10 MY HANDKERCHIEF GARDEN, 



It is small — only a trifling matter of $20.49. ^^ ^^^ 

 same time, $20.49 ^^ $20.49 ^^^^ most of us would ac- 

 cept it with a cheerful heart. No one was the worse 

 for my partnership with nature. It was bran new 

 money and came out of no man's pocket. Our table 

 was supplied with vegetables for over four months, so 

 that no purchases (except one quart of onions) were 

 made at the stores for this time. Besides this, not- 

 withstanding a rather poor season, the vegetables 

 were of a far better quality than could be purchased 

 anywhere. As an illustration of this I may confess 

 without a blush that I ate nine cucumbers a day for 

 several weeks in entire safety and complete satisfac- 

 tion. To buy so many for one person would demand 

 considerable moral courage, not alone for the price, 

 but from the doubtful character of cucumbers two 

 days old. Mine often reached the breakfast table in 

 less time that it took to make the coffee — hence their 

 beautiful innocence. 



Did it pay ? Would it not have been better to lay 

 the lawn to grass, and to trundle a lawn-mower or 

 toss the light tennis ball ? Can't say. I am not a 

 Tennis Courtier. But I do know that out of the ground 

 comes health and wealth. Will you bring the children 

 up forever on canned goods, when they might pull 

 peas and good times out of the same ground. A home 

 garden, even if it be only a patch like an extra large 

 handkerchief, may in many a man's life-accounJ 

 make all the difference between profit and loss 

 between a dish of greens and a lot in the cemetery. 



From a recent report of the Bureau of Labor Stalls 

 tics in Connecticut it appears that forty-six families, 

 representing twenty-nine trades and living in differen:. 

 parts of the State, were, at the time of the report, 

 financially unhappy. The total income of the forty- 

 six families amounted in one month to $2,475.36. 



