GARDENING ADAPTED TO WOMEN. 163 



• 

 summer, and breathes it out in its rich bloom and healthful 

 fragrance, there is always something to be done in the garden. 



"Who does not experience the exhilarating effect in going out 

 from the busy city into the woods and fields ? And the nearer 

 we come to nature, the closer our relations with the earth and 

 its vegetable productions, the more strongly and sweetly do we 

 feel this beneficent power. Especially is this influence good in 

 all the grief and trial which come from emotional relations, 

 from wounded sensibilities and crushed affections, to which 

 woman's nature and circumstances render her so especially- 

 liable. There is no reproach, no taunt or sneer from the rose 

 or the lily, and the fragrance of the flowers she tends silently 

 soothes the sorrows of which they are unconscious. 



Without probing the secrets of her heart, " they guess at the 

 wound, and heal with secret hand." They minister to her who 

 tends them with love from their Divine Creator, and she again 

 is rich in the power to carry this message of love so beautifully 

 written out to the sufferers who are shut out from their native 

 world. 



The physician may send his rich patient to the mineral 

 springs, the seashore or the mountains, but the majority of 

 women must find their restorative within the circle of their 

 daily activities. 



During the prevalence of the great cholera epidemic in the 

 decade between 1830-40, the city council of Berlin assigned all 

 the vacant lots of land in the city to the poor women to be used 

 for gardening purposes. On them they raised vegetables for 

 the use of their families. The result was a very great improve- 

 ment in the health of the city and of the women engaged in 

 the work. 



In the vicinity of Boston many German women devote them- 

 selves to out-door work during the summer months. They are 

 engaged in gathering smaller fruits and vegetables and weeding 

 out lawns (which they are said to do much better than men), 

 and in the laying out and preparation of gardens. 



In many instances they have refused much higher wages for 

 in-door work of various kinds, saying " We will not work in-doors 

 while we can get out-of-door work. The rich ladies get their 

 vacation in travelling, we must keep up our health and vigor by 

 labor on the land." 



