Ill 



CONCERNING GARDENERS 



(IN PARTICULAR) 



October 27. To return to the procession of gar- 

 deners who have crossed my path either directly 

 or indirectly, by pouring their woes into father's 

 sympathetic ear, he being a sort of confessor, labour- 

 bureau, and first aid to the mentally and financially, 

 as well as to the physically, injured of a fifteen-mile 

 circuit, comprising open country villages and a fac- 

 tory town, my knowledge of them is based upon 

 stern fact. 



The most usual and really least offensive of the 

 group may be found abundantly in England also. 

 They are the old men who have drifted through 

 feebleness to drink, and think that gardening is 

 merely a gentle disturbing of the soil and a tying 

 up of vines in the opposite direction to which they 

 desire to go, like the usual unqualified curate's idea 

 of the ministry. 



Second to these, are the young men with weak 

 38 



