118 VARIETY IN THE LITTLE GARDEN 



we have this bond. " The best kind of community interest," says 

 Dr. Bailey in his poetic book. The Holy Earthy "attaches to the 

 proper use and partitioning of the earth, a communism that is 

 detached from propaganda and license; there is always the 

 thought of the others that are dependent on it. All men are 

 the same when they come back to the meadows, to the hills 

 and to the deep woods." 



But we must return, at the end of our wanderings, to the idea 

 of beauty as the garden's loveliest meaning, to the suggestion 

 that beauty is a natural desire of the heart. 



In the early period of the writing of this chapter it occurred 

 to me to consult a friend in gardening, one whose words are 

 ever filled with significance and charm, asking what her garden 

 meant to her. This gardener has written for me a little essay, 

 so perfect in content and in form, that it may well become the 

 climax of these pages. 



"Earth was born free and beautiful, and needs no Declaration 

 of its Rights. That freedom, that beauty, has been invaded and 

 destroyed by man only: dull, conceited man, who creates im- 

 perious artificial wants, and in the pride of conquest plunders 

 alike nature and his fellow men. Does he know what he has 

 done and is doing.!* Not fully yet; but some few have become 

 slowly conscious of the charm which man can destroy, but not 

 create, long for it, and strive to use, rather than abuse it. 



"Before man lived on the earth, hillsides pinked in with 

 azaleas in springtime, prairies were starred with daisies and 

 queens' lace, woods turned orange and red and brown in the 

 smoky, autumn sunshine. Not for us men, then, the lovely ways 

 of creation, more than for the beast, the bird, the insect. Nay, 

 not for any creature's use or enjoyment, but for the sake of 

 loveliness and perfection do those things exist. 



