THE LURE OF THE GARDEN 



the dust and glare of the arena, something to which he 

 can turn with joy when other interests die. 



Many things happen in the soul of a child of which 

 we have little conception, traveling as we do daily far- 

 ther from the east. Dreams and fancies crowd upon 

 them, and in seeking to adjust the world within to that 

 without, important transmutations occur. It is as well 

 that these adjustments should not be too violent, nor 

 the contrast between dream and reality too marked in 

 the beginning. 



If your child spends hours musing down there where 

 the fountain drips musically into the little pond overfull 

 of white and red lilies, you may feel sure that he is 

 building part of a foundation of life not unworthy. Send 

 him and his brothers and sisters out to play under the 

 pink wonder of the azaleas, or to chase the flying leaves 

 over the lawn when October gives the signal for the 

 fire dance, and something beside the rewards of exercise 

 and fresh air will be given them. Teach them their 

 lessons in the rose-grown summer-house, and if their 

 attention wanders, following the tip-tilted flight of a 

 butterfly or harkening to the excited warbling of a wren, 

 do not bother overmuch. The best things are not 

 taught in words, and what man has done is not the only 

 truth to be learned. 



And as for health ! Just look at them, kept out from 

 earliest morning to sunset, reeking of mother earth 

 like a root fresh plucked from the soil, lusty of limb and 



72 



