My New Zealand Garden 19 



Room decorations seem to have reached a crisis, 

 for the lavish profusion of flowers one sees is 

 almost suggestive of waggons and haymakers for 

 bringing and stacking them. With the advent of 

 specimen glasses, one naturally expected some 

 transformation to take place, perhaps to offer us 

 an opportunity of seeing flowers arranged singly, 

 in order that we might examine them all round. 

 But nothing of the sort : the tiny things are so 

 top-heavy with their lovely contents that when 

 they tip over in a draught one wonders how they 

 balanced up so long. The law of fitness demands 

 that excesses shall be followed by reactions, though 

 they may tarry long in coming ; and if, before long, 

 a new era of less extravagant wardrobes set in, the 

 wholesomeness of it would be very apparent. If 

 a happy medium ruled us in the matter of dress, 

 we should be happier and healthier, for the way 

 in which we slave to persecute our systems, to the 

 detriment of mind as well as body, is appalling ; 

 and tight shoes and such horrors do not do justice 

 to God's works, and therefore cannot be good. 

 But I must reiterate that a tidy garden does do 

 justice to God's work. I have often noticed that 

 when people have a shrub they value they will 

 weed round it, or cut the grass, or make a little 

 border round it ; and I am sure that shrub is 

 rendered more attractive by its orthodox surround- 

 ings, because justice is done to God's work in 



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