The Spirit of Creative Gardening 



the children, but every inch of the ground, together 

 with the sunshine, the dew and the rain. Man and Na- 

 ture smile upon the home-in-a-garden. It is in tune with 

 the Infinite ! 



The hope of spiritualizing the future life of the soil 

 lies right here in getting large numbers of people to ac- 

 cept the creative state of mind and carry it through all 

 phases of their daily work. The fact that they are 

 working for themselves on their own ground, where they 

 are not, like most of the country-minded now dwelling 

 in city apartments, mere tenants at will, but engaged in 

 the evolution of their own homes this fact should of 

 itself go far towards producing the right mental atti- 

 tude. The further fact that they are surrounded by 

 neighbors living under the same conditions and sharing 

 the same ideals should count in the same direction. The 

 fact that these people are escaping, so far as their home 

 life and work are concerned, from the regimentation of 

 the city experience, and finding opportunity for the 

 expression of individuality, ought to help powerfully. 



Surely, there could be no finer soil for the cultivation 

 of the highest attributes of family life, as well as of 

 citizenship, than that offered by the garden city, under- 

 taken in the right spirit and organized in the right way. 

 But, in the last analysis, all this will depend on the 

 people themselves. It is the old story: "You can lead 

 a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." 



What I am saying is that up to this time no one has 

 supplied the necessary "leading." There is plenty of 

 "water," and there is no doubt about the popular 

 "thirst" for the garden home and all it implies in the 



