Page:Famous Living Americans, with Portraits.djvu/87

LUTHER BURBANK, "whose contributions to human . comfort are greater in value than all the gold taken from the mines of California" — so says Dean Brink, of the Kansas State Agricultural College — was bom in the town of Lancaster, Massachusetts, March 7, 1849. Although a "49er" his face was yet to be turned toward that land "where every day is a suggestion of May, and winter never lingers" Luther Burbank was born almost within the shadow of Bunker Hill, where stands our monument to American independence, and seems to have been much influenced by this environment, this spirt of independence. In all his work he has shown a natural inclination toward unharnessed thought — a turning away from the old paths of science and of dead things, to delve into nature 's secrets as shown in living, growing nature. "He is a citizen of the Celestial City of Free Minds," someone has said.

His father was of English stock ; his mother of Scotch ancestry. From his father he inherited his love for books, for investigation, and for untiring research. From his mother came the friendly, kindly, generous nature — "his willing heart of love" — and his love for the beauties of nature. It was the fusing of these two natures, developed by his California environment — the glories of perpetual sunshine, and the influences of energetic, generous, and optimistic people — that has helped to give the world this unique genius, Luther Burbank.

When only a toddling infant, so his sister says, Mr. Burbank showed an intense love for plant life. In amusing him flowers took the place of the baby rattle. He tenderly treasured them until the bloom had faded and the fragrance had gone. He is said to have preferred plants to animals as pets and had as a plaything what our New England mothers call