The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1878-05-20
at'heeling Gegl5tcr.
QUEEN OF SPADES.
From Harper S 9azsr.

and perhaps not pleasanter Ia their iu.-
| tilmept than in their prophecy, ones
| thoughts turn To tho flower beds and all
the sweet places from which blossoms are
| to come; one recalls the fresh and deli
ciols smell of the just-upturned earth, as
| sweet sometimes after rain as the scents
| of flowers themselves, the delight of the
| great expectations with which seeds are
planted, the patient pleasure Of watching
the result, the gay Haunting OF the full
grown blossoming things ut last, and
the daily filing OF the vases from their
store.
In England and In France, and in
CtGer lands rs well, almost ali ladies do
little gardening OF their own, wearing
coarse gloves and shade hats the while,
and having tools adapted to their use,
and they think they find their account
10 it, not only in the flowers themselves
sud the characterization OF the spot OF
| ground, but in the health and strength
LuaL Oh Mother Earth loves to give to
| all who come into close contact with her.
l: would be good thing for the health
of our own women if the same thing
were as general custom here; and We
have no doubt that much OF the improv-
ed health among them in the last quarter
of century is due TO larger outdoor
| life than of old, and the consequent bet
ter oxygenstion Of the blood.
1t does not need the possession OF spa
cious lawns and gardens for woman to
be able to cultivate her own plot, for Of
course they would pass far beyond her
power. although with the most extended
grounds some one little corner may be
retained for the private dabbling Of the
| mistress. But if one has only three
square yards OF land, 1t is better to fill
| ii with flowers than 10 let it run to weeds.
Indeed, the most brilliant and the most
Ornamental display oil flowers we ever
saw was Celia Thaxter's little garden be-
heath her cottage windows at Appledore,
gorgeous upon The background otthe sea,
uot any larger than an ordinary boudolr
and where nothing was set in prim beds,
but, IS some one has described It, "a yard
full of flowers, fall to the tencs-top, and
covering every inch OF ground with their
glad luxuriance; not weed anywhere
quite crowded out by these burnir 8,
| glowing, starry, gladstone creatures,
and of which the poeteGs herself has
| written
The barren island dreams In flowers
| lille blow
TIE south winds drawing haze DER sea
| and land,
| Yet the great heart of octan throbbing
slow,
| they stand"
1t would seem as if none need be 20
busy that they can not give an hours
work to the preparation of little garden
plct, or to tiny spots Of flowers here snd
there about the grass, and one or tw~
hours at different times during the sum-
mer TO the care of such places, for it
hardly requires more; snd they are poor
indeed who can not afford the expense Of
the few seeds and bulbs required, and, to
| our mind, had better afford them as q lux
ury. snd dispense with something pre-
viously deemed necessary, than do with
out them. Not only is 1t one of the most
gracious pleasures in the world to see the
place hlossoming thst, if your effort had
not been made, would be q barren waste,
but the flowers themselves repay all
trouble in the gentle and sweet excite
ment that they bring, as you watch day
by day the pouting Of a bud and the
| slow unveIling of its bosom, as you see the
T, first sun strike them all temulous with
dew in the morning, as you see them
Lying their sweet night lie by starlight
OF moon, and think that if you really did
oct create this beauty, yet but for you
it would never have existed. What else
will 80 small an amount OF exertion COM
pass ~ all comparable in effect with the
charm of mass of att sorts and cOlOrs of
flowers, tossing in the wind and shining
IN the sum- There, in the spring, we
will have the snow-drop and crocus and
the tulip the heur de-lis, the flower OF
France and chlvstry, whose perfume
will, at some time, steal across the senses
of our children, long gone from home,
snd bring back all their memories; here
will be bed of vIolets sending up penc
trating incense, a honey-suCkle covering
the fence it clothes with beauty and fra
GRANGE, the show of feverfew, the deep
blue Of old Canterbury bells, impish COL
umbines, velvet auriculas and pansies
damask roses and Scotch, and by-and-by
the white roses climbing into upper
chamber windows; here will be one burn
ing bed of rose and scarlet gersniums,
stock of vivid blue lsrkspurs, gay
motley of petuniss and nasturtiumsi here
will be the tropical late white lilies,
coreopsis and zinnia, tiger-lIllies to alb
serb the August heats, Mexican sage to
give the key to the splendors OF the dying
I,as, chryssntheums blooming on the
edge Of autumn chills. and, anywhere,
matches of unkillsble four-o'clOCk max
ing rsinbows in the morning sunshine.
The greater part of such things, once
plsnted. have not to be rel ewed. bat will
come up and out the next year OF them
selves. The gersniums need bat morn
ing's potting IN the fall, mornings
plunging in the spring, and perhaps not
always so much time as that the bulbs
need half an hours service IN taking up
and setting out again, the few ANIMALS
even less time than that, and the beds
Themselves hardly more than an after
Moons attention 10 spadlng and enrich
ing. And what multiplex reward the
sluht expenditure Of care and time and
labor Yields, the LItulCuNtN9 AhN'S' l4'N'H
ton Of grain Of wheat is nothing to 1t.
YoUGshave the loveliness OF the flower,
the Qualification of exquisite odors, the
health given by the out door work, and
certain unde6nable nearness to nature
obtained in the same way, as If you and
nature wrought together; then you have
the sense of possession the power OF be-
slowing gifts and compliments in double
bsndiuis of flowers, the means Of filing
vases and jars and giving house orns-
ment that amply supplies the place Of
costlier, siLc, nothing equals the grace
and beauty OF flowers, and to buy them
would be costly work; aad you have the
constant presence, besides, OF things full OF
associations, and particularly OF early as
socishons, when all impressions, were
made, as it were, on virgin soil, aud
when flowers carried messages to the
Young brain and heart that they have
never since been able 10 reach SO free.