CHAPTER X 

 SIDE SHOWS 



And in the windows, either side the door, 



Were ranged as many little boxes more 



Of like old-fashioned larkspurs, pinks and moss 



And fern and phlox ; while up and down across 



Them rioted the morning-glory-vines 



On taut-set cotton-strings. JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY 



The most attractive features of a school garden are likely 

 to be its accessories, or what may be called, for short, the 

 side shows. These accessories give peculiar pleasure because 

 each one will have been undertaken by youngsters who have 

 hit upon their hearts' desire, and who have decided to seek 

 it in company with a few chosen spirits. No such group, 

 however, is really cut off from the rest. The responsibility 

 of " making good " is no light one, for it is required of 

 them in their allotted space to do something worth while ; 

 their experiment must be a credit to the whole garden. 



Questioned as to why he is putting so much energy into a 

 purely voluntary task, one eager worker gave, in substance, 

 the reply of a keen Irish woman who, when urged to tell her 

 idea of heaven, answered racily, " Heaven ? Oh, heaven is 

 doing the job you like." The self-elected jobs of the children 

 are of all sorts and kinds. The experiment plots already 

 spoken of, for instance, may be counted among the popular 

 and instructive accessories. Other schemes may not connect 

 so directly with the soil itself. 



A project which in every garden deserves to be encouraged 

 is some well-planned contrivance for protecting the birds. A 



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