98 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



such a tranquillizing effect, and leads into such 

 content, as gardening. By gardening, I do not 

 mean that insane desire to raise vegetables 

 which some have ; but the philosophical occu 

 pation of contact with the earth, and compan 

 ionship with gently growing things and patient 

 processes ; that exercise which soothes the spirit, 

 and develops the deltoid muscles. 



In half an hour I can hoe myself right away 

 from this world, as we commonly see it, into a 

 large place, where there are no obstacles. What 

 an occupation it is for thought ! The mind 

 broods like a hen on eggs. The trouble is, that 

 you are not thinking about anything, but are 

 really vegetating like the plants around you. 

 I begin to know what the joy of the grape-vine 

 is in running up the trellis, which is similar to 

 that of the squirrel in running up a tree. We 

 all have something in our nature that requires 

 contact with the earth. In the solitude of gar- 



