flushing the face of all the
autumnal earth with glow of cluster
ed food? But Paradise was a place
of peace The world would yet be a
place Of peace if we We're all peace
makers. But SO icnS as we choose to
contend rather with our fellows than
with our faults and make Of our
| meadows battle-fields instead Of pas
! lures SO long will the Flaming Sword
turn every way and the Gates of Eden
remain barred close enough, till we
have Sheathed the sharper flame of
our own passions and broken down
the closer gates of our own hearts"
| Let us not cheat ourselves by declin-
ing to accept the lessons Of beautiful
harmony that the flowers silently
teach, but let us see to it that our
children not understanding or realiz-
ing what it means. may neverth eless
come daily within the field of these
holy influences. Their minds will
work better because they are affected
| by the eternal harmonies: their souls
will be better. because they will learn
to despise deformity in all of its
! phases.
Scatter diligently in susceptible
! minds
The germs Of the good and beautiful
They will develop there to trees. buds.
bloom,
And bear the golden fruits of Para
disc"
! The salutary effect Of the beautiful
is found not only in flowers; but in
/ form. The harmony Of form with
symmetrical lines is a potent tho
| silent force in its effectiveness. The
| perfect rectangle suggests rectitude;
| the square suggests uprightness; the
triangle, stability; and the circle.
perfection. These Geometric figures
prosaic enough in their skeletonic out
lines. have all of the poetry of in
| fiuence when they cOaleSce to form a
| perfectly artistic creation. Why is it
that landscape gardening gives to the
sense that feeling of rest? Why is it
! that architecture is poetic thought
| crystalliZed? If not because in them
we have these lines perfectly planned? +?
Need | suggest that the susceptible
mind and the impressionable soul
| that look daily upon perfected form
will learn not only to paint things as
| they see them, but to see them as
they are. And this gift Of vision that
sees with eXactituda will bacomo in