Newton might see
them, while the sweet dew was yet sparkling on their bright leaves.
Then she would tell how beautiful the garden looked at that sweet
early hour; and Mrs. Newton would listen with pleasure, for she loved
a garden. She used to say, that God placed man in a garden when he
was happy and holy; and when he was sinful and sorrowful, it was in a
garden that the blessed Saviour wept and prayed for the sin of the
world; and when his death had made atonement for that sin, it was in
a garden his blessed body was laid.
Mrs. Newton taught Fanny many things from flowers; she was not a bad
teacher, in her own simple way, but Jesus Christ, who was the best
teacher the world ever had, instructed his disciples from vines and
lilies, corn and fruit, and birds, and all natural things around them.
And while Fanny tied up her bunches of flowers, she would repeat
some verses from the Holy Scriptures, such as this, "O Lord, how
manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth
is full of thy riches." And afterwards she would repeat such pretty
lines as these:--
"Not worlds on worlds, in varied form,
Need we, to tell a God is here;
The daisy, saved from winter's storm,
Speaks of his hand in lines as clear.
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