WHEN SPRING AWAKES 31 



altruistic spirit is more largely exercised in planting for 

 those who come after, and it should be tempered with a 

 serious responsibility. 



Some have been heard to say, "Decorate to-day, for 

 to-morrow you move," and they expend all their fancy on 

 potted geraniums, palms, and hastily sown annuals. To 

 the winds with them ! They well deserve to move often, 

 and a concerted plan should forbid their ever having a 

 posy from any of our fragrant borders. Flower growing 

 may seem a trifling thing, but if heaven has blessed you 

 with a bit of ground, remember the parable of the man 

 with the talents and turn to the page in your conscience 

 that considers gardens for yourself, your neighbors, and 

 to-morrow. 



Why should we be chosen from thousands we blessed 

 and they denied? Perhaps they long for a spade and 

 pruning hook more than we do. Fate, sharing her 

 bounties, has given us this maybe a garden to plant in 

 common with the bride of Twelfthnight who has just 

 found her nest beyond the city's roar. 



An unconquered suburban lot on a gloomy March day 

 has an unlovely aspect, but it is an opportunity. Sitting 

 on the sunny corner of the porch with the garden plat on 

 a book, a catalogue, and a box of water colors, one can 

 look abroad and in the mind's eye see the perennials 

 blooming. Of course they are massed where they will be 

 sheltered and out of the way of the beds of annuals. 



