Old tree, the storm still brave!
And, woodman, leave the spot!
While I've a hand to save,
Thy ax shall harm it not.

_George P. Morris_.




LESSON XXXI

FLOWERS

He who cannot appreciate floral beauty is to be pitied, like any other
man who is born imperfect. It is a misfortune not unlike blindness.
But men who reject flowers as effeminate and unworthy of manhood reveal
a positive coarseness.

Many persons lose all enjoyment of many flowers by indulging false
associations. There are some who think that no weed can be of interest
as a flower. But all flowers are weeds where they grow wild and in
abundance; and somewhere our rarest flowers are somebody's commonest.

And generally there is a disposition to undervalue common flowers.
There are few that will trouble themselves to examine minutely a
blossom that they have often seen and neglected; and yet if they would
question such flowers and commune with them, they would often be
surprised to find extreme beauty where it had long been overlooked.