DECORATIVE MATERIAL 



teach constancy and simplicity. My garden 

 should have those things that are sweetly famil- 

 iar, unexcitant, of conceded loveliness. 



The best of the garden, however, is what you 

 put into it, rather than what comes out of it. 

 It is the satisfaction of your tastes, and the bet- 

 tering of them, the thought and sentiment you 

 express in planting and gathering, the innocence 

 and quiet of mind that you take to the seeding, 

 trimming and watering, that are the real re- 

 wards. In time the garden comes to mean a part 

 of yourself, just as your pictures and your library 

 are a part, and it will be modest or bombastic, 

 delicate or vulgar, trivial or sincere, ingenuous 

 or artificial, according as you possess those qual- 

 ities. As it flourishes it may disclose a broad 

 mind and generous nature, or it may prove in its 

 dryness and ill feeding, a habit of pelf and a 

 grudging of care. If It is worth while to have 

 a garden at all. It is probably worth while to 

 have one that will humble the neighbors; but 

 this does not Imply mere show : It Implies content 

 with your work and enjoyment of what you have. 

 I often wonder if content is not one of the lost 

 arts, at least, among the residents of towns. I 

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