LITTLE GARDENS 



so heavily blanketed with vines that they were 

 dark, damp and soon grew rickety, while the 

 shadows they cast hindered or killed vegetation 

 around them, and the spaces between them and 

 the fence were such wee, pinched areas that they 

 could not be farmed at a profit. The covering 

 of this reservation with planks and lath exem- 

 plifies a common tendency of Americans to do 

 too much of everything. They overeat, over- 

 dress, overgain, overlegislate, they cram too 

 much into their houses, and up to a certain time 

 of life try to cram too much into their heads. 

 The Japanese have something to tell us in respect 

 of art and life. They simplify them. The rich 

 man in Japan does not show everything he owns. 

 He puts out certain bronzes, vases, wall hang- 

 ings, crystals, carvings and the like of that for a 

 day or a week, then retires them to his chests and 

 cabinets, and produces another set. He would 

 as soon think of wearing all his clothes at once 

 as of showing all his ivories, porcelains, netsukes, 

 lacquers, kakemonos and embroideries. We, on 

 the contrary, are so fond of show and luxury that 

 we convert our houses into shops and museums, 

 and the same propensity for overdoing is not 

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