OLD PETER 



beautiful Roses in his garden must have beautiful 

 Roses in his heart.' 



Therein lies the difference. The ' man about the 

 garden ' plants and sows : he even obtains a certain 

 amount of success, but it is his ' job ' and not a task 

 of love, he does it for a living, his ends are time by 

 the clock, and wages. 



The 'gardener' gardens because he loves his 

 flowers, fruit and vegetables. They are as his children 

 and he counts neither the time nor trouble spent 

 upon them. 



I used to think Old Peter was just 'a man about 

 the garden,' certainly he always is about it morning, 

 noon and night. He keeps no clock time, but it was 

 long before I discovered that he grew two things in 

 his heart a strange couple too potatoes and red 

 currants, or as he would say, ' taters and red currans.' 

 He is keener and more observant of the skin, shape 

 and eye of a potato than he is of his mates, and his 

 love for the sour and gritty little red berries is 

 amazing. ' I have twenty-one currans on one bunch 

 of Fay's ' he excitedly announced one day ; a never- 

 to-be-forgotten achievement. 



45 



