198 A Little Maryland Garden 
ing flowers one can cultivate a serenity of 
mind, a buoyancy of spirit, and one carries 
about his daily tasks a subconsciousness of 
something pleasant. It is good to dig in 
the ground, to bend to the spade, and soak in 
the sun, to wet one’s feet with the dew, and 
be out with the living and growing world. 
I have a few books by garden lovers, and 
it is interesting to see what they say of the 
pleasures of gardening. And first I must 
quote from our American philosopher of 
gardening, Charles Dudley Warner, whose 
book, though he only raised prosaic vegeta- 
bles, must delight every one who wields a rake 
and hoe. He says: ‘‘By gardening I do 
not mean that insane desire to raise vegeta- 
bles which some have; but the philosophical 
occupation of contact with the earth, and 
companionship with gently growing things, 
and patient processes; that exercise which 
soothes the spirit, and develops the deltoid 
muscles.’”’ ‘‘Blessed be agriculture,’’ he cries; 
“all literature is fragrant of it in a gentle- 
manly way.” 
