THE AMATEUR GARDEN 



"Did you plant those shrubs of gorgeous 

 flower and broad, dark leaf out on your street 

 front purely as a matter of artistic taste ? " 



"I did," he replied. "I wanted to put my 

 best foot foremost. Wouldn't you ? " 



"Why should I?" asked the amateur. "I 

 wouldn't begin a song with my highest note, nor 

 a game with my strongest card, nor an address 

 with my most impassioned declaration, nor a 

 sonnet with its most pregnant line. If I should, 

 where were my climax?" 



Certainly the amateur had the best of it. A 

 garden is a discourse. A garden is a play. See 

 with what care both the dramatist and the stage- 

 manager avoid putting the best foot foremost. 

 See how warily they hold back the supreme 

 strength of the four or five act piece for the 

 last act but one. There is a charmingly instruct- 

 ive analogy between a garden and a drama. In 

 each you have preparation, progress, climax, and 

 close. And then, also, in each you must have 

 your lesser climaxes leading masterfully up to 

 the supreme one, and a final quiet one to let 

 gratefully down from the giddy height. 



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