Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/25

Rh shrubs and vines and wild flowers. In Stratford-upon-Avon in a little garden at the rear of the house in which Shakespeare was born, you may see at any hour of the day a care-taker affectionately cultivating and preserving in their immortal freshness all the flowers Shakespeare loved well enough to mention in his plays.

And though the buttercups still gild the fields on the way to Shottery they find a place in a little corner of that garden.

Some of our infinite varieties of flowers in valley and on mountain side might be collected and preserved in the town gardens. The Calypso Borealis, the most beautiful orchid native to parts of our Willamette Valley, is fast disappearing. The tall Oregon lily in our sunny fields and the maidenhair ferns in our cool ravines will not refuse to grow if nurtured by loving children in the schoolyards. A member of the Fortnightly Club in Eugene is principal of one of the schools there. Every class in that large building has a flower bed, and in the early spring the children begin to cultivate their gardens. Many transplant their new-found industry and knowledge and love to the home gardens.

Another conservator of the home is public recognition of noble traits of character or great deeds. Monuments and memorials that testify before children to faithfulness to duty are like anchors to public morals. Until the last few years no public monument stood on Oregon soil and now they can be counted on the fingers of two hands.