South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-03-20
The Gardens Of
Our Souls
Each of us Has the Chance
to Cultivate Them.
BY Beatrice F,airfax.

If YOU owned a garden plot of rich.
fertile soil would you trust to chance
winds to bear seeds to it? or would
you deliberately SOW it with tangling
weeds or even dull and unfragrant
flowers? Never" you cry, and again
"Never!"
But YOU do own a garden plot of
the richest and NEST fertile soil inn
agina ble-a garden plot teeming with
sustenance for lovely flowers and
wonderful foliage. gracious in shadow
and dappled with sunlight. In your
possession is the finest of gardens for
planting well chosen seeds. That
garden is your own soul.
l am not over romantic or rashly
idealistic when l tell you that Of your
own nature you may make glorious
garden. L am just making a picture
for you Of a fact.
Exactly in the way a wise gardener
cultivates his plot-freeing it from
weeds and training to growth the
flowers and fruit he loves, you may
tend the garden of your mind and
soul Whether you cultivate or neg
lect your nature it still must produce
something. Why not direct the pro-
cess-and intelligently direct it to
boot?
The very first thing TO do is TO go
a-weeding. Root up useless unkind
envious, disconnected. impure and
selfish thoughts They choke the
ground in which you might be Guilt
waiting wonderful bloom. They tangle
their way about the flowers that try
to grow up TO sunshine-and destroy
them. Up then the weeds must come.
They can't grow if YOU refuse them
ground and sustenance.
A jealous thought can't think
itself You have TO nourish the weed
like idea that blows into your mind,
or ii cannot take root. Don't think
wrong thoughts-just push them back
Root them out Of your garden.
The wind of circumstance will blow
you where it lists and buffet you about
only so long as you think yourself
into its power. If you let events blow
weeds into your garden and complain
about your inability to grow flowers,
Of course you will have a waste Of
weeds.
If you let circumstance suggest
trains of thought the action TO you,
and never try to direct your thinking
and doing into useful channels, your
life must be a waste of weeds, too,
Isn't that logical?
Every seed of thought YOU allow to
fall into your mind and TO take root
lUNAE VIII iAOuutt us udAuI d II u4A-
age. From thistles, thistles come;
from wheat. wheat. IT takes no eX-
pert in gardening 10 tell you that.
Big, fine thoughts can neevr produce
mean. petty actions. Thoughts that
Big. fine thoughts can never produce
actiOas that are fine and big. Every
one understands this in the world of
nature. Everyone works along the
line OF this knowledge. The puzzle is
how can anyone fail 10 apply il to
the world Of his own mentality as
welI2
Good thoughts bear good fruit. The
crop YOU harvest from evil thoughts
cannot out be evil.
The proof Of this lies in your own
nature. II is from his crop OF one
year that the gardener learns wisdom
10 cultivate more wisely a better har-
vest OF fruit and flowers for the next
year Now II you Will just weed the
evil out Of your mind and set about
cultivating one set OF fine ideas and
ideals. you will be astonished and de-
lighted 10 observe the transformation
this Will bring about in your life.
The way of il is this: Thought de-
velops naturally into action: action
repeated a few times grows 10 habit.
Habit molds circumstance
Suppose you begin TO think work