28 THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 



deliverer of Israel, lacked imagination. He could not 

 visualize the collective contributions of millions of back- 

 yard and vacant-lot gardens. He was like the little girl, 

 who, when asked to save a slice of bread to help feed 

 the army, replied: "Papa, I don't see any reason why I 

 should save a slice of bread. It can't feed an army." 

 Her father took her down to the harbor in New York 

 City and showed her a great transport at the wharf, 

 waiting for food to carry to Europe. He then told her 

 that if every little schoolgirl in the United States saved 

 a slice of bread a day, their combined savings would 

 fill eight large transports every week. Her blue eyes 

 opened wide as the great truth flashed upon her, and 

 after that she didn't want to eat anything at all. 



In his nursery days, the average American had 

 learned that 



Little drops of water, little grains of sand, 

 Make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land. 



Unfortunately, however, that infantile lesson had 

 been put away with other childish things when he be- 

 came a man. The task the National War Garden Com- 

 mission set itself was to make the average American 

 feel the full truth, the actual force, of that childhood 

 jingle. The truth — the truth that was to set us free — 

 was striking enough. Among the garden records of the 

 National War Garden Commission is the story of a cer- 

 tain garden in Pennsylvania, which was very much like 

 other American back-yard gardens in many respects. 



