28 THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 
deliverer of Israel, lacked imagination. He could not 
visualize the collective contributions of millions of back- 
yard and vacant-lot gardens. He was like the little girl, 
who, when asked to save a slice of bread to help feed 
the army, replied: “Papa, I don’t see any reason why I 
should save a slice of bread. It can’t feed an army.” 
Her father took her down to the harbor in New York 
City and showed her a great transport at the wharf, 
waiting for food to carry to Europe. He then told her 
that if every little schoolgirl in the United States saved 
a slice of bread a day, their combined savings would 
fill eight large transports every week. Her blue eyes 
opened wide as the great truth flashed upon her, and 
after that she didn’t want to eat anything at all. 
In his nursery days, the average American had 
learned that 
Little drops of water, little grains of sand, 
Make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land. 
Unfortunately, however, that infantile lesson had 
been put away with other childish things when he be- 
came a man. The task the National War Garden Com- 
mission set itself was to make the average American 
feel the full truth, the actual force, of that childhood 
jingle. The truth — the truth that was to set us free— 
was striking enough. Among the garden records of the 
National War Garden Commission is the story of a cer- 
tain garden in Pennsylvania, which was very much like 
other American back-yard gardens in many respects. 
