THE EARLY IDEALS 
237 
Even here the sweet ones long have first choice. 
Fragrance seems to have allured in one age quite as in 
another, and the sternest and most austere have sof¬ 
tened before the incense poured from the heart of rose 
or carnation. Indeed I have wondered sometimes if 
flower fragrance had not power equal with the power 
of sweet sounds to soothe the savage breast. Surely 
it is to flowers very like the voice to man—wherefore, 
mayhap it is the garden choral! 
Grading up thus from barest utility through the 
useful and pleasant to the pleasant and beautiful, the 
garden of old time was a product of evolution, and is 
to be arrived at once more only by traveling over the 
old trail. If any one general axiom may be laid down 
concerning its reconstruction, it is this: Start with a 
broad conception of, and a firm belief in, the beauty 
of utility; and work with the determination to develop 
from this. Never mind what the plan or size or style 
is to be; get this “spirit of the old” thoroughly assim¬ 
ilated, and think more about that than about anything 
else. It is the charm of the old garden, as well as its 
form and plants, which we are seeking to recall when 
we make a new one like it; and this charm lies in the 
ancient estimate of homely, simple things at their true 
high worth. 
With this point of view restored, do not set limits 
upon the grounds beyond which the thought that is to 
