WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 93 



tractive. It is strange what a taste you sud- 

 denly have for things you never liked before. 

 The squash has always been to me a dish of 

 contempt ; but I eat it now as if it were my 

 best friend. I never cared for the beet or the 

 bean ; but I fancy now that I could eat them all, 

 tops and all, so completely have they been trans- 

 formed by the soil in which they grew. I think 

 the squash is less squashy, and the beet has a 

 deeper hue of rose, for my care of them. 



I had begun to nurse a good deal of pride in 

 presiding over a table whereon was the fruit of 

 my honest industry. But woman! John Stuart 

 Mill is right when he says that we do not know 

 anything about women. Six thousand years is 

 as one day with them. I thought I had some- 

 thing to do with those vegetables. But when I 

 saw Polly seated at her side of the table, presid- 

 ing over the new and susceptible vegetables, 

 flanked by the squash and the beans, and smil- 



