Evening star., 1929-06-09

I e.
we never saw very much OF her.
She was one of the Immaculate
housewives of that day whose life was bounoed
bv the hundred small tasks of home INTO
which the modern button pushing convenlenceS
had not come A shy, effacing woman she was
-"mo,sy" describes her too well to abandon
the term for its mere triteneSs. Mr.. Parlme
was the one who did the talking, who nelgh-
bored with the rest of us, who came 10 Che
back door bringing us gifts from his garden.
The Parline house sat in the midst OF trees
and flowers like Ceres among her fruits we
were lust then emerging from the dark age
of fences into the enlightened era OF open
lawns BY your fenced or fencelesS condltlOn
YOU were known as old-fashioned or up-to-oaUe.
One by one the picket and the fancy iron ana
the rough board fences on our street had gone
down before the god of fashion. Mr.. Parline,
alone retained his-a neat picket, painted as
white as the snowbals that hung over it, Juliet
like from their green foliage balconies
The shrubbery was not artistically placed
as that of today. We had not learned to group
it against houses and walls, leaving wide
stretches Of lawn Single bushes dotted Mr..
Parline's lawn. hydrangea here, peony there,
n tiger lily beyond, in spaded spots of brown,
~nulch-hlled earth. like many chickens
Souatting in their round nests.
THE Parlnes were of English extraction, al
- though both had been born in Vermont.
There was family whispered tale that they
were cousins but there was no one so intimate
as to verify the gossip and no one SO pry1ng as
to ask
Mr.. Parline was half head shorter than his
tall slender wife He was stocky of body, a
little rudy as to complexion, like the color
of his apples little fuzzy as to face, like the
down on his peaches There was quiet dignity
about him that fell just short of pompousneSs.
''Mr Parline" his wife called him, in contrast to
the John" and "Silas" and Fred" with which
the other women spoke OF their lege IordS.
Where other women in the block ran in to our
home with the freedom of close acquaintance,
Mrs Parline alone occasionally came sedately
in at the front gate in a neat brown dress
covered with large snowy apron starched 70
cardboard stiffness
1t was Mr. Parline who came often. With
that manner which was paradoxically gentle
and pompous he would bring us edihleS from
his garden all Summer long on homemade
fat wooden tray. That garden, neat as con-
slant care could make 1t, was the delight and
despair of every one who attempted to emulate
it. Not a pigweed showed its stubborn head
Not mullen-Stock lifted its thick velvety SELF
The brickaid paths, without sign OF leaf, might
have been swept, even scrubbed. AS for the
growing contents of the garden, they made a
varicoored and delightful picture. In its per-
fection every cabbage might have been rose
every beet an exotic tropical plant, the parsley
dainty window box ferns To Mr Parline there
flowers and the beauty of vegetables With
impartiality he planted marigolds near the
carrots and zinniaS next to the beans.
Just little of the fruits of my labor" was
his dignified greeting on those occasions when
he tapped at the back door In the center Of
the wooden tray might repose cabbage, the
dew still trembling upon the silver sheen OF
its leaves. around it lovely mass of the deli
cate shell-pink of sweet peas. One felt d as
much of sacrilege to plunge the cabbage into
hot water as it would have been to cook the
sweet peas. Or he might have several punches
of grapes in merging shades of wine red and
purple their colors melting into the wine red
and purple colorS of shaggy aSters. Old Mr..
Parline had the heart of poet and the eye Of
an interior decorator.
WE never saw Mrs. Parline pulling a vege-
Nv table or cutting flower. Occasionally, at
evening, she walked in the paths with all the
Interest and curiosity of a stranger, evidently
considering the garden sacred ground did
the rest of Indeed, Mother was at their
oolr do AGr