142 HOME AND GARDEN 



some successes at the hands of those who cannot be 

 content with anything short of " good drawing " there 

 are the many absurd faihires of those to whom it 

 is nothing but sticking flowers and branches upright 

 in shallow vessels, and whose only reason for doing 

 it is because it is the fashion. Delightful and de- 

 sirable as are the results of this kind of arrangement 

 in the best hands, I cannot think that it will ever 

 supersede, or even seriously compete with, the loose 

 and free ways of using our familiar garden flowers. 

 For one thing, to do it well, ample leisure and a quiet 

 mind are needed, as well as mechanical dexterity 

 and highly-trained eye, for it is like seriously com- 

 posing a picture ; and in our case one whole group 

 of motives that is absorbingly present to the mind 

 of the Japanese decorator is absent, namely, those 

 that have to do with traditional law and symbolism. 

 For, happily, we can pick a bunch of Primroses in 

 the wood and put it in water without having to con- 

 sider whether we have done it in such a way as to 

 suggest a ship coming home or a matrimonial en- 

 gagement in contemplation. I do not say this in 

 any spirit of derision, for I gladly acknowledge how 

 much we may learn from the Japanese in the way 

 they insist on beauty of line ; but, at the same time, 

 I cannot but rejoice that we are not hampered by 

 other considerations than those that lead us to com- 

 bine and place our flowers so as to be beautiful in 

 themselves and fitting for our rooms. 



