84 THE GARDEN OF A 



the Village Liar to the Emporium, from whence it 

 was freely distributed up the road, and finally found 

 its way to Evan on the cars. The Emporium is not 

 a shop, as you might think, but a very genteel middle- 

 aged widow of comfortable means whose house 

 stands directly at the head of the village street, so 

 that people taking the road that branches on the 

 right toward the town, or on the left that goes up 

 through the farming region, must equally pass her 

 door. Thus, being in a position to hear and collect 

 news, she is also conveniently located for its dis- 

 tribution and constitutes herself local news agent, 

 an occupation she greatly enjoys, and quite safely, 

 as she keeps her own skirts clear by never guaran- 

 teeing her wares and always premising a bit of gos- 

 sip by, " I don't know if it's true, but they do say,'* 

 etc., etc. 



I knew exactly what sort of flowers I meant to 

 have, though I had not as yet quite formulated 

 their grouping so as to explain it glibly to strangers. 

 I want a purely American garden, which may be 

 interpreted as anything and everything that will 

 grow in our sparkling but capricious climate; also 

 everything is to be in plenty no single plants, but 

 great masses and jungles of flowers without bare 

 ground showing between. 



