Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-05-18
QUEEN OF SPADES.
From Harper.s Bazar.l

in their prophecy ones thoughts e sem 70 .n tbi
flower beds and all the sweet ,iacns " fr Sn,
which blossoms are TO some M recalls thu
earth as sweet sometime sI,ar !" a III
scents of flowers themSe YES the deiight nf the
great SA Pc ratinpt .tth which seeds are
paSiiit the ' gav . pleasure of watching the
bossoming thir IS at last and the daiIr fiIna
Oh tht VASES Iom their store axN
In E ~ ID and in France. and in other
LAW a. eii, almost all la lies do little gard
SIZE their own, wearing coarse gloves and
tnt1 mats the while, and having tOO!s adapted
w ,eir use and they think they find their ac-
y an In 1t, not only in the flowers themselves
ana the augmentation of the spot of ground,
but I'm the health and strength that old Mother
Earth loves to give to all who come into close
contact with her. 1t would be a good thing
Tor the health of our own women if the same
thing were as general a custom here ami we
nave no doubt that much of the improved
health among them in the last quarter of a
century is due to larger outdoor life than OF
OLD, and the consequent better OXygenatiOn ut
the blood.
1t does not need the possession of spaciOu,
lawns and gardens for woman to be abe to
cultivate her own plot, for of course they
would pass far beyond her power, although
with the most extended grounds some one liz
tie corner NAV be retained for the private
three square yards Of land. ii is better to fiji
1t with flowers than to let it run to weeds. Ia
deed, the most brilliant and the most Orna-
Celia Thaxter'S little garden beneath her cot
tage. windows at AppledOre, gorgeous upon
M me oackgr0nnd OF the sea. not any larger
,lan an Ordinary boudOlr and where nothing
was sci IN prlm beds, but as some one has de-
scribed "a yard fuU of flowers. full to the
fence-top, and covering every inch of ground
with their glad luxnriance; not weed any
where-quite crowded out by these burning.
glowing, starry. gladstone creatures, and of
which the poetess herself has written:
The barren island dreams in flowers while bow
The south winds, drawing haze DER sea AMI
Yet the great heart of ocean, throbbing slow.
Makes the iraii Blossoms vibrate where h y
1t would seem as il none need be so busy
that they can not give an hours work to the
preparation OF little garden plot. or to thy
spots Oh flowers here and there about the
grass. and one or two hours at different times
during the summer to the care of such places.
Tor II hardly requires more; and they are poor
indeed who can not afford the expense of the
lew seeds and bulbs required, and, to our
mind. Lad better afford them as a luxury and
dispense with something previously deemed
necessary, than do without them. Not only is
II one OF the most gracious pleasures in the
world to see the place bloSSoming that, ii your
effort had not been made. would be barren
trouble in the gentle and sweet excitement
that they bring, as you watch day by dav the
pOutlng OF bud and the slow unveiling of its
bosom, as you see the first sun strike them all
tremulOuS with dew in the morning, as you
see them living their sweet life by starlight or
moon. and think that if you really did not
create Greats ms ms beauty yet but for you it would
an amount of exertiOn compass at all com
parable in effect with the chaSm of mass of
all sorts and colors of flowers, tossing in the
wind and shining in the sun? There, in the
spring, we will have the snOw-drop and crocus
and the tulip; the fieur-de-lis. the flower of
France and chivalry. whose perfume will, at
children, long gone from home, and bring
pack all their memories: here will be bed of
VloietS sending up penetrating incense,
money -suckle covering the fence in clothes
Win beauty and fragrance, the snow of fever
few, the deep blue of old Canterbury bells, i'm
pish cOlumbineS. velvet auriculas and pansies.
damask roses and Scotch, and by-and-by the
Whife-rOses climbing into upper chamber
windows: here will be one burning bed of
rose and scarlet geraniums. stock of vivid
que larkspurs, gay motley of petunias and
naSlturllums; here will be the tropical late
White lilies, coreOpsis and Zinnia, tger-liies
TO absorb the August heats, Mexican sage to
give the key to the splendOrS of the dying leaf.
blooming on the edge of au.
klllable four o'clock making rainbOws i'm the
morning sunshine. The greater part of such
things; once planted; have not to be renewed
but will come up and our next wear of Them
selves. The geraniums need but a mornings
pottlngln the fall, a mornings plunging in the
SPRING and perhaps not always 50 much time
as that; the bulbs need half an hours service
III taking up and setting oUt again the few
annualS even less time than that, and the beds
themselves hardly more than an afternoons
Whaf 10 spading and ID e11rehing And
ture OF care and time and labor yields! the
tremendous multiplication of single grain of
wheat is nothing to il. You have the lowell
4uisite OdOrs, the health given by the outdoor
work, and a certain undefinable nearnes, to
nature obtained in the same way, as if Won
and nature wrought together; then you have
the sense of possession the power of bestow-
ing gifts and compliments in double handfu:s
OF flowers, the means of filling vases and lar,
and giving house ornament that amply sup
the grace and beauty of flowers, and to buy
them would be costly work and you have thu,
constant presence, besides, of things full of
tions. when all impression were made, as il
were, on virgin soil and when flowers carried
messages to the young brain and heart tn IT
they they have never since been able to reach so
As much as all this pleasure is that of pot
terlng among the roots and herbs, when one
mas once sttRsElssneed it, with ones own
with all the unknown currents
OF the EARTH as one bends over it and burrows
IN II and OF working off in it all one little
semPGFS , hnG mehgrhIms more healthy and
with the soothing pencil, so that every garden
becomes little less than garden Of Eden.
lie pretty work of troweI and spade and
shears does one, moreover. another kindness
yet: one gets familiar with the sweet brown
earth; one grows to love it; all the horror
once held OF being laid away In it at last
vanlsheS; one recognizes it as the mother of
creation, and is willing to sleep in that bosom.
There comes into almost every family, too, il
one ever observes concerning it, q certain re-
hnement with the cultivation OF flowers mo
ther flowers are 10 be respected flying feet
urn aside from them, flying balls g in other
the girl is little more the con
sclous lady who makes the bOutonniere for
the brother, the brother is SOftened for a mo
ment or two from his too eXuberant vitality
and years atterward both are the richer for
Inc recOllectlons that some chance pansy, or
daisy or star OF Bethleham, or bachelors shut
tOn, brings back. For pleasure, then for
profit, for improvement, for the sake of the
present and the future, let us all have gar
dens, II they are even hardly larger than a
grave: trusting. too, that in consequence of
The stimulation We shall give the love of flow
erS Dy our little help, our own graves shall one
day bloom all the brighter in the sun and
blossom in purple and red"
Baileyana.
The spring breeZes have lashad thu annla