158 
GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 
One English garden will always remain to the writer a 
delightful memory. It lay in a quite impossible district, — 
an arsenal borough of greater London. The straight-angled 
streets were walled with workmen’s cottages two stories high 
and of a depressing sameness. A knock at the street door 
meant an invitation to step across the threshold and go through 
the tiny passage over a second threshold out into the garden. 
This garden covered scarcely more square feet than the ground 
plan of the scrap of a house, but by some magic an atmosphere 
quiet and lovely pervaded the spot. The din of the street 
hardly intruded beyond the high wall, which, softly padded 
with English ivy, inclosed it like a green nest. Next came the 
border beds, fairly ablaze with tall spikes of color. A little 
path led this way and that, and coaxed you into a half-hidden 
arbor. Across, in an opposite corner, there peeped enticingly 
a sunny bit of kitchen garden, spicy with fresh relishes for 
the table. Involuntarily one drew a long breath of satisfaction. 
Eor a moment this seemed the one unhurried spot in all the 
bustling world. You could fancy how the family might eagerly 
look forward to a break in the afternoon’s work, signaling the 
appearance of the much-loved teapot and what might easily 
prove the most precious half-hour of the day. 
Two things are worth looking forward to in American life: 
the leisure to plan for outdoor comfort and beauty and the 
leisure to enjoy these when once they are secured. Children 
will help their elders to accomplish this. When youngsters 
and oldsters combine, and with one accord set themselves to 
learning how to create a beautiful outdoor home, whole 
families are easily drawn into a life of fuller enjoyment and 
attachment. 
Thus one side show suggests another, and one desire kindles 
another, until by and by the whole neighborhood is astir with 
enterprises and becomes a brighter, happier place to live in. 
