ON THE THEORY OF A GARDEN. 



trance the new life that grows in the womb of the 

 tomb is happy augury to the soul that passes away, 

 immature and but half-expressed, of lusty days and 

 consummate powers in the everlasting garden of 

 God. It is this very garden's message, "the best is 

 yet to be, " that smothers the self-pitying whine in 

 poor David Gray's Elegy * and braces his spirit with 

 the tonic of a wholesome pride. To the human 

 flower that is born to blush unseen, or born, per- 

 chance, not to bloom at all, but only to feel the 

 quickening thrill of April-passion the first sweet 

 consciousness of life the electric touch in the soul 

 like the faint beatings in the calyx of the rose and 

 then to die, to die "not knowing what it was to 

 live " to such seemingly cancelled souls the gar- 

 den's message is " trust, acquiesce, be passive in 

 the Master's hand : the game of life is lost, but not 

 for aye 



. . . " There is life with God 

 In other Kingdom of a sweeter air : 

 In Eden every flower is blown." 



To come back to lower ground, a garden re- 

 presents what one may call the first simplicity of 



My Epitaph." 

 " Below lies one whose name was traced in sand 



He died, not knowing what it was to live ; 



Died while the first sweet consciousness of manhood 



And maiden thought electrified his soul : 



Faint beatings in the calyx of the rose. 



Bewildered reader, pass without a sigh 



In a proud sorrow ! There is life with God, 



In other Kingdom of a sweeter air ; 



In Eden every flower is blown. Amen." 

 DAVID GRAY ("A Poet's Sketch-book," R. Buchanan, p. 81.) 



