BACK-YARD GARDENS 



NOW, the amount of pleasure derived 

 from this little back-yard garden could 

 not be computed, as it had a value quite be- 

 yond the measure of dollars and cents. The 

 mother found a tonic in out-door employment. 

 She averred that it rested her to work among 

 her flowers, and I have no doubt that it did so, 

 because it was a change and a recreation. The 

 boys not only enjoyed the companionship of 

 the flowers, but they learned many lessons from 

 their work as amateur gardeners which may be 

 of great benefit to them later in life. " It was 

 a relief to me to know where they were," their 

 mother said. "If they had not been in the 

 garden, they might have been in places where 

 boys ought not to be. The garden has been 

 a great success as a means of keeping them at 

 home. And as a garden, why, you haven't 

 any idea how much it has been to all of us. It 

 has kept me from getting homesick. And the 

 neighbors have enjoyed it almost as much as 

 I have. Every day they came in to look it 

 over, and they hardly ever went away without 

 a flower or two, and it made me feel quite rich 

 in being able to give them. A success ? Why, 

 of course it has been a success one of the suc- 

 cesses we mean to repeat every year after this, 



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