owing on an old stone wall? They have scarcely any earth for
their roots, only a little bit between the stones, yet they make the
old wall beautiful, and no flower smells sweeter. They teach us to be
contented. They seem to say, we have no grand place to grow in, no
carefully-prepared bed, only a bit of old wall for our home, but we are
quite satisfied, and we mean to make home as bright and sweet as we
can. Let us learn the lesson of the wall flower. Let us try to make
home bright and happy, and sweet, no matter how poor it is. Another
thing which all the flowers tell us is this, "remember that you must
die." When the Autumn and Winter come we say the flowers are dead
because we cannot see them. But the flowers are not really dead. They
are sleeping in the earth till the Spring comes again. God has put
them to bed in the warm ground, and when the proper time comes they
will waken up. Just what God does to the flowers He does to us. One
day He will send us to sleep, and take our soul to a safe place in
Paradise, whilst our body is put to bed in the earth beneath the soft
and pleasant grass. People will say that we are dead, just as they say
the flowers are dead. One day the resurrection morning will come, it
will be our spring-time, and God, who raised Jesus Christ from the
grave, will raise us up again.

So you see, children, the flowers tell us not only that we must die,
but that we must rise again. What else do the flowers say to us? I
think they say, "keep in the sunshine, be happy." You always find that
flowers are on the sunny side of things. So ought we to be. A plant
cannot grow, and blossom, in a dark cellar. It must have sunshine. So
if you want to be God's children, that is, good children, you must have
sunshine in your hearts, sunshine in your faces. Look at the face of
an innocent child, one who is gentle, obedient, loving, pure. You will
see the face full of sunshine. But look at the face of a child who has
done something wrong; who has told a lie, or done some cruel, mean, or
dishonest act. There is no sunshine on _that_ face. There is nothing
but a dark heavy cloud. The ill-tempered child has no sunshine on his
face. He lives down in a dark cellar. The discontented child has no
sunshine on his face. He lives down in a black dungeon with Giant
Despair. My children, ask God to keep you innocent; or if you have
done wrong, ask God to forgive you for Jesus Christ's sake, then yo