Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-31
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

The New Year will bring to amateur
| gardeners of the District of Columbia
another opportunity, not to do any
thing particularly new, but to do the
old in the way it should be done.
This includes the keeping Of pretty
terraces and lawns, a feature Of the
landscape which does more than any
other to make a community look we'll.
1t may be laid down as an axiom Of
neighborhood developments that no
community can look any better than its
grounds, including terraces, If any.
Yet some persons. under the pretense
Of permitting children and dogs un-
hampered play, save themselves the
trouble and work of helping keep a
neighborhood up to the mark
The fallacy Of their position Is shown
by the beauty of other neighborhoods,
where children are just as lively but
much better behaved, are just as
| healthy but have respect for property,
| play all day long but do not find II
! necessary to make public nuisances out
of themselves.
Children and dogs, unrestricted, are
| the two worst enemies of home grounds
The fault lies not with the children and
dogs, but with their parents and own
| they are out of the house and not
bothering them.
The effect of this selfish attitude
may be seen In muddy terraces, show
| ing no spears of grass, and in gen.
orally unkempt grounds in neighbor.
hood. If the New Year means any.
thing at all, in a garden sense, it might
well function to change such condi-
Il $3.50
just how some people can be indif-
ferent to the appearances of the ap-
proacheS to their homes Is q mystery
to those who are interested in keeping
house and grounds up to the mark.
II an unwary visitor might judge
| from the attitude of some property
holders, 1t is the queerest thing in the
world for any one to want to have a
house in order, neat lawn, grassy ter
races, pretty flowers.
| Yet this attitude has been that of 50
| many hundreds of thousands of home
owners that the careless Indifferent
person. including both owners and
renters, is seen to be the unusual, in
the final analysis.
When one contrasts the Indifferent
attitude with that Of the home owners
| imbued with the real spirit which has
made America country Of homes, he
sees at once that some real missionary
work is needed.
The sad truth is that a few indif-
ferent occupants in neighborhood can
give an entire community a run down
at the heels" appearance, and absolute
~ nullify the time, money and labor
spent by those who know how to live.
X \ n
Surely 1t Is a question, in essence, OF
knowing how to live. Those who are
indifferent to the appearance of home
grounds and these OF their neighbors
may be judged, in all likelihood with
certainty, as persons who have come
from il-kept, ugly homes.
Don't know nothin' and never had
nothin-" such is the descriptive
slang phrase of yesteryear which Ats
them very we'll. The problem of this
type Of person in q neighborhood has
been complicated by the close packing
OF modern cities, and obscured by the
varnish which many persons today
manage to take on.
These sloppy lfvers dress fiashily
maintain motor cars, and pride them
selves on being very sophisticated, but
II you stop to take look at their front
lawn you will find 1t mostly mud.
And 1t is the children Of such peo-
pie. and the dogs of such people, who
and which make other peoples lawns
look exactly the same way, so that 1t