The Lake Forest Flower Market 
It has always been in the back of our minds to have a 
Flower Market as one of onr Club's activities, so with the 
completion of our Market Square, with its quaint buildings 
and medieval fountain, our setting was complete, and our 
committee early last spring made its arrangements to open a 
Market on June 5th. We begged one of the Red Cross tables, 
the oil cloth covering being just the right thing for our 
purpose. Its unsightly legs were easily covered with a curtain 
to match our awning, which was a lovely combination of soft 
mauve and blue. Placed between two stone seats near the 
fountain, with the green vases of bright colored flowers and 
occasional baskets of luscious fruits, it made a picture that 
attracted not only many customers, but no end of admiration. 
The hours were nine to twelve, once a week, on Saturday morn- 
ings. Our most profitable days were those on which we had 
seedlings to sell, but we averaged fifty dollars a morning for 
the fifteen that the iMaiket ran and at the end of that time had 
banked over eight hundred dollars. The flowers are supplied by 
the members of the club, although some of our good friends out- 
side the charmed circle, send generous donations. We find tbat 
most of our customers are among those too poor and too busy to 
have gardens, but still flower lovers, and our very moderate 
prices make it possible for the child with only a few pennies to 
have a pretty bouquet, and we feel that the pleasure we give 
many a poor soul, would alone compensate us for our labor. Our 
interesting experiences would fill a volume and memories of the 
two young mothers with perambulators well filled wiih babies and 
groceries but always room for a few flowers, of the truck driver 
whose invalid wife looked forward all week to her Saturday 
bunch of flowers, to the wounded officer from Fort Sheridan, 
who loved flowers, but Avho loved even more our gay booth 
M'hich so much reminded him of the Flower Markets "over 
there" that he came each week to tell of his experiences and 
found consolation in the telling, for his malady was more mental 
than physical; these and many others convinced us that if from 
no other point of view than that of altruism, the Flower Market 
is a success. Our left-overs we send to the hospitals at Great 
Lakes and Fort Sheridan or some of our local institutions. Our 
purpose is civic improvement along the lines consistent with 
the Garden Club's policy, but as yet our project is in too 
nebulous a state to speak of. 
]\Iadeline J. Newelii 
Garden Club of Illinois. 
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