Show GREATEST OF ALL HARVESTS john J ingalls magnificent eulogy of grass grass is the forgiveness of nature her constant benediction fields trampled with battle saturated with blood torn with the ruts of cannon grow green again with grass and carnage is forgotten streets abandoned by traffic become grass grown like rural lanes and aro are obliterated Yo foreste resta decay harvests perish flowers vanish but grass is immortal be league red by the seven hosts of winter it withdraws into the impre impregnable na fortress of its subterranean NI it allty and emerges upon the first solicitation of spring sown by the winds by th the wandering birds propagated by the subtle horticulture of the elements elen lents which are lis its ministers ind and servants it softens the nude outline of the world word its tenacious fibers hold ahe the earth earth tn in it its S iia place i cl ind and prevent its soluble components from washing into the waiting sea it invades the solitude of deserts climbs the inaccessible slopes and forbidden pinnacles of mountains modifies climates and determines the history character and destiny of nations unobtrusive and patient it has immortal vigor and aggression banished from the thoroughfare and the field it bides its time to return aud and when vigilance is relaxed or the dynasty has perished it silently resumes tho the throne irom from which it has been expelled but which it never abdicates it bears no blazonry of bloom to charm the senses with fragrance or splendor but its homely hue is more enchanting than the lily illy or the rose it yields no fruit in earth or air and yet should its harvest tail fall for a single year famine would depopulate the world john J ingalls |