The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1910-12-06
PARKER'S GARDEN.


If four months moved into coy
.ower fiat ON the North side last win
ter and surrounded themselves with
heir wedding presents and other new
~ acquired penat ties nothing seemed
% be lacking to make that particular
dat new Eden. As spring came or
ind the trees began to bud little
blot Ct ground in the back yard sug.
yested great possibilities to the mint
of Mrs. Parker. Previous to her mar.
rage Ahe had lived In q little town iE
Michigan, where yearly, after <hs
manner OF villagers. her father hat
planted a. little garden back OF the
house and supplied the table with veg
etables In the summer.
Al she stood looking idly from the
kitchen window ono April afternoon
the idea occurred to her that the little
square Of ground mentioned might
be utilized for gardening purposes In
the same manner, and when her hus.
band came homo that evening she
preached the subject to him. Parker
embraced the idea with enthusiasm.
and acted on Il ns soon as possible.
The earth was spaded and raked dur
ing his spare moments and the plant
ing began. 1t was SO small that the
whole affair seemed more of joke
than q serious undertaking, but the
ground was plotted off into several
beds, and Parker bought packages OF
seed. Lettuce. onions. peas and rad
ishes were planted and around edges
OF the beds Mrs. Parker sowed several
sorts of flower seeds.
Their labor ended. they waited for
the plants to materialize. When the
FIRST green onion shoot pushed its way
out OF the ground there was JOY and
wonder in the Parker hous ehold.
Every evening Parker made detailed
inspection OF the miniature garden.
and his wife spent par< of each day
wedding the beds.
Daily the garden grew, and the
Parkers came to regard IT as thing
wonderful to contemplate. Never
were onion shoots more richly green
and symmetrical; never were lettuce
leaves more delicately veined anc
crisp in texture. The oh ell-pink OF the
radishes as they pushed their way out
OF the earth was surely miracle.
The effect Of the entire garden. sym
metricnl. verdant. every bed bankes
! TO nicely and bordered with row
Of fowers--the whole being a quaint
reminder Of the days in the little home
town awakened the affection OF the
| Parker couple, and was especially dear
| to the eyes Of Mrs. Parker.
| Summer came, aud the garden
boomed lis the rose. The onions
reached an edible size ana the lettuce
and radshes also attained state of
usefulness. At one Of Ills evening in
spections Parker remarked this fact
and suggested that they sample the
products Of their garden. His wife
acquicxced rather doubtfully, but on
the next evening small portion OF
each bed was placed before Parker
to pass judgment on. lie pronounced
the specimens excellent. In fact. L.
grew enthusiastic and averred that
never before had he tasted vegetables
Of such Hesperidian favor.
The next day and the next the gar
den was drawn upon for the evening
meal. and it was plain to be seen that
many repetitions would leave he beds
| bare Mrs. Parker saw that her gar
den was doomed, and did some hard
thinking. That little plot of green
represented to her more than squota
Of vegetables. and she was 10th TO lose
II. Surrounded by tall unneighborly
fences, back stairways and forbdding
housewalls, 1t stood out fresh and
green and brought memories OF her
old home and the home folk. She re.
solved to furnish Parker with his
vegetables from the market and save
her garden.
For week The plan worked we'll
and Parker continued to show en-
thusiasm over his garden Only once
he looked askance at some lettuce
which WIS rather wilted, but his wife
explained that she had picked il in the
morning and had forgotten to put II
in the refrigerator. lie even remarked
that the garden did not seem to be di
minishing by the weeks foraglng
whereat his wife quickly spoke OF 9th
or matters.
The garden might have continued te
furnish them with green stuff and re-
main as we'll filled as ever II n tele
gram stating that Mrs. Parker.
mother was III had not sent the daugh
ter on a hasty trip to her home.
"Now, don't worry about me while
you're away. dear" said Parker, as h,
saw his wife off. "lll write you every
day and keep house myself till 20,
get back"
So for long wifeless week he pre-
pared his own meals and longed for
sight Of q certain trim figure nbou
the dat After the first few days h,
babe fair 10 become vegeta ria II
drawing upon the garden for the jo
part of his meals. Conversely, hi
meals drew upon the major part OF thu
garden. Slowly it disappeared before
his onslaughts, and when at last BIZ
weary bachelor week was over tn,
garden--peas, onions, lettuce and rad
ishes-was no more. Four bare earth,
beds robbed of their greenness wer,
|