GARDENS OF SWEET SCENT 



to possess a most subtle and potent influence. For 

 while the majority of people are susceptible to the 

 sweet odors of flowers, even those that are slight and 

 evasive, there are others who become almost as much 

 intoxicated with the aromatic fragrance of certain 

 stems and leaves as the cat does with a whiff of catnip. 



Thyme, about which much has been said by both 

 ancient and modern writers, is reputed to have played 

 strange tricks with the fancy and the imagination. 

 I have even heard of its influence in the life of a man 

 of this generation. According to the story, this man 

 drove one day to the seat of a charitable brother- 

 hood in the vicinity of his country home to make his 

 annual gift. As no one was then in sight about the 

 monastery, he went on into the garden, one filled with 

 homely plants, mostly those of medicinal virtue and 

 pungent scent. Amid these peaceful surroundings 

 Brother Louie, a quaint figure in his brown habit, 

 tended the flowers, his eye lit with the fire of pious 

 enthusiasm. 



The man of the world fulfilled his errand and was 

 about to leave the garden when Brother Louie put 

 into his hand a sprig of thyme, with its impressive, 

 never-to-be-forgotten scent. It was carried away: one 

 might have thought the incident closed. But the 

 thyme had its work to do. It perfumed the pocket 

 of the man who took it, and filled his mind with quiet, 

 beautiful thoughts of Brother Louie working among 

 the flowers, happier far than any king. At length its 

 mission was accomplished. The man longed sincerely 

 to wear the brown habit, and presented himself for 



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