Glass Flowers, You Astonished Me!

I went to Boston on the Independence Day Holiday. My friend Wen and his wife Jie picked me up at my dormitory, 189 Elm Street, New Haven on July 3. They drove all the way up to where I temporarily resided and then drove back to Harvard University with me sitting at the backseat. They were doing post doctorate work there.

Wen and Jie eagerly took me to the Harvard Museum of Natural History. After we looked around the room for all kinds of precious stones, they took me to another room. The instant we were in it, Jie said to me with a mysterious wink: "These are all real grass and flowers." But I had seen the room labeled "Glass works"!

Still I was astonished by those glass works. What craftsmanship they embodied! Incredible! Were they actually made by hand? Marvelous! I was deprived of the ability to express myself, except murmuring at all times "Incredible!"

There were several other rooms exhibiting the bones and specimens of animals, samples of various ancient shells and fishes, diversified stones, but none of them impressed me like the glass works. They were made with such refined taste, through which something called patience and painstaking carefulness were fully conveyed. Wonder arose in my mind and I felt so reverent to the late craftsman.