House and Garden 
explain that the lawns are sprinkled every 
morning with Annheuser-Busch beer and 
that this it is that keeps the grass greener 
than elsewhere. 
Some months ago it became publicly 
known that Mr. Busch contemplated 
deeding these wonderful gardens to the 
city of Pasadena before his death or 
leaving it to the city by will. The state¬ 
ment has been allowed to go without 
denial. Such are probably the intentions 
of the great brewer. The mayor of 
Pasadena recently told Mr. Busch’s 
agent that while the city would gladly 
accept of this princely gift it should be 
accompanied by a sum of money large 
enough to guarantee its perpetual up¬ 
keep as it is now. Few municipalities in 
the country would feel able to spend the 
money needed to care for these gardens if 
it ran into the figures named by those who 
know what Mr. Busch is now expending. 
It is, however, reasonable to suppose 
that a man, of the great business ability 
of Mr. Busch, would scarcely enter into 
an investment involving so large an 
amount as is already tied up in this enterprise, and one where 
a very large part of the investment might be wiped out by neglect 
of a very short duration, without making ample provision for its 
perpetuation, whether it remain after his death—a private gar¬ 
den—or passes into the possession of the municipality. 
It seems probable, then, that when Mr. Busch takes steps to pre¬ 
sent these gardens to the city of Pasadena he will also provide for 
their being cared for in the same perfect manner as to-day. No 
visit to Southern California at the present time is complete without 
a visit to the wonderful Busch Gardens at Pasadena. 
Simplicity the Keynote 
of Good Taste in Art, Ideals 
or Emotion 
BY ADA BROWN TALBOT 
' I HE spirit of the Japanese as shown in decorative matters 
is full of charm, for simplicity is the keynote, not only 
in quality, but in quantity as well. And how few of us “Bar¬ 
barians” of the Western World seem able to appreciate this. 
We are too vain in our feverish acquisition of treasures to consider 
hiding any of them from the eyes of the world, en passant, for a sin¬ 
gle day. We must display them all in the drawing-room or salon, 
until the matter of locomotion therein becomes a difficult one. 
We are oppressed by the things that are supposed to decorate, 
the cloying barriers to health, portieres always hanging between 
us and the life-giving ether; over-draped windows; inane pictures 
and the myriad articles of adornment in the sad-eyed, apoplectic 
rooms that are afflicted with decorative indigestion, gorged beyond 
their limit by senseless, useless objects, in the vain pursuit of 
decoration. Why cannot the occupants of houses at least try to 
make harmony their chief end and aim ? 
We seem not to consider the other scheme of decoration worth 
while, the scheme of simple tastes made useful because fulfilling a 
need and gratifying a desire at the same time. How hard it is to 
eliminate, to put away useless things and be simple! The enchant¬ 
ment of clear atmosphere in our homes, the sense of expansive¬ 
ness, of generous views and noble proportions are the sweet reward 
which only broad minds appreciate after superfluous objects have 
CHARMING SPOT IN THE GARDENS 
been banished from the home. The mighty tide of senseless, 
maddening things parading as bric-a-brac, that has flowed into 
most homes at some period in their history, has carried us far from 
the real port, the Port of Beauty. Only there can we contentedly 
abide, safe from the fret of ceaseless obligation, from the burden of 
convention and the never-ending care of things. In the Port of 
Beauty, harmony prevails, life is simplified and homes are made 
beautiful by sunshine and generous space. 
Be simple in tastes, in emotions, in ideals; feel that a single thing 
of beauty is enough to offer on the altar of estheticism to-day, 
saving the rest for to-morrow, and to-morrow and yet to-morrow, 
to-day a vase, a flower or a bit of tapestry; to-morrow a statue, 
a different flower or a painting. Let the home or the room speak 
for itself and in the utterance proclaim you master. 
Have you not reveled in the graceful beauty of an art treasure 
that seemed to burn into the very depths of your esthetic nature, 
to find that long days after, the soul of the thing was yours to 
keep ? Remember this, you of slender purse. Your ambitions, 
your longings, your struggles for a few, at least, of the treasures of 
art, are not in vain. At least your eyes and ears and soul may be 
filled, and, after these—your heart; for Memory is awake, and 
what you see, if you are appreciative, is as surely yours as though 
you had legal possession and title. 
I can afford to eat the oyster that perchance made the pearl on a 
king’s coronet. The same sun that warms me and gives me 
strength and life, made possible the glorious roses in a duke’s 
garden. For a trifling sum I may behold the wonders of the pyra¬ 
mids, of great vaulted churches and may travel on railways in 
malarial lands, the building of which cost countless thousands of 
human lives. In a bit of marvelous Chinese porcelain I hold in 
my hand the embodiment of a secret which has puzzled the world, 
which the world cannot buy, and into the making of which cen¬ 
turies of civilization have entered. 
Live in to-day the whole gamut of the ideals of which you are 
capable. If your surroundings are depressing, so much harder 
the struggle, but one treasure may save you from ennui. Oh, 
little vase of blue! Oh, little canvas, glorified by good taste (and 
a good frame)! Oh, simple violets, brightening your corner and 
soothing ineffably by your presence! What have you not done to 
save some starving soul in an uncongenial atmosphere created 
by mere physical surroundings! 
The day brings its own “Amen” if the soul has been well fed 
and the joy of simple desires fulfilled. 
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