Page:Famous Living Americans, with Portraits.djvu/87

 LUTHEB BUEBANK By Bobebt John 1UTHEE BUBBANK, ** whose contributions to human . comfort are greater in value than all the gold taken from the mines of California" — so says Dean Brink, of the Kansas State Agricultural College — was bom in the town of Lancaster, Massachusetts, March 7, 1849. Although a '^49er/' his face was yet to be turned toward that land ** where every day is a suggestion of May, and winter never lingers/' Luther Burbank was born almost within the shadow of Bun- ker Hill, where stands our monument to American independ- ence, and seems to have been much influenced by this environ- ment, this spirt of independence. In all his work he has shown a natural inclination toward unharnessed thought — a turning away from the old paths of science and of dead things, to delve into nature 's secrets as shown in living, growing na- ture. **He is a citizen of the Celestial City of Free Minds,'' someone has said. His father was of English stock ; his mother of Scotch an- cestry. From his father he inherited his love for books, for investigation, and for untiring research. From his mother came tiie friendly, kindly, generous nature — **his willing heart of love ' ' — and his love for the beauties of nature. It was the fusing of these two natures, developed by his Cali- fornia environment — the glories of perpetual sunshine, and the influences of energetic, generous, and optimistic people — that has helped to give the world this unique genius, Luther Burbank. When only a toddling infant, so his sister says, Mr. Bur- bank showed an intense love for plant life. In amusing him flowers took the place of the baby rattle. He tenderly treas- ured them until the bloom had faded and the fragrance had gone. He is said to have preferred plants to animals as pets and had as a plaything what our New England mothers call