Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-29

Herbs are not grown any more As
garden flowers, but they have q beauty
and an interest all their own, and might
well replace more sho,y things in many
home garden.
We are put in mind of this when
reading in Sigrid Undset'S "KriStin
I.avransdatter" the description Of the
herb garden as given in Book II Of 1.-THE
Bridal Wreath" which constitutes the
first part of that tremendous trilogy
which won the Nobel Prize.
1.-THE hall of the guild was beyond the
garden Of the hospital, and folks took
their way thither through the herb gar
den, for this was of great renown," we
are told. Lady Groa had brought
hither plants that no one had heard of
in Norway before, and, moreover. all
plants that else folks we're used to grow
in gardens throve better in her herb
aries, both flowers and pot herbs and
healing herbs. She was q most learne1
woman in all such matters, and had
herself put into the Morse tongue the
herbals of the Solernitan school. Lady
Groa had been more than ever kind to
Kristin since she had marked that the
maid knew something Of herb lore and
was fain to know more OF 1t.
80 Kristin named for Friend what
grew in the beds on either side the
grassy path they walked on. In the
midday sun there was q warm and
spicy scent Of dill, and celery. garlic
and roses, southernwood and wall
herb garden the fruit orchards looked
cool and enticing-red cherries cleaned
amid the dark leafy tops, and the apple
trees dropped their branches, heavy
with green fruit.
About the garden was o hedge Of
sweetbriar. There were some flowers
on it still-they looked the same as
other briar roses, but in the sun the
leaves smelt of wine and apples. Folks
plucked sprays to deck themselves as
they went past. KriStin. too, took some
fixed under her golden f1llet One she
kept in her hand. After time Friend
took it, saying no word. A while he
bore 1t in his hand as they walked, then
fastened it with a brooch upon his
breast. He looked awkward and BASH
full as he did 1t, and was so clumsy that
he pricked his fingers till they bled."
Ex
This charming picture Of fourteenth
century courtship has a secondary in
terest to the gardener. He sees that so
long ago gardens were essentially what
they are today, and that no doubt they
in those times they crept in under the
protection of monasteries and the like.
But one likes to think that the Middle
Ages we're not all wars and executions;
that surely thousands of God-fearing,
simple folk lived lives of peace and
happiness, and that these managed TO
have small gardens of their own.
Probably most Of such gardens were
devoted to herbs, mostly pot herbs" as
our author puts it. Surely people loved
to eat in those days, as now, and al
though they knew nothing OF chemical
elements and their strange cousins, the
vitamins, yet they knew when celery
tasted sweet in the mouth and how well
greens" decked festive board.
But it must never be forgotten by Us
of today, who at times are wont to
question the ability of even our best
doctors, that in those days there were
no doctors ct all, in our understanding
of the word. Priests and others at
tended to the healing art as best they
could, often with a mixture OF super
stition and nonsense, and there were
strange old women in every village who
knew, or at least thought they knew,
more about healing sick people than all
the others put together.
So herbs and "simples" came to be
the medicines for the home. They at
least had the advantage that II they
did little good they did little harm. A
great deal Of our modern medicine can
make no greater claim.
One who today starts investigating
the use Of herbs may be surprised to
find that they still have O. tremendous
following. As q matter OF fact, q great
deal Of our so-called patent medicine
Is really herbal lore in bottle form.
"Purely vegetable" Is q phrase which
would have been understood readily by
Kristin, and by her mother and by the