THE FLOWER GARDEN AN INDEX OF CHARACTER. 309 
THE FLOWER GARDEN AN INDEX OF CHARACTER. 
MRS. FRANCES L. TOWN, MARKEVILLE. 
When we start on the journey of life, we find ourselves entire strangers 
to all our fellow travelers, but nature comes to our relief, by awakening our 
perceptive faculties, and before we have reached the first station we ask 
ourselves ‘Who, and what are they?” Young as we are, the study of char- 
acter has begun, though it is a long, hard lesson that only the most studious 
can hope to master before reaching the last station. 
As our actions betray our thoughts, so our surroundings express our 
ideals of comfort and beauty. This is why so many homes are made more 
attractive by the planting of flowers, and in each of these little gardens you 
can trace some leading characteristic of the owner, and as the flower garden 
usually belongs to the women folks, of course it is feminine characteristic. 
As you walk along a village street, perhaps the first home you notice 
will have only the most brilliant flowers in such profusion that you do not 
notice the arrangement or cultivation. You will find the owner as gay as 
her flowers; you may enjoy her animated conversation but would not think 
of asking her advice. 
The next is a wilderness of green, with plenty of blue and white flowers, 
and only a few gay colors. This is a quiet, sensitive woman that will bear 
acquaintance. 
In the next you will notice the arrangement more than the flowers; 
every line is straight, and every corner an exact right angle. There are no 
graceful curves. You are not offered any flowers, she is keeping them all 
for seed. Although a very worthy person, you will find her too precise and 
particular to be very companionable. 
Then you come to a garden with so few walks and so many flowers that 
you fancy it to be a wild flower garden. Here you are offered a bouquet, 
and treated in a way that makes you feel as though you had met an old 
’ friend; but you may hear some one say that she is not “much of a house- 
keeper.” 
The next garden has only two small beds, pansies and sweet peas per- 
haps. The owner tells you that she only plants her favorite flowers. If you 
should ever get acquainted, you will find she always looks out for number 
one. 
Now you can sometimes find a flower garden that belongs to a woman 
that never works out of doors; she tells you John planted it one evening 
after his day’s work was done; the children have done the weeding, and 
that is why it is such a failure; it does not suit her at all, and she would not 
try to have flowers only most everybody else has them. You can’t help won- 
dering what John thinks of ingratitude. 
The next yard is decorated with a wood pile, an ash heap and a clothes 
line—may be a few other things. In one corner are a few flowers that have 
been nearly hoed to death. The lady of the house will inform you she does 
not think much of posies, but her little child likes them awful well; that’s 
why she has them. You are glad she loves and sympathizes with her child, 
as its influence may change her surroundings. 
We have only time for one more. You can see the owner has made the 
best use of the time and money she had to spare for this purpose. The 
colors are combined so nicely, the annuals and perennials selected with care 
