December, 1918 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



131 



He had to be fed and tended as if he were a baby. 

 It seemed as if, unless he could speedily be roused, 

 that he would be doomed to a life of hopeless 

 idiocy. 



/V LL this happened at a base hospital near 

 ^* Baltimore, where, in the course of events 

 came a well known near-by florist to show the 

 authorities in charge of the grounds how to plant 

 their flower beds and borders around the build- 

 ing. It is almost needless to add that this florist 

 contributed many of the plants which were to 

 be used in the aforesaid flower beds, and it was 

 one of these plants, a thrifty blooming Geranium, 

 which was placed on a table directly in front of 

 this obstinate shell-shock case. 



After a time the vague and wandering eyes fo- 

 cussed on the lovely plant, and a little glimmer of 

 reason crept into them. Then, with an enor- 

 mous effort, he tried to say something — the first 

 time he had even shown that he could speak. At 

 last, weakly, he managed to bring out the word 

 "pretty," just as as a little lisping child might do 

 it. 



It was the beginning of his recovery — a slow 

 recovery, but a sure one. His senses reawak- 

 ened, his appetite came back, his faculties re- 

 turned to him, and he was brought back to a 

 world of sanity, to the future of any normal hu- 

 man being. Think what this means to him and 

 to his family. Is it any wonder that the doctor 

 in charge of this hospital claims that flowers are 

 his best medicine, and declares that a bunch of 

 flowers in every ward, every day, should be a 

 recognized part of the hospital equipment? 



ONE of the Flower Ladies tells a similar story 

 of a shell-shocked soldier who lay apathetic 

 on his pillow until a rose was given him. Its 

 perfume, heavenly-sweet, seemed to interest and 

 yet to puzzle him. He asked, stupidly enough, 

 what the flower was and when he was told it was 



marc 



a Rose he called back his lost 

 memory and said, painfully grop- 

 ing for the words, "They — have 

 — Roses — in France — but — but- 

 they don't — they don't 

 smell like this." 



What did the perfume 

 of that flower recall, do 

 you think — if not his 

 through the streets of some pic- 

 turesque little town in France, 

 with tremulous joyful women and 

 shouting children offering flowers to him and 

 to his comrades, as they welcomed them for their 

 share in the great crusade for liberty? As in the 

 case of the boy in Baltimore, this recognition of 

 the flower was the beginning of the cure, and 

 to-day that boy is sound and well. 



THERE is an Italian scientist who holds the 

 theory that more associated ideas are aroused 

 by the sense of smell than by either sight or sound, 

 and the recognition of this theory and its appli- 

 cation to reconstruction work among our returned 

 fighting men, may prove a tremendous helping 

 factor to recovery, especially in the shell-shock 

 cases. The testimony of many physicians who 

 are engaged in this important work will bear this 

 out, and looked at from this angle, what added im- 

 portance is given to the work of the Flower Ladies 

 and their faithful aids, the florists. 

 The following letter speaks for itself: 



BROAD STREET HOSPITAL 

 in the City of New York 

 My dear Mrs. Curtin: 



Your kind letter was received and I desire to emphasize the fact 

 that the donation of flowers to the wounded sailors and soldiers of 

 our Hospital has had a decidedly beneficial effect upon them. 



The effect is not only psychic, but the pleasure of having received 

 this offering has a decidedly stimulating effect upon the sick and 

 undoubtedly shortens their convalescence. 



Your good work in personally distributing these flowers has been 



very much appreciated by the Hospital, and we desire to second your 



efforts to secure a large coal supply for the florists who have so kindly 



donated these flowers. With assurances of our sincere appreciation, 



I am, Very truly yours 



Wm. H. Dieffenbach, President, Medical Board. 



DERHAPS the most touching 

 *■ story yet told of this flower 

 hospital service is that of the 

 French sailor, a boy of eighteen, 

 who had been submarined, and 

 though rescued, was left weak- 

 ened by the bitter exposure, for 

 he had been hours on a frail raft 

 in a wintry sea before he was 

 rescued. However, he went 

 back to the service and his ves- 

 sel one day landed in America. 

 While he was here pleurisy seized him and he was 

 sent to a hospital. It was in one of these that the 

 youthful Ally was placed, and there the Flower 

 Ladies came to know him. 



He was a true Frenchman, little Eugene with 

 all the virtues of that great nation — courage, 

 sweetness, charm, gayety — and he soon became a 

 favorite with everyone. All that could be done 

 for him was gladly accorded, but it was no use. 

 Day by day his strength ebbed away, but to the 

 last he smiled and was brave. 



And then one day the Flower Ladies came to 

 the hospital with their fragrant burden of bloom 

 — but little Jean could not welcome them, for 

 he had "gone WesV an hour before. It chanced 

 that they had red Roses that day, great armfuls 

 of them, rich-colored, fragrant, velvet-petalled, 

 and with them they gently covered the wasted 

 body, and a photographer was hastily summoned 

 to make a picture that could be sent back to little 

 Eugene's mother in France, as a token that her 

 son had not died as a stranger in a strange land 

 — but among friends who truly cared for him. 



The other boys in the ward, the Americans, 

 received their flowers as usual, but, without say- 

 ing a word, they limped and hobbled, one by one, 

 to Eugene's bier, and gave those flowers to him — 

 their last tribute. Those who were too ill to rise, 

 silently handed their flowers to their stronger 

 companions and these, too, were added. And Eu- 



© Underwood & Underwood 



Inside the hospital the distribution goes on just the same. Mrs. J. Clark Curtin on the right. Flowers are given by the commercial florists 



