THE LURE OF THE GARDEN 
other, and of varying degrees of efficiency, has made 
of the suburbanite an ever-increasing multitude. As 
for the suburban garden, it holds delightful potential¬ 
ities, more than a few having already been realized. 
Moreover, the long and desperate reign of ugliness 
is waning, and scarcely an American village, town, or 
city but is bestirring itself in the sacred cause of beauty. 
The women’s clubs and municipal committees are 
doing a great work in turning waste and hideous places 
into little parks, public gardens, and playgrounds. 
School children everywhere are being taught the value 
of order and loveliness in their surroundings, given 
opportunities to plant and cultivate gardens of their 
own, and encouraged to influence their families toward 
improving the home yard and combining for the public 
betterment of streets, avenues, and squares. 
Straws all these, but blowing decidedly in one direc¬ 
tion. Not a tree planted in a city street that is not an 
object-lesson, creating a demand for others. And one 
back yard transformed into a garden begets many more 
of its kind. Make one beautiful place in a town, and 
a hundred will follow in due course. People are ready 
for the hint! 
The idea of seclusion as an essential part of a 
garden, is also a thing of slow, but sure, growth. 
At present we are most of us far too much afraid of 
walls, too fond of having the eye of the world on our 
possessions, too careless of the privacy that makes a 
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