246 
THE GAR D E N MAGAZINE 
June, 1915 
THE- TALK- OF - THE - OFFICE 
M 
■M 
"To business that we love we rise betime 
And go to ’t with delight . ” — Antony and Cleopatra 
MICHAEL O’HALLORAN, ESQ. 
H E IS about fourteen years old when 
we make his acquaintance — Irish, 
lovable, witty and sensible beside. 
Do you remember “Freckles,” a novel of the 
woods by Mrs. Gene Stratton-Porter? It has 
been read by about 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 
people at least; and every one of these readers 
will enjoy Michael because he is of the same 
joyous type. 
The book will not be published until August 
17th, but it will be well to tell your bookseller 
to have a copy ready when it comes out. 
AN EDITOR ON HIS TRAVELS 
We asked the Editor of Country Life in 
America to take a trip pretty much all around 
this country of ours to study those things 
which are within the field of Country Life, and 
to study particularly the points which might 
be developed to make the magazine better, 
more vital, interesting and valuable. Here is 
an extract from his report: 
There is but one way to get an idea of what the 
United States as a whole really is, and that way is to see 
practically all of it in a hurry. You can’t stop any- 
where for long; if you do you will find too many interest- 
ing things to absorb your attention and distort the 
image you are trying to record in your brain. And it’s 
a most instructive proceeding. The mere panorama 
of varying landscape, from coast to coast, will tire your 
eyes like a long session with the motion pictures, and 
give you a new respect for the land that flourishes under 
the stars and stripes. But the merely physical side of 
it is subordinate to the discovery that every city has a 
personality — not merely your own Boston or Baltimore, 
San Francisco or St. Paul, but every community of 
souls from the Atlantic to the Pacific is just as surely 
different from every other community as every man is 
distinguishable from every other man on earth. 
There are many things that go to make up this var- 
iableness of character. People build different types of 
houses. In Charleston, S. C., there is always the two- 
story porch along the south front — and there is always 
a garden. In southern California the homebuilder is 
influenced by the early architecture of the Franciscan 
friars who brought their ideas from Spain. In New 
England there is the Colonial tradition; in the far 
Northwest the English types prevail, perhaps by reason 
of the unconscious influence of Canada. All these are 
but random instances of the amazing diversity that 
local conditions, local materials, local traditions, give to 
a country of such great extent as the United States. 
But not only does the architecture vary so widely; 
the people’s gardens present just as diverse pictures; in 
fact their mode of life varies, their ambitions, their at- 
titude toward work and toward play. From any point 
of view the country is kaleidoscopic. 
Naturally this sight-seeing trip throughout the United 
States has uncovered countless things of interest from 
the viewpoint of Country Life in A merica. I have much 
the same feeling as that boy must have who goes down 
the hill for a bucket of water and is caught in a cloud- 
burst. The problem is not the finding of new matter 
for the magazine but rather the far harder one of se- 
lecting the most widely interesting and instructive 
things from such an overwhelming mass of newly dis- 
covered material. 
FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE 
He wrote this about a novel which is full of 
the enthusiasm of conviction, showing graphic- 
ally what liquor is doing for tens of thousands: 
I have received and read the advance copy of Mr. 
Hay’s book, “The Man Who Forgot” — and am glad to 
commend it to the reading public. It is a story with a 
purpose — the story well told and the purpose manifest 
on every page. Mr. Hay has very skillfully interwoven 
a love story with the important features of a great moral 
question; or, it might be more accurate to say that he 
has woven the essential elements of a great cause into a 
love story. 
At any rate, he has presented an argument against the 
liquor traffic in such a fascinating way that his book 
will reach many who would not be attracted to the 
ordinary presentation of the case. 
I congratulate you upon having brought out such a 
book, and Mr. Hay upon the service he has rendered to 
the cause of temperance in writing it. 
ABOUT “RUGGLES” 
We could print this magazine full of letters 
written about Harry Leon Wilson’s book, 
“Rugglesof Red Gap.” Here is one from Iowa: 
Who cares anything about “Ruggles of Red Gap?” 
When I opened the pages I read several of the stories 
that go to explain the pictures; but this Ruggles fellow, 
I passed him up. Whenever I saw that “Ruggles of 
Red Gap” I ricochetted over to the next article; and so 
it went until one day, when the hired man happened to 
be reading the story. 
“ Did you read that ‘ Ruggles of Red Gap? ’ "he asked 
me across a manger. 
“No, I did not,” I replied. “I suppose it’s about 
some fool of a hero, who falls in love with some fool of a 
girl and after much tomfoolery he, at last, marries her. 
Such is life in the story-books.” 
“O, no,” the hired man said, “it’s about an English 
valet that gets drunk in Paris and blacks his employer’s 
eye in the United States and ” 
“Whoopee!” I exclaimed. 
I went at once to this “Ruggles of Red Gap” and read 
the ninth chapter. Then I saw behind that awful title. 
I hunted up chapter number eight, and then number 
seven, and thus worked gradually back to the beginning, 
being caused to read it backward by the title. 
Somewhere in the story this Ruggles person has hit 
the real title: Alone in North America. Now, why in 
the name of the Great Horned Horse did you not put 
that title on the head end where it belongs? 
This Wilson person, who I believe wrote the story, is 
a real “yumorust” and I hope the next time he contri- 
butes he will not hide his funny-bone light behind that 
bushel of a title, “Ruggles of Red Gap.” 
So then, here’s to “Alone in North America” and 
that Wilson person that wrote it. 
A UNIQUE BOOK 
Can one apply the following adjectives to 
a book: 
Romantic 
Practical 
Helpful 
Suggestive 
Sentimental? 
In Country Life in America there appeared 
as a serial a story of a college professor who 
went to live in the country — “The Idyl of 
Twin Fires,” by Walter Prichard Eaton. It 
proved to be the most successful contribution 
of the sort that the magazine ever had. 
Now it is still more delightful in book form, 
helped by the charming drawings of Thomas 
Fogarty. It will give you a thrill of pleasure 
to possess it. • 
“the world’s work” IN EGYPT 
A good friend of ours met a young Arab in 
Egypt and sent him as a gift a year’s subscrip- 
tion to the World’s Work. He (the donor) has 
received several letters from this Egyptian 
friend, revealing the fact that he has used the 
magazine diligently in his study of English. 
We reprint verbatim his last letter, which we 
contend is a credit to both the Arab and the 
World's Work: 
March 20, ioiv 
Mr. S M 
New York, U. S. A. 
Dear Sir: 
With great pleasure I have received your kind letter 
dated 13th January, 1915, and I find my-self getting so 
well in English by the help of your useful magazines. 
I am spending about half of my time daily in reading 
that I feel so improved in English, my thoughts have 
been widened by the interesting subjects I read; and 
now I consider that if I continue reading in this way, 
there will come a time in which I shall be a learned man. 
I trust that you will see the result of my work from the 
letteis I send. Comparing my first state of writing to 
my second and this third you will see the difference. 
Lastly I am very thankful for what I have gained. 
Very truly yours, 
L F D 
Beni Hussien 
Assiout, Egypt. 
