MY GARDEN the conventional idea of a garden, or to merit 

 OF DREAMS ^ pra j se of ^ ^ 



It must be evident that when Mr. Austin 

 says that he would always want the" particular 

 and exclusive plot" of his own, he means much 

 more than the mere desire of ownership. To 

 be really "one's own garden" it must mean 

 much more. 



The distinction which Mr. Austin makes 

 between "one's own" and the "gardener's 

 garden" is very real. The gardener's garden 

 is one made for another whose sole relation 

 to it is financial. He pays for the ground, the 

 plants, and the labor. He does not make the 

 garden. He does not come into the personal 

 relations with it which the knowledge of it and 

 the love of it bring about, and which alone can 

 make it one's own in any true spiritual sense. 



The pleasures of a garden are by no means 

 only in its product, but far more in its proc- 

 esses. A garden is full of little secrets and 

 confidences which you lose if you leave it en- 

 tirely to another. To hand over to another the 

 supreme care of one's garden is to give away 

 that finer and truer ownership which can be 



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