"Well, now, do, the next time you come across an apple-tree in the spring." And thus he would spread abroad an interest in the beauties of nature which were commonly passed over.
"Wonderful man, Beecher is," said a market dealer in green goods once.
"I had handled thousands of bunches of celery in my life and never noticed how beautiful its top leaves were until he picked up a bunch once and told me all about it.

Now I haven't the heart to cut the leaves off when a customer asks me." His idea of his own vegetable-gardening at Boscobel, his Peekskill home, was very amusing.

One day Edward was having a hurried dinner, preparatory to catching the New York train.

Mr.Beecher sat beside the boy, telling him of some things he wished done in Brooklyn.
"No, I thank you," said Edward, as the maid offered him some potatoes.
"Look here, young man," said Mr.Beecher, "don't pass those potatoes so lightly.

They're of my own raising--and I reckon they cost me about a dollar a piece," he added with a twinkle in his eye.
He was an education in so many ways! One instance taught Edward the great danger of passionate speech that might unconsciously wound; and the manliness of instant recognition of the error.