PRUNING—AN OBJECT TALK ON TROUBLES

[The speaker may illustrate his talk by a rose, full of flowers, nicely growing in a pot, shown beside a scraggly wild rose pulled up in the woods.]

Here is a beautiful plant, children. See how many flowers it bears, and how lovely they are. It looks as if it ought to be a very happy plant, doesn’t it? But let me tell you about its troubles.

It was growing nicely in the ground with a lot of its friends, in a charming place, under the sweet sky and in the fresh air, where the birds could get to it, and the bees and the sun and the rain. Along came the gardener, one day, and separated our plant from all this pleasantness.

It was placed in this little pot. Its roots were pinched back and terribly crowded. It was put under a hot, dirty glass, in a stifling room. No more did it hear the song of birds or the hum of the bees or the splash of the rain. Very often the gardener came with his cruel, sharp knives and shears, snipping here and cutting there. The Plant was tied tightly to stakes, and felt itself indeed in prison.

Ah, but the wise gardener knew! Here is a plant, boys and girls, of the same kind, but it has been left out of doors, and has run wild. See how scraggly it has grown. See how its leaves are eaten. See how many worms are on it. See how poor its blossoms are, and how few.

Children, I have shown you these two plants to teach you how much good may come out of things that may seem to us to be very harsh and sad. Haven’t you ever seen people whom trouble has covered with blossoms?