THE BATTALION.
are the main factors in giving beautv and
expression to flowers.
The gay colors are thought to be for
the purpose of making them more easily
seen by the insect, however much man
may cultivate them for his own use and
appropriate them to his own pleasure.
The delicate perfumes they give off
are also thought to be for the purpose of
aiding insects in finding flowers and mak
ing their visitations more pleasant. We
are led to this belief from the fact that
the most highly colored flowers give < fF
but little perfume, while the most highly
perfumed flowers are of the dullest hues.
Nature gives the ealy, with its sepals
as a back ground for.her jewels, which is
nearly always a uniform color of green.
This is the part we eat in the apple and
pear, while the fruit proper is the seed.
After the seed begin to form the petals
wither and fall off, while the calyx grows
over the seed till it makes the mature
apple or pear. The calyx is only a mod
ified leaf as proven by its color, structure
and functions. Therefore what we eat in
the pear and apple is a part ofa flower,
whicli in turn is nothing more than a
modified leaf.
Man, somewhat imitating ' nature,
seeks to appropriate her flowers and her
perfumes to his own embellishment,
using himself as a background, but not
for the purpose of attracting insects, but
for the purpose of attracting a more
agreeable companion in the nature of a
“help-meet,” knowing full well her
greater delight in and more appreciation
of their varied hues and their most deli
cate perfumes.
Like nature, we are prone to use flow
ers in exiwession of our sentiment at any
important event in our lives or in the
history of a State or National govern
ment. They arc carried to the marriage
altar as an emblem of purity ; they are
borne to the orator with our congrat
ulations ; they are sent to the President
with best wishes for Ins happiness and
the perpetuity of the Union. We send
them to the bed side of the sick as a fit
token of our deepest sympathy ; they are-
carried to the graves of our friends and
relatives when we pay our last tribute of
respect to the dead. They bring sun
shine to the hovels of the poor, and glad
ness to the palace of the rich. They deck
the banqueting hall as well as accompany
the coffin. They are used to give relish
to a breakfast, after one has with “great
tribulation” arisen on a cold winter
morning. ( Of course only the wealthy
can afford such a luxury.) The lady
whose golden tresses bear stones of
various hues, willingly places the “queen
of flowers” among them when it is offered
by her gentleman friend. Her hand
may be decked with the rarest jewels, yet
it will reach down to pluck a tiny violet
just showing above the green sward in
the early spring.
However beautiful a house may be
and however furnished its halls, y< t it
does not respond to our kindest treat
ment, there is no manifestation of life.
It is stated that the engineer often
imagines his engine to possess life and
that it sometimes does not feel well.
However this may be, we know that
flowers possess life, that they respond to'
our kind treatment, and that in their
culture there is companionship.
After the business man, of a large city,
has accumulated wealth and grown tired
of business life, and the worried states
man grown tired of the perplexing prob
lems of statecraft; they seek the shade
of the trees and the companionship of
flowers by the side of a lake, ox river,.