THE COTTAGE GARDENS OF 

 NORTHAMPTON 



ADAM and Eve, it is generally conceded, 

 -^ ^ were precocious. They entered into the 

 cares and joys of adult life at an earher age than 

 any later human prodigJ^ We call them the 

 grand old gardener and his wife, but, in fact, 

 they were the youngest gardeners the world has 

 ever seen, and they really did not give entire 

 satisfaction. How could they without tools ? 



Let it pass. The whole allusion is prompted 

 only by the thought that youth does not spon- 

 taneously garden. If it was actually necessary 

 that our first parents should begin life as gar- 

 deners, that fully explains why they had to begin 

 it also as adults. Youth enjoys the garden, 

 yes ! but not its making or tending. Childhood, 

 the abecedarian, may love to plant seeds, to 

 watch them spring, grow, and flower, and to 

 help them do so; but that is the merest a-b-c of 



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