LITTLE GARDENS 



where tomatoes are growing In soap boxes, on 

 the fire-escapes: but this Is where Italians inhabit, 

 and they are thrifty. 



Notwithstanding these hardships, the predic- 

 tion of the scientists that In the year 2000 every- 

 body will hve In New York, and the last morsel 

 of Its soil will disappear under a load of masonry, 

 is destined not to be fulfilled. A few positive 

 atoms will continue to escape the magnetism of 

 the metropolis and try to bear with life as It may 

 have to be lived In suburbs like Philadelphia, 

 Boston, Minneapolis and Hohokus, where, at 

 this writing, it is still the fashion to occupy a 

 house, and to have a yard. Much virtue in 

 yards. It is for the moral and mental sanity, 

 no less than for the bodily well-being of the citi- 

 zen, that he shall go to the earth, now and fre- 

 quently, to renew liking and confirm kinship 

 with other and more delicate forms of life than 

 his own. He may be slow to read the lessons 

 that are published In the leaf and flower, and 

 may not want to read them after he knows they 

 are there; but In occupations under the sky he Is 

 taken away from a hundred artificial distresses 

 that beset him under the celling; for happiness 



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