The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-07-25
for qMon1en



Unhappy AMI. For many a day nave l
coveted an old fashioned garden, sass
Dorothy Maddox. in the Phliauetpnia
-..Inouirer.n This season, with hopes an
agog. i attempted one and not nful :
stumbled by mere chance upon 1he oeaf-
est old country corner imaginable I'D l
realize what a middle | had made OF
these hopes.
such q garden, al a-blowing and a.
rlow;ug, 1t had in one corner peehies
ana Tag root and poppies, and IN every
other corner more old-time posies; lark
sn,,r ragged robbins, sweet Willi1ln,
lennon verbena, marigolds, scarlet sage,
lavender. thyme and a host of others. and
EVERY one Of the sweet things was curtsy-
ing in the June breeze like a lot Of an
cient bellies.
The garden was filed with darling vel
low Jackets, a garden this where bees
dearly love to hum a drowsy lullaby to
nid-nodding blooms. Bees. at least wen
regulated bees, haven't the slightest Dit
Of use for modern gardens, and I don't
blame them. Neither have l.
IN This enchanting spot, around which
an old world air seemed lowering, its gen
ius. sun bonneted and calico skirted,
noin+ed cut with greatest pride ner treas
ures. Big tubs and little tubs, half
smothered in patches of grass. stool about
as gay as scarlet paint could make them,
over1owing with flowers and foliage, ana
keeping steady company with the fi9Tal
laundry were gypsy kettles and tree
stumps so full of flowers that 1t did not
seem as if another one could be tucked
anywhere.
Not a hint of scientific gardening. The
birds Of the air might have scattered the
seeds. SO harum-scarum had they come
up. There was one old tree trunk |
longed to sketch. It had a tipsy way of
leaning to one side. 1t seemed TO be try
Z ing hard to shake itself free from clam
bering vines and blossoms that would per-
sist in budding about its g~ray-barked
sides.
There was a hit and a miss style about
the entire garden pa~teh-nothing stilted,
nothing uniform. The flowers had been
placed with the same nonchalant grace
that we aim at when hanging our pie
lures.
One great flaming bed of %nasturtiums
lighted UP a cool, dewy nook on the edge
of a tiny pond, where a lot of ducks
quacked and fdgeted about. ''Could any
thing be lovelier?v
That's the way with all the city peo-
pie. They take to this corner. I guess
one reason is because it can give EN- some
pretty tasty bites
s-Bites-bites? % and I looked my bewil-
derment. mot mosquito bites. surely?"
mosquito bitesi, q thought the old
lady would lose her breath with %laughter.)
.'For goodness sakes. child, amt you
found out yet thai nasties' make sand
wiches?'
well. upon my SOUL thought l. LET
country people alone for being up to
date" Here the voice in my ear went
placidlv on.
NJ nieces from town was the fust to
tell me about eating them flowers, 1 was
thai took a'back. I allus used the seeds
for picking, but when 1 heard that crazy
notion / thought I'd try them sandwiches
to please EN-. SO the gurls cut the bread
tina thin and spanked the 'nasties' with
a wooden spoon, and then they sprinkled
a grain or two of salt on 'em, a few
grains of pepper, a little mustard and
when they packed the flowers between
that wafery bread all cut heart shape
they said. Aunt Liddy, amt this food for
the gods?'
'All the time I was a%'thinking how
heathenish to be a~'eating flowers. but
every summer. now, them gurls will have
them sandwiches and then they must
spread q table down by the pond. and
then. don't you know, they call it a mas
turtium supper Once, when / said
Nasty, you mean they got billing mad"
Dear old soul I started to fuster her
by asking if she ever used the 'nasties''
leaves for breakfast just as one would
water cress. Perhaps she would have
electrified me by knowing that late caper,
too. AS it was she looked as if she
doubted my sanity when I euddled up
some roots Of tansy and told her they
were s'the sweetest old things going"
I was so pleased with that tansy. Every
herby Whit carried me back to meeting
house days. when 1 used to grasp the
miftened fingers of my grandmother. the
sweet gram-so prim in her silk of ~taffeta,
and so pretty with her soft gray curls and
apple blossom cheeks.
She always carried in her delicate finger
tips of sprig or two of tansy. She never
confessed to it, but l have my suspicious
that the tansy was a safeguard against a
doze-off during the sermon time.
Ever since 1 have gotten that glimpse
of a really quaint posyland, my garden
has looked so painfully modern.
Tansy in my g-arden-where could 1
put it?
Not beside a swell La France rose; moi
in the neighhorhood of the other pert
flower aristoerats.
It would droop and die for lack of con-
geniality.
Ny garden would look like a city damsel
tricked out in Paris clothes who has
capriciousIy tried to smuggle in amongst
her sachet chiffons the subtle incense of
a bit Of by-gone flnery.
There are many and bitter complaints
of the poorer wearing qualities of lace
curtains as compared with those that
LASTED for years in the times of our
grandmother Complainants often in
sist that the quality has deteriorated, ana
that there are no such goods made as
those bearing date Of forty years ago,
many OF which are even yet in a more
presentable condition than our own. that
have passed through perhaps two OF three
cleanings in as many years.
The reason for this is, more than any