AN ISLAND GARDEN 93 



Altogether lovely they are out of doors, but 

 I plant and tend them always with the thought 

 of the joy they will be within the house also. I 

 know well what Emerson means when he asks, 



" Hast thou named all the birds without a gun ? 

 Loved the wood Rose and left it on its stalk ? " 



and if I gather this or any other wild-flower I do 

 it with such reverent love that even he would be 

 satisfied. No one knows better and deplores 

 more deeply than I the wholesale destruction, 

 wanton and cruel, which goes on among our wild- 

 flowers every year; but to bring a few indoors for 

 purposes of study and fuller appreciation is an- 

 other and a desirable thing. For the wild Rose 

 is but partially learned when one pauses a mo- 

 ment in passing to admire the sweet surprise of 

 its beauty as it suddenly smiles up from the road- 

 side. It cannot be learned in a single glance, 

 nor, indeed, in many glances : it must be carefully 

 considered and lovingly meditated upon before 

 it yields all the marvel of its delicate glory to 

 your intelligence. " Consider the Lilies," said the 

 Master. Truly, there is no more prayerful busi- 

 ness than this " consideration " of all the flowers 

 that grow. 



And in the garden they are planted especially 

 to feast the souls that hunger for beauty, and 

 within doors as well as without they " delight the 

 spirit of man." Opening out on the long piazza 

 over the flower beds, and extending almost its 

 whole length, runs the large, light, airy room 

 where a group of happy people gather to pass the 



