June.
174
THE WEST SH011E.
LOVE'S MISSION.
HV MM. M. T. CAN BY.
I uw .1 hillside steep and long,
V. two fair children upward nt!tifi,
TI.eir merry converts 011 Sowing
With 1uujHtt-r and Willi song.
The WMf WSJ rough U) tread, but they
DancodUghiiy o'ei the rocky ledgca;
An I, where the Strain was hid in Bodges,
They leapt like fawns at play.
Td sj h wM not 'he lowering ilrltii
Hut plcuktd the tragus nWrets growing
Beneath Um bodge, i he inoW'bloon throw! og
Abo TO thell mirthful eyes;
Ami with the Inn!-' swcel nmdfl.iy,
Thiir ttilvi'iy roioea ntuigled clearly.
Singing, " We IdVe each other desrlyi"
So wenl they on their way.
Then up the liilWtde two fame on;
A youth wno lod a gentle maiden,
Fair as the lilies, DSfftirnc laden,
Which greet the smiling dawn.
Am! sw the ntUtwny rough to thein?
Nflyj rath- r road (i kindly treading
With nn'r.il'l pave helots them spreading,
Kjajdawod with many a gem;
'J'fii Bower than hkc seemed mtire rare,
Than violets, tm i' pCffumc 'lenrer,
'l'u: bird' song never bad been dearer)
I'dt lave made .ill things lair.
Wiih clasped ban li ami tranqu.il mien,
T... ii happy thoughts InilltflOS reading,
Alun,; ill, psuhway steep, proceeding
They paued beyond my ken.
Again upon that nigged way
Two w.ilU'il, as nijdit fell c alm and holy,
Togetbjl walked, Imt gravely, slowly,
With words more sad than t;ay.
II in hul wi the minu s vesK-r Mini;,
Within ihen hoods the Ho wen were sleeping)
The chilly ni,:hi dews o'et them weeping)
The stream was wide and strong.
It ii piaahiy went they on their road,
Watching a golden stai uplifting
Its iaj.i t thrmih the dark clouds drifting,
Aiii. in ! n, ihie abOdCi
With laces mlm and accenli fund.
They trod the shadowed pathway, brook ng
Tlic toil nod dhnaiwe, patient looking
Imh i ,'i! .in i not kwyoshi
0IRL8 ami R0SE8.
t.sfTBn TO TUB POHMBRi
Tlwy go together so naturally that
Tctlnyton Jus! expressed it whoa ha
called ii certain wcioty a "rosebud gar
den o( girls The courtly poet of two
centuries earlier, Wauiii, felt the
K.uui) imth, when he wrote these c
quUlte lnens,i
mo, ti.Tety Ratal
T- U tn'l Unit W:t1i her time .unl iiii',
'Pint now hi' knows
W )- i roassnbli her to tii,
llnw iW.t't I'M liur the wenl to Iw."
The poets have always recognised
tin likeness, and will continue to, while
they Interpret girl-nature end rot
nattinj might. When I was last In
California, tli.it l.itul nf roses, and of nil
manner of floral beauty and luxuriance,
I lived in ;i city boarding house, away
from gardens and flowers, greatly lo
my regret Hut 1 had one compensa
tion In if young girl, a fellow-boarder,
whose race was as iweel oi flower,
anil Who always came to dinner with
some beautiful bud or blossom care
I teal anil gracefully placed in her hair
nml bceom. You bee, aha attracted
Rowers, being luch a rare one hertelf,
and admiring frlendi tent t hem daily
to her rooms, though ihe was hidden
away in n city boarding-house. Ami
ohe, with sweetness that agreed well
with her flower-like race, pereetving
how my famished eye feasted on her
lUttr Rowers, that made with herself
auch a chat mint; hooiet, tell into the
nwmton of daily bringing with bet to
dinner n little knot of choice thing,
rOMDudJo, heliotrope, lemon-verU-na,
geranium, and the like, which she laid
beolde tny plate. How 1 loved lu r for
the pretty action! and fbt her sweet
fjulf. She wis truly one of the faitet
of the "rosebud garden ot g;:!-."
When I was a child I used to walk
in the garden of my mother's home
every morning in the rose-season so
short in the Eastern States and going
around among the shrubbery, kiss all
the freshly opened roses, with n real
sentiment of loudness for them; and I
have seen a little neice of mine do the
same thing, I suppose she inherited
this trait from tie, as she once very
gravely informed me sin. ,!M another
one. She Inherited it, as I did, from
my mother whom we both have rea
son to thank for a large capacity for
enjoyment of an innocent and elevating
pleasure,
These remarks arc offered ;is an ln
traduction to an observation on Oregon
j farm life. In travelling through this
beautiful and favored country of my
I adoption, 1 have been pained to ob
serve the little pains (alien to beautify
the country homes by the cultivation
: of flowers, especially roses, which
! really require but little labor to bring
. to perfection. I will not charge it
Upon the girts of Oregon that they do
not care for Mowers, for I do not be
lieve it would be true. The answers I
should get if I asked for reasons, would
probably he about as follows: "Father,1
or Mthe boys will not keep the fence in
repair." "Father lets the stock into
the yard to cat the grass.H "The boys
keep so many dogs, and they run over
and destroy the beds." nVe cannot
keep the chickens out," or "the ground
becomes so dry in summer that nothing
grows well1
These 1 admit are difficulties Hut
I will give you a hint, When I was a
gill I went to visit an tun ic w ho lived
in a frontier state. I found him living
iii a large house surrounded by a rough
board fence that enclosed about an acre
of ground There was not a tree or
shriih in the enclosure, and not much
grass; and as the country was one (ijead
level, the prospect was not an InVlnng.
one to my eastern eyes. When I had
been there a tittle while, I asked mv
aunt and gtrlCOUslns why they had no
tree-, flowers, or shrubberv ; and Ibutstl
that my uncle thought he Could not
give his time or labor to things of 10
little Importance He had spent' the
best strength of his middle life in sub
duing the wlldness of nature to the
positive needs of himself and family.
Those needs still existed in a measure
at all events, he now w anted to become
rich, and had "no time for nonsense1
As my aunt talked about it, the tears
ran over her cheeks she 10 loved
these things she was never to enjoy
again. I found, too, that this woman,
I w ho had spent the prime of her life
laboring side by side with this matt,
I was alVoid of him Not that he was
I feared by anybody else, but that he ex
lercised bis manly prerogative of keep
ing his wife in subjection; and iter's
I WOI ti gentle, loving, yielding and
I longeuflering disposition, that could
tlOt defend its lights. The man was
myielatie by blood good blood it
I WOS, too. The woman was my con
I licet i-n by marriage; and my chivalry
was ai.msed to see her wrongs righted.
I 1 talked over the subject with my
' uncle quite earnestly, once or twice, a
Spring came on, but 1 could get no en
couiagemciit in the business of plant
ing out trees and shrubK-ry as 1 pro
posed. Then I took mv resolution,
for 1 kept thinking of the team on the
(faded cheeks of the kindest woman in
the Wi'iid. who was married to this i
'...ui i.ti t w.. i-
MuhUirn relative of mine. Mv uncle
went to town one day, ami I went over
to the mill and had an interview with
the men who were hauling log from
the w oods, two mile awav. They
hsssltsted and objected, but I laid 1
would take the whole resKnibility on '
myself, and finally they yielded. Two
men went to digging holes around in
side the before-mentioned inclosure,
and two other men proceeded with the
logging team to the woods, whither
they were accompanied by myself,
aunt, ami cousins. Such a load of
woodsy stufl'as we took home with US I
When my uncle returned from town
that evening he found everybody on
the place working for dear life, setting
nut trees, shrubs, and vines. When he
drove bi hnndome matched team up
to the gate, my aunt vanished into the
house in a very cowardly fashion; but
I called out, "Uncle, are n't those two
trees by the gat. perfect beauties? to
which he responded "you must put a
bucket of water in every hole", as if
he had been superintending the job
himself, which he was, in less than
fifteen minutes; nor did I ever hear a
won! of dissatisfaction with the audac
ious interruption of his business.
When I saw- that place again, ten
years afterwards, I was proud of that
day's work. It was a beautiful grove,
sheltering the house in ii- midst from
the strong prairie winds, and affording
a pleasant shade to young and old, as
well as being an object of beauty in
the landscape, visible fur miles around. 1
I was delighted to find the wild grapes j
we had planted forming a fruitful
arbor; and wisteria and other beautiful
vines, and roses, sent from the East
growing in the most luxuriant manner,
while a neat substantial fence enclosed
the whole. My uncle showed twice
the pride in this result of our joint
labors that mv aunt did, but 1 doubt if
he enjoyed it more.
Girls, do you see the point? Go to
work in earnest to do the thing that
ought to be done, and your ideas will
win recognition ami support. That
man would be coarser and harder than
many men are likely to be, if, when
he sees you have set your heart on hav
ingobjects of beauty, comfort and ele
gance about you, he should refuse to
lend a helping hand. lie will, rather,
enjoy and protect your precious floral
beauties when he sec., as he must, the
excellence of them. Hut many of the
objections raised, and quoted above, are
substantial ones The stock and the
chickens should be confined within
boundaries of their own, and within
these flowery reserves of yours noth
ing should be permitted to come that
destroys or disturbs.
Water, in the heat and draught of
Summer, not being easily obtained on
farms in some parts of the country, is
an objection to floriculture to a great
extent.
That which produces trie best gene
ral effect and greatest amount of pleas
ure, is a smooth green lawn, with a
few ornamental trees not too near the
house, and choice flowering shrubbery
placed al proper intervals not to look
crowded. No trees nor vines should
be allowed to touch the walls of the
house. Porches, on which may be
trained ivy, or wisteria with its elegant
purple clusters of blossoms, or the
honeysuckle, are very pretty and at
tractive; though nothing should be
permitted to overspread even a porch,
to the exclusion of light. Choice
llowering shrubs, and roses, may be set
in rows up the walk, or what is better,
in groups scattered about the vard and
relieved against the green sward. The
earth should not be broken up for beds
of annuals, K'c.uw in the dry season
they fade and die, and bare earth is un
sightly. If you wish to cultivate annu
als, let a bed be made in the kitchen
garden for these, but do not break the
sod in the front yard except alnnit the
rmts of the shrubberv : or omctimcs
to cut out a single round sod to put
down some bright-colored verbenas, or
portu-laccas, in certain places, which
has a very pretty effect. Do not have
trees of a large growth near the house;
but along the front fence some of light
foliage and graceful forms, like the
black locust, with white flowers, the
laburnum, with its drooping clusters of
yellow flowers, the white, and purple
lilac, &c. For large trees, nothing is
handsomer than to have a contrast like
the catalpa, with broad leaves and pink
ish white flowers, and just beyond it
the small-leaved, slender-stemmed tow
ering elm. Both of these may be re
lieved against a stately Norway fir.
Everybody has a favorite tree, and so I
will not attempt to give anything but
general rules. Two or three kinds,
grouped with care have a handsomer
effect than several of the same kind.
I will mention for the benefit of
those not well acquainted with a
variety of shrubs, a few of the best,
mentioning them in the order of their
blooming: Japan Quince, (red); White
Splrea; Wigelia Rosea, (rose color);
Shrub Honeysuckle, (pink) ; Lauristina,
(white); Althca, double, deep rose);
besides the better known Almond,
Mock-Orange, Lilac, Snowball and
Flowering Currant. In selecting roses,
it is desirable to obtain free bloomers,
as well as some constant bloomers.
Among the choicest are the Tea-scented
roses all of which bloom a great deal.
The Snffronla, a buff-yellow with an
orange centre and crimson streaks on
the outer petals, very handsome and de
liclously fragrant. Cro motel In, (yel
low), very large, very fragrant. Mar
shall Neil, (pale yellow), very elegant,
and the most deliclously sweet of anv.
White Tea, a beautiful and delicate rose.
All these bloom early, and if they have
water, continue to bear some flowers all
summer, and even until December.
The Giant of Hattles is a brilliant red
rose and free bloomer; Louis IMdllippe,
dark crimson; Hermosa, delicate rose
color; Austrian Brier, deep yellow and
single; La Keine, large, pink. Among
the hundreds of varieties, these are
some of the best.
If you wish, as of course you do, for
small and scented flowers to make into
little sweet breast-knots occasionally,
you must have some pots of mignon
ette, helltrope, lemon-verbena', rose
geranium, Lady Washington gerani
ums of one or two colors, double scar
let geranium, mountain -of-snow gera
nium, (w hite), sweet illyslum, tree-car-nations
and pansies. If not all of these,
some of them. The scarlet salvia is a
very brilliant flower for boipiets hut not
fragrant; red, and white fuschias, the
same. Mine flowers are very rare. The
forget-me-not is one of the prettiest.
The blue namophela is also very deli
cate, and the blue lobelia, charming.
There is no difficulty about raising
any of these. Nothing is rctpiircd but
the proper soil, a little care and enough,
and not too much warmth and moisture.
As to the roses, the yellow ones are the
most delicate and should be protected
about the roots and stalks with a cover
ing of straw if a "hard winter" is
threatened especially should the croni
atella be so iniarded. If these beauti-
. fid things are not to be had by exchange
w ith your neighbors, rhcy can be ob
tamed for no great amount of money
of a gardener or nurseryman, and will
I odd more refinement and happiness to
your lives than half a doen new dresses
it year. In such a climate as Oregon,
j every country home should te embow-
j ercd In beauty and fragrance, and every
country-girl should be as fresh and
sweet as her own favorite roses. A
good Kn.k and a beautiful flower are
; full of delights that are as wholesome
as they are refining in their influence
i " Home i not home w ithout them."