CHAPTER X 
SIDE SHOWS 
And in the windows, either side the door, 
Were ranged as many little boxes more 
Of like old-fashioned larkspurs, pinks and moss 
And fern and phlox ; while up and down across 
Them rioted the morning-glory-vines 
On taut-set cotton-strings. — James Whitcomb Riley 
The most attractive features of a school garden are likely 
to be its accessories, or what may be called, for short, the 
side shows. These accessories give peculiar pleasure because 
each one will have been undertaken by youngsters who have 
hit upon their hearts’ desire, and who have decided to seek 
it in company with a few chosen spirits. No such group, 
however, is really cut off from the rest. The responsibility 
of " making good ” is no light one, for it is required of 
them in their allotted space to do something worth while ; 
their experiment must be a credit to the whole garden. 
Questioned as to why he is putting so much energy into a 
purely voluntary task, one eager worker gave, in substance, 
the reply of a keen Irish woman who, when urged to tell her 
idea of heaven, answered racily, " Heaven .? Oh, heaven is 
doing the job you like.” The self-elected jobs of the children 
are of all sorts and kinds. The experiment plots already 
spoken of, for instance, may be counted among the popular 
and instructive accessories. Other schemes may not connect 
so directly with the soil itself. 
A project which in every garden deserves to be encouraged 
is some well-planned contrivance for protecting the birds. A 
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