THE EARLY IDEALS 237 



Even here the sweet ones long have first choice. 

 Fragrance seems to have allured in one age quite as in 

 another, and the sternest and most austere have sof- 

 tened before the incense poured from the heart of rose 

 or carnation. Indeed I have wondered sometimes if 

 flower fragrance had not power equal with the power 

 of sweet sounds to soothe the savage breast. Surely 

 it is to flowers very like the voice to man wherefore, 

 mayhap it is the garden choral ! 



Grading up thus from barest utility through the 

 useful and pleasant to the pleasant and beautiful, the 

 garden of old time was a product of evolution, and is 

 to be arrived at once more only by traveling over the 

 old trail. If any one general axiom may be laid down 

 concerning its reconstruction, it is this: Start with a 

 broad conception of, and a firm belief in, the beauty 

 of utility; and work with the determination to develop 

 from this. Never mind what the plan or size or style 

 is to be; get this "spirit of the old" thoroughly assim- 

 ilated, and think more about that than about anything 

 else. It is the charm of the old garden, as well as its 

 form and plants, which we are seeking to recall when 

 we make a new one like it; and this charm lies in the 

 ancient estimate of homely, simple things at their true 

 high worth. 



With this point of view restored, do not set limits 

 upon the grounds beyond which the thought that is to 



