SOME IMPROVED HOME GROUNDS IN MINNEAPOLIS. 40/ 



for she had no intention of awaiting the slow motions of any com- 

 mittee. Her better half was "laid up" with a broken rib, and she 

 was, temporarily at least, "monarch of all she surveyed," although 

 at that particular moment acting in the capacity of a self-regulating, 

 well-lubricated steam shovel. 



When we called in August we would not have recognized the 

 place had it not been for the house, so greatly had this woman's in- 

 defatigable energy changed the surroundings. She had a well-kept 

 lawn in front, and large vases containing palms, marguerites, vincas, 

 geraniums, etc., and others containing caladium, colens and other 

 ornamental plants, all growing as only a lover of plants can make 

 them grow. She had beds of cannas. hedges of sweet peas, and a 

 "rockery" over which trailed nasturtium vines covered with blos- 

 soms. Every home flower that we could think of was there, and 

 there she was herself, as busy as ever, but this time with a long 

 hose watering her grass and flowers. 



A third woman could proudly boast of an income, for she sup- 

 ported herself and her boy by washing, and really ought to be 

 placed in the group with the capitalists were it not that she belongs 

 here also. Here is a description of her yard written down on the 

 spot. And remember, this woman, earning her living by washing, 

 with the help of this little boy had done all of the work ! I quote 

 from my notes : "Yard ordinary size of town lot. Good lawn. A 

 great many flowers. Many bushes. Rose bushes, dahlias, tiger 

 lilies. Tubs filled with earth and plants growing luxuriantly. (Isn't 

 that symbolical?) Potted plants set about in the yard. Beautiful 

 beds of zinnias and petunias. Back yard very attractive — contains 

 strawberry bed and vegetable garden. Boy and mother do all the 

 work. Washes for a living." 



Two or three more I must mention before leaving this group. 

 One was obliged to confine her energies to a tiny little yard not more 

 than ten feet wide by five or six feet long, but she must have worked 

 hard to accomplish such results. She had enclosed her little yard — 

 which was all in front — by means of a neat little fence about two feet 

 high made of willow branches very firmly placed, with a neat design 

 carried out with perfect uniformity, a very artistic piece of work in 

 itself and made evidently by one accustomed to the handling of the 

 willow in basketry or chair making or both. The flower beds were 

 raised about eight inches above the ground, with sodded borders, 

 and were a strange looking collection. There was a crescent, a 

 star, a heart, a diamond and a long serpentine aflfair that we could 

 not quite understand the meaning of. Before the flowers had be- 

 gun to grow the efifect was almost grotesque ; its saving grace was 

 the palpable fact that there was a strong effort to give expression 

 to an ideal of some sort. This became intelligible when in August 

 the crescent proved to be a crescent of zinnias, the star a star of 

 mixed flowers, the serpentine bed a bed of pansies, and so on, each 

 design distinct from all the rest. At each side of the little yard— be- 

 side the ornamental little fence — was a hedge of sweet peas. Not 

 one inch of space was wasted. 



