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T ™ SOUTHERN WORLD. APRIL 15,1884.
Biographical.
janies Vicfe.
B y HELEN H. 8. THOMPBON.
left—
“Footprints, that perhaps another—
Sailing o’er Life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother-
seeing, shall take heart again.”
James Vick was born in Portsmouth,
operatives were employed in preparing
and sending abroad the products of his
gardens, issuing his catalogues and
charming Floral Guides, monthly maga
zine, and other periodicals. Of the Flo
ral Guide alone two hundred and fifty
Wherever flowers bloom and grasses I thousand have been mailed yearly,
row throughout America the name of It was a common occurrence to receive
£ eminent florist is known, loved, and three thousand letters of orders And in-
honored. To him, more than any other, quiries per day, and the postage of this
«re the people indebted during the last vast establishment often amounted to
thirty years for judicious training and thirty thousand dollars in one year,
stimulating encouragement in the ex- Very touchingly does his son allude to
lisite art of floriculture. | the days gone by, “ when father brought
When extraordinary success in life is home in his pocket the entire day’s mail,
achieved from t e smallest beginnings, and when he was allowed to earn his
md a man dies honored, beloved, and first spending money making little seed
beneficent in good deeds, it is natural to bags by the thousand. After supper
“ How did he accomplish these re- father would take the few orders received
salts? What principles.actuated him? during the day to an upper room in the
What has made him great?” house, arranged for this purpose, and
Let us look at the elements of this there call off the articles named in the
man’s life, so loved and useful, and take order, while his youthful assistant would
inspiration from the footprints he has run around the room, gathering from
the boxes the various seeds wanted
The next morning father might be seen
carrying a market basket neatly covered
over with paper to the post office. This
was the extent of our mail then. What
England, but came to New York cit y I a contrast between that and at the time
with his parents when fifteen years old, of hl8 death ’ when > ln8tead o{ the little
and was immediately placed by them to I four-page catalogue of early date, he
learn the printer’s trade. After becom
ing a practical printer he set type in the
composing room of the Knickerbocker
vine with Horace Greeley, and the
friendship begun then continued una
bated through that eminent journalist’s
life. His youth was singularly pure and
free from vice and marked by disinter
ested kindness to others, reBpect to su
periors, faithfulness to hjs parents and
daily duties, and reverence for all good
things.
These years and those to follow were
characterized by a student’s love of
books and an intense love of nature
HisfondneBS for trees, plants, and flow
ers became a passion. Every spare hour
was spent in the study of their nature,
habits, and beauties, until his know!
in this line became extensive
enough to have compiled a botany, and
his later career forcibly justifies the
wisdom of following the bent of one’s
native taste or talent in study.
After a term of years Mr. Vick removed
to Rochester, New York, still pursuing
his trade as compositor in differer t news
paper offices, and finally buying an in
terest in the Rochester Democrat, which
after a few months was sold that he
might publish a paper called the North
Mar, an anti-slavery organ. During this
time he contributed frequent racy arti
cles to the Genesee Farmer, published by
the much lamented Luther Tucker, and
not long after became its editor, in 1850
assuming its publication and running its
circulation up to fifty thousand.
“ I have labored to teach the people
to love and cultivate flowers, for it is one
of the few pleasures that improve alike
the mind and the heart and make every
true lover of these beautiful creations
of Infinite Love wiser, purer, and no
bler. It teaches industry, patience,
faith, and hope. * » * It is a pleas
ure that brings no pain—a sweet without
a snare. We gaze upon the beautiful
plants and brilliant flowers with a de
licious commingling of admiration and
love. They are the offspring of our fore
thought, taste, and care—a mysterious
and glorious creation. They grew, tru
ly, but very like the stars and the rain
bow.”
Mr. Vick’s vast correspondence and
the publication t f his Floral Guide and
magezine have rapidly diffused a taste
for floriculture among the masses hith
erto unknown in America. The homes
of the poor in the dreariest spots—those
of the pioneer in far off Kansas, Colo
rado, Nebraska, and Texas—became
spots of beauty, blooming like the rose,
under Mr. Vick’s encouragement and
judicious teaching. Many a woman’s
heart, aching under its limitations and
burdens, has found cheer and inspira
tion to tl.e refinements and beauties of
existence through his influence. Many
JAMES VICK.
mailed nearly a quarter of a million
Floral Guides and often received, daily,
- .» u.„, u— Three I over ‘ h '“ thousand lettere! All these
JeWB later he purchased the ironical- chaugee ° ur dear Iflived tone,Jad
““.It'll at Albany, removing it to Roches-1 y c l waa ncver U | 8 ^„.a »>
A youth of rectitude, economy, fulface or fla y a m * or '
J %eMe, and energy was beginning al- Busy he certainly was, and driven by
to reap success. the variety and detail of ins great busi-
1857 he became the horticultural ness, but not too hurried to keep pure
“■“or oi the Rural New Yorker, and and clean the
"" !*gan the seed enterprise which whence spring all kindly virtues all
"Itimately gave him a world-wide repu- noble deeds: notion busy to bend hi.
W'«. He imported seeds from Eng- kind ear to a child asking for a flower^
^ “1 bulbs from Holland, testing or to arrange with h,s own hands a flo-
b«u m his own little garden, in which ral offering for some poor wtdn > dejd.
' ary nook of ground was made avails- We see him now in bis beautdul gar
ble,snd as his stock and means increased, I dens or hot houses, his eyes'*«»“«
bttle gardens sprang to life on Monroe with plea ure o.er some opening bud,
Avenue, Condemn, and Main streets, inhaling the de.clous fragrance
““glowed with beauty. In his papei ever new delight, or,^ with animated
trar e8cr '.bed flowers and plants, illus- face, discoursing on an artist.
mg witli engravings—thus educating 1 plant with H le en lu “ Humanlifeis
t popular taste. The crisp racinese of AHUI he certainly was.
»uS 1 ! 1 " m i" ,,ed by * SO"!*'. e, *7" h f n “ Of theta illusions many
everv .,. Motion to its object, rendered hard realities. iov—such as the
Ql ar ' from his pen extremely pop- are an eternal sour t , g wan d
tgj * eanw hile his traffic in seeds was images that g ow n in art and
Stele ‘S. ProPOrti T ,hat 'T r? T «klt iuter ".usic
** important business, in ft. — -
^arehonL b Mt Up hw 8eed and ba,b P atbie8, ?vick Hear the poeti'
w hich became hives of this true of Mr. V ick. Hear in f-
w here hundreds of skilled I cal ring of his own words.
a man has been stimulated to efforts for
the adornment of .his grounds and im
provement of his home by the charming
Guide upon his table, who would other
wise have spent his spare moments in
idleness or dissipation. Hosts of chil
dren have caught the infection, laying
by their hoarded pennies for seeds and
plants, and laboring with flu«lied faces
and joyous hearts to “help papa” in
the garden, or in their own private nooks
studying the mysteries of seed and bulb.
Far reach ing as the limitless prairies
from the rugged coast of Maine has been
the influence of this noble life—with its
sunny heart and smile, its intense love
of nature, its symmetry and order, its
stanch integrity, its beneficence and
love for humanity and God. Say not
that such men die.
" Were a star quenched on high,
For ages would its light,
Still traveling downward from the sky,
Shine on our mortal sight.
•• so, when a good man dies,
For years beyond our ken
The light be leaves behind him lies
Upon the paths of men.”
Mr. Vick was for many ears a corres
ponding member of the Royal Horticul
i oral Society of England and Secretary
of the American Potuological Society.
Frequent communication with foreign
lands sharpened his intellectual life and
deepened his already passionate love of
the beautiful in nature. Its potent re
suits were seen in the beauty of the
parks in his own and other cities and the
freedom which he extended travelers in
his own gardens, where a feast of beauty
was perpetually spread during the sum
mer months and practical lessons ex
emplified.
Mr. Vick was superintendent of the
8unday school for twenty-five years in
the church where his genial presence so
long lent both practical and unconscious
aid to pastor and people. Perhaps no
where was his great personal magnetism
more conspicuous than among the chil
dren. He loved them with all his heart,
and the children knew it—as what child
does not yield to the potent spell of a
child-lover?
Much of the influence which he ex
erted and success which he attained is
due to this strong personal magnetism
which he was able to infuse into his
publications and correspondence. It
was as though a friend took you by the
hand and sat by your fireside, or strolled
through your garden plot, sympathizing
with your condition and circumstances '
and thoroughly cognizant of your need,
and who would in nowise advise you
selfishly or unwisely. Practicing the
strictest integrity with both employees
and patrons, dispensing noble charities
and kindness in every walk of life, what
wonder then that success crowned the
years!
When fatal illness came upon him,
Mr. Vick wsb still planning improve
ments and enlargements—still beautify
ing the grounds which will continue to
be a joy to the beholder. So
" Death takes us by surprise
And stiffs our hurrying fuet;
The great design unfinished lies—
Our lives are incomplete.”
From the midst of the (lowers he loved
—those smiles of God—he was carried
gently to the gardens of the Lord and
and crowned- with the amaranths of
heaven. To the loving ones about him,
when surprised by the call of death, he
said: “ Man may make blunders, but
the Lord does all things well. He will
take rare of you. God bless you all I”
—and died as peacefully as shuts the
lily’s cup or the roses that he loved so
well.
The crowning beauty of his life was
seen in his domestic relations. As son,
husband, father, his was a life without
a flaw. We dare not venture to touch
the loss and grief of those who “ were
brought up by his side with great de
light;” but as for us, who miss his illu
minating presence-
something Is gone from Nature since he died,
And summer ii not lurnmer, nor can be!”
—Arthur’s Home Magazine.
HorHford’H lireud Preparation
For the Maintenance of Health.
Dr. Samuki. Jackson, of Pennsylvania
University, says: “ Your Bread Prepa
ration, while it makes a light, sweet and
palatable bread, restores to it ihe phos
phate of lime whicli is lost from the flour
in bolting, and thus adapts it as an ali
ment for the maintenance of a healthy
state of the body.”
The Mullein Plant.
The old field Mullein which contains a muci
laginous principle to healing to the lungs and
throat when made into a tea and combined with
that stimulating expectorant Sweet Oum which
grows along our Southern swamps, presents in
Taylor’s Cherokee Remedy of Sweet Uum and
Mullein a pleasant and elective cure for Croup,
Whooping Cough, Cold and Consumption. Price
25cts. and |l.00. This with Dr. Riggers’ South
ern Remedy, an equally efBcaclons remedy for
Cramp Colic, Diarrhea, Dysentery, and chil
dren suffering from the effects of teething pres-
ent a little M xni< ’ in a C ii kit no household should
be without, for the speedy relief of sudden and
dangerou attacks of the lungs and bowels. Ask
your druggist for them. Manufactured by Wal
ter A. Taylor, Atlanta, Oa., proprietor Taylor’s
Premium Cologne.
«» #
Mow Si the time to bay an Incubator and rails
■me thousand chickens for early market. See
Advertisement of A. M. M*u>ul In this issue.
Send for specimen copy.