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." 



