Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-03-21
AS ONE WOMAN SEES 1T
The Meek Who Inherit the Earth Are
Probably eardeners-There 10 Rest
for the Weary In the Han.
ding OF a Hoe
BY SARAH ID. LOMRIE

BY SARAH ID. LOWRIE
MOT long ago woman was explaining
IN TO me the work of an organization in
which she was deeply interested. AS she
talked her face grew pale and drawn and
little blotches of red came out on her arms
and wrists and on her neck, while the pupils
Of her eyes contracted to mere pin points.
Her voice, which had been ordinarily mellow
TO start with got tense with the rest Of her,
so that her tones were shrill and ovcrcmpha-
sized. II was very difficult to listen to her
story of the wrongs she was attempting to
combat without becoming infected oneself
by her nervousness, only with me it took the
form Of pin pricks all over me, and had to
exercise positive self control to sit quiet and
allow her to complete her report: The
one else all restivencss left me and mill
pond could not have been cnlmer.
Two nights later her name came up in the
course of conversation at dinner and Rome
subject for psychopathic treatment, while
another person opined that she was just a
crank. doubt II she is either to any dan.
gerous degree, but | think she is very
tired and not n very happy woman who has
let herself loose on the public with Cause.
She hurts her cause by her unhappiness
and by her fatigue and by her letting herself
loose quite rs much, IL not more. than she
helps 1t, because the impression that she
strives to give is blurred by the impression
of herself.
l suppose she thinks of herself as willing
TO be prosecuted or even to die in harness
for her cause; but the truth of the matter
is she would get it over far better II she
could get herself thoroughly liked and ad-
mrcd for it--if she did not appear to be
dying from strain under it instead of living
with great and encouraged hope for it.
INTENSE souls can always get hearing,
l. but generally it is little moro than a
hpnrinp of wpndpr md rinSity with n kind
Of aftermath of pessimism. 1t is the buoyant,
serene souls that get a following.
A man said to me of certain enthusiast
in sbS this y, Why gracious it s not dd
hustle the Creator If she coud.'
do not know any better cure for that
particular form of irreverence than garden
ing. And as these spring Gays make us
meetings and a little wistful for certain
countrysides whose contours are as familiar
and as dear rs the faces of our friends, per-
haps it would be as well to take the hint
some day soon and 60 off and find our level
among the things of nature that by long
habit have acquired the great virtue of never
arriving too soon nor yet too late, but al
ways just on time
Nature is n great mistress. You cannot
deceive her by cunning or capture her by the
blowing of trumpcts you cannot cajole her
by promises or frighten her by violence. You
cannot dictate TO her n new law or worry her
into abrogatng an old one. Hurrying her
will not force her secret: bullying her will
| not wreSt from her n single clue. No fat
terry will make flower grow. You may be
clever at bargain, but you cannot bargain
with nature. She fixes the price and the
time and the process. Nor does she ever
wholly part with her possessions. She has
long memory for places. Time is her con
fcderate and lets her back into her old prem
iscs. over ruined wall, through a broken
hedge, TO work hcr will; the beasts and the
winds and the birds are her allies, her
children.
| THERE is n dictum in the Beatitudes that
L used to puzzle me:
blessed are the meek: for they shall in
hCrit the earth
1t is the last thing that one would think
! they would get-"the earth l went to the
| dictionary. thinking that the vision which
| meek evoked must be q caricaturc. But
| no; tho mock are even moro so than I
| dreamed To be meek is to be gentle" :"
submissive, yielding, mild of temper. un-
assuming. patient All these packed to-
G"thcr make a man fit to inherit-thc earth.
| He does not have TO push and strive after it ;
| il is his naturally; he Is born to it.
II the gardeners earth. not the capital
| st :, is meant then surely it is plain enough.
| All Simpl" folk. from St. Francis to David
GraySon. all gardeners, farmers. naturalistS,
artists. the poets and philosophers Of nature,
all to whom the earth has yielded her Sc
| Crets. have been the reverse of proud men
| arrogant, inpatient men.
From Cincinnatus to Burbank they have
submitted themselves to Natures laws and
| Yielded to her dictates with reverence that
was patent to all men. Gentle they must be
who deal with animals or plants, mild Of
temper and patient, or they court catas-
trophc; as they grow in wisdom they must
| pCrtOrrC grow in wonder and in admiration
and in humility.
Put your naturalist. your farmer. your
natural philosopher. among crowd of
world hustlers; gcntlcncss. submissive Weld
! ing to the worlds laws. mldnCss and pa
| thence will not get that world he will be
| lucky If he does not get the poorhousc. Put
him in garden and his gentleness is a
/ money maker. his patience a master touch
| his humility in the presence of great facts
! of nature and his submission to law give
him the essential quality for success.
T WAS talking this evening to great
l. healer Of mental ills, Or. Charles X
Mills, and he said his recipe for keeping
ones brain in good order was to use il
! He was discussing with n few of US a very
| modern book by man named Kempt on
| psyche analysis, and lightly ms one would
run ones fingers over n scale he compared
| Il 20 kindred books on the same subject from
| Freud to Suotonius thereby proving casually
| that he practiCed what he preached. There
are. ] should think. some few men and
women who like him, find their relaxation
| from active work in a mellow. leiSurely ex-
animation of other men theories but most
| of us are too tired 10 read when we arc
| tired without dropping N to sleep.
That is wher" gardening comes in The
| physical part Of it keeps our bodies alert
without nervous fatigue, and all the happy
| growing sights and sounds about us. the
| pleasant smells. the comfortable natural
| things TO touch and handle, give us q sense
Of being purt Of great whole We merge
into something greater than ourselves
greater than our span of days. We feel
| humility without humiliation. Our hurry
| ylina from rs like a parmnnt md Snrnuit,