A NEIGHBORHOOD GARDEN CLUB 



139 



help her. Encouraged by her faith in them, they were 

 aroused to share her evidently sincere belief that they might 

 make their neighborhood one they need not wish to disown, 

 but might claim with pride. 



Interest spread. The pennies and nickels that ordinarily 

 went for candy or moving-picture shows were saved for 

 seeds. The River Street children 

 of other rooms and grades occa- 

 sionally gathered in Miss Alden's 

 room. Real work commenced 

 also. Even if the ground proved 

 frozen beneath the layer of mud 

 when early thaws stirred the blood 

 and impelled one to dig in the 

 soil, there was rubbish that could 

 be cleared away, fences and sheds 

 to be repaired. The boyish at- 

 tempts at betterment aroused a 

 few fathers to help and secured 

 approval of places for vegetable 

 and flower gardens. Once started 

 in the good work, several boys 

 would not stop for returning 

 snow-storms; they drew on one of 

 their sleds boxfuls of fertilizer 

 from near-by stables, and piled it under old sheds or covered 

 it with boards in the centre of their future garden plot. 



The people living on River Street were ready to make 

 their neighborhood as good as any other, now that they had 

 set about it. Others had little parks. They must have them. 

 There was the triangle where the street from up-town met 



Wild Cucumber. 



