JOHXSOX] 



SCHOOL GARDENS 



is particularly true of the primary grades but is not confined 

 to these grades. The first appearance of the plant above the 

 ground, the appearance of the first bud or blossom, and the first 

 radish grown to a size making consumption worth while, are 

 occasions for the display of hilarious enthusiasm. A man of 

 middle age who lives near me and alone is engaged in the some- 

 what prosaic work of hauling gravel for a construction com- 

 pany. He must leave home early in the morning and return 

 rather late in the evening, taking all his meals during the day 

 away from home. But despite this very serious handicap, and 

 his ability to make use of the things grown, he has a somewhat 



SCHOOL G.\RDEX IX A CONGESTED OU.XRTER OF NEW YORK CITY P. 5. 

 41, NEW YORK, KATHERIXE BEVIER, PRIXCIPAL. 



pretentious garden. He says he just likes to see things grow. 

 And who does not like to see things grow? There cannot be 

 the least doubt that boys and girls all do. But there is some- 

 thing still better than the pleasure he derives from seeing things 

 grow, for it seems to me a truth almost axiomatic, that it is im- 

 possible for one to like to see things grow, without himself grow- 

 ing by virtue of that fact. And to the child especially as he be- 

 comes older, the pleasure attendant upon this self growth sur- 

 passes even that derived from seeing growth in other things. Few 

 things, if any. can produce in a child, a higher degree of pleasure 

 than the discovery that he has the ability to bend nature's forces 



