Flowers
There are many thousands of different kinds of flowers. Though some are small and scarcely noticed, all are interesting, very many are pretty, and some are very beautiful indeed. All flowers, of course, were at first wildflowers; but from very early times men have so loved flowers, that they have grown the prettiest in gardens, and by giving the plants regular water and rich soil, and in other ways hard to explain, they have made the flowers larger and more beautiful, and have even changed their colours. There is a great difference between the small wild rose with its faint scent, and the splendid roses in the garden–large flowers, with very rich scent, and many different shades of colour, from pure white, through cream colour, yellow and pink, to deep crimson and red.
The rose is called the queen of flowers; but there are many other beautiful flowers grown in gardens for their beauty, such as lilies of different kinds, chrysanthemums, daisies, and narcissus, jasmine, geraniums, sweet peas, and hundreds more. And many trees bear beautiful, and sometimes sweet-scented, flowers, like the Flame-of-the-Forest, the Pagoda tree, the Amaltas, and the Lilac. And many of the fruit-bearing trees, like the apple, pear, and peach, have pretty flowers.
The object of the flowers of a plant is to make seeds and fruit. It is the plant’s way of making other plants of the same kind-its way of having children. No fruit without a flower; first the flower, and then the fruit.
But this does not explain why so many flowers are beautiful. Many flowers are quite small and plain and have little beauty, and yet they make seeds just as well. Why are some so lovely? I think it is because God, who made them, is Himself beautiful, and loves all beautiful things. Just as men grow flowers, not for use, but for their beauty, so God made them beautiful for the same reason. We love their beauty because we are God’s children, and have some of His spirits in us.
