110 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1895. 



loft, see the little narrow courtyards paved with stones, that the fact 

 begins to dawn upon us that our first impression may be fundamen- 

 tally wrong. Is it not too much of a good thing in a very small 

 space ? And is not the rest of the city altogether too much of a bad 

 thing everywhere else? Given a city like Antwerp, and such a garden 

 as I have described would do more for the salvation of its people than 

 all its cathedrals. The people must use it as their only means of 

 getting a breath of fresh air or a glimpse of nature. On the other 

 hand, is it fair to ask, given a fairy garden, with the making of 

 which the people have had nothing to do, and might not the very fact 

 of its perfection tend to make the people careless of the ugliness of 

 their own abodes ? We are wont to congratulate ourselves that beauty 

 is contagious. But unless the sight of it carries with it some knowl- 

 edge as to how the beautiful effect is attained, and brings some im- 

 pulse to put forth some effort to attain it, I doubt if this be true. 

 Imitation and suggestion are very strong factors in the world's 

 progress. The quickest way to clean up a squalid neighborhood is 

 for some one in the middle of it to roll up his sleeves and make his 

 own place -hine. One after another his neighbors would catch the 

 infection. But if an angel from heaven should come down and plant 

 lilies and roses in one man's yard, the rest would fold their hands and 

 await their turn, if each didn't grumble because he was not served 

 first. Such a garden might pay expenses in Antwerp, and be a price- 

 less boon to its people ; but this is not saying that it would be equally 

 appreciated in Worcester. 



Another serious objection to such a garden, ideal as it seems, is 

 that it is too highly spiced for every-day diet. Even lions and tigers, 

 elephants and monkeys, are not by any means the most important 

 things in the world ; neither are the most enchanting vistas. Honey, 

 gingerbread and pickles are all good ; but if a child gets in the habit 

 of living on them, he may lose his appetite for more essential food, 

 grow up spindling and finally die of a broken stomach. The same is 

 true of intellectual health and life. If interest is too much stimulated 

 and indulged in the rare and strange, there is danger that it be lost 

 for the great common things that really are most deeply and peren- 

 nially interesting, and that touch our lives most closely on every side. 

 In planning a garden, we must therefore take the above facts of 

 human nature, and many others, into full account. And when we do 

 this, we shall pro])ably all agree that we would not exchange Worces- 

 ter, with its garden-plats, fruit trees and lawns, for the ancient city 

 of Antwerp, with its narrow, dirty streets and stone-paved courts and 



