THOMAS] CHILDREN'S GARDENS IN A STEEL TOWN 135 



This year the garden work for the season began on April 5th, the 

 first Monday after Easter. The first week was spent visiting the 

 schools and giving the usual talks to the children between the 3d 

 and 7th grades. These talks described our plans for home and 

 school gardens during the coming season. Children were urged to 

 do all they could toward cleaning up their own and their neighbor's 

 premises and to keep them clean. 



Following the custom inaugurated last year, a Registration Day 

 for gardens was held, in the City Hall. Owing to very severe cold 

 and rainy weather only 100 children registered. But the usual 

 crowd appeared for gardens on opening da}^ 



From April 5th to April 2 2d it rained six days each week, 

 Sunday being the one fair day. No out of door work was accom- 

 plished but plans for the laying out of the gardens were made, seed 

 and new tools ordered. Paths were made by the 29th of April and 

 we had the children out digging in their gardens after school, by 

 working till 9 p. m. that evening we got 60 gardens planted. Satur- 

 day we worked in the other gardens till the same hour. Saturday 

 being the only time we can have the children for the whole day, we 

 have to do all we can on them. All the rest has to be done in the 

 little time we have after the schools close at four p. m. 

 . By May 7th most of the individual gardens in the Company 

 gardens were planted. By May 8th lettuce and radishes were 

 showing above ground in all of the gardens. From May loth until 

 public schools closed in June there were more or less children present 

 every single afternoon after school. If things were not large enough 

 to be worked among or it rained, we cleaned up around outside the 

 gardens. I am proud of the record we made this season, in spite 

 of many rainy days early in the season there was but one on which 

 I did not go to the gardens and I always found some children, if 

 only a few, who would be waiting in the rain, sa^dng, "We have 

 waited you so long." It might rain so hard we had to go home or 

 it might be so wet we could only walk around to see how things 

 were growing, or later in the season gather some v^egetable, but I 

 made it a rule always to be there, and open that garden for a little 

 while. It keeps up the interest and keeps the children in the hal)it 

 of thinking they must go to their gardens. Children's memories 

 are short and many of these children are "retarded" or mentally 

 lacking in development. They do not understand reasons for 

 coming some days and not others but they can follow a routine. 



