18 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 
the listener’s thoughts far away from sin, death, 
and judgment. 
Only experience teaches what, it seems, the early 
fathers of the church well knew, that tending gar- 
den is at once a school and a test for all the 
great Christian virtues. 
In hope one lays out hard-earned dollars for 
seeds, roots, tools, fertilizers, re-enforcements to 
oe 
the fence, and wages of a man to ‘‘ spade up.’’ 
Faith in Nature and in the florist’s integrity is 
sorely needed when, day after day, the beds show 
only a few sticks, upholding scraps of paper seed- 
bags, and marking the locations of hoped-for crops. 
And charity towards that florist is severely 
tested when those crops fail to appear for all the 
wooing of the south wind—and we begin to sus- 
pect him of foisting off superannuated seeds upon 
our guileless simplicity. 
But the gardener might as well be charitable 
with a good grace, for he must be charitable 
whether or no. 
The result of the sweat of his brow and the 
emptying of his pocketbook is shared with all 
creation. He is almoner to countless creatures 
which give him no gratitude. 
The moles and slugs nibble his vegetables. The 
