Evening star., 1932-08-19

We never knew a man to talk so much
about gardening, and do so little of it,
as Templeton Jones.
He is no hypocrite however.
He would be the first to admit that
most of his gardening is Of the oral
variety.
But wherever spade is stuck into
the ground, there you will find Jones, al
least in spirit.
1t is his interest which does it.
Templeton Jones saves himself a
great deal of hard work simply by sub
stituting the intellectual aspects of a
thing for the physical
! Nor is this laziness, either, as some
might think. 1t is dificult to get ahead
Of Jones. He has an answer ready for
everything and everybody.
That Is why he Is so irritating
Pin him down one place. he pops up
another. as serenely as If no one could
ever out-argue him.
Logic he has no use for, and as for
proof, he comes as near to sneering at
1t as his disposition will permit
So ordinary conversationalists come
to find him irritating. but afterward
they are willing to admit. in a surpris-
ingly large number Of cases, that he was
right
| And why Is Jones so often right, when
/ he lacks proof. and is not logical?
1t is his trait Of interest. an almost
inhuman trait, it seems, because the
interest OF Templeton Jones is omniv-
orous, whereas humanity, in the ab-
stract, has but few real interests.
Now, everything which exists interests
Jones. There is not a thing any one
can think Of, or conceive. which would
| fail to gain flicker from the astute
eyelids Of II. Jones. esq.
If mosquito bites him, its buzz Is
, interesting, and If the bite itches, that
is interesting, too. Even more interest
! ing is the search for some remedy which
will allay the itch.
Most men merely slap at the mosquito
curse it scundly and forget about it, but
Templeton Jones is interested in 1t be-
cause he cannot forget about it.
That is why he is interested in gar
dening. He can never look upon some
one else at work in a yard without find
ing the process of the greatest interest
What Is the gardener doing, ano
why is he or she doing it?
Is it the right thing to do. and the
right time?
Instead of thinking as SO many peo.
| Brown out in his yard again, potterinl
/ around over his plants" Templetor
Jones instantly becomes the gardener
He puts himself into the gardener.
place, and goes with him on the cease
less quest for beauty.
, How wonderful is the spirit Of mar
| which. amid plain ugliness all around
nevertheless persists in hunting fol
| something beautiful!
Man Is satisfied with little here be.
low. and wants that little long. as the
poet said: he can become as absorbed
In the problems of plant growth hert
| in a small place as In large one.
| Life is a progress of degrees; before
one has, he cannot imagine exactl!
what more would be like, but once h,
secures it, he finds its acceptance yer!
easy, and is unwilling to go back.
! This yard seems large enough, huge
| in comparison with the one he knew
before, but he can imagine how small
and poor it would seem, If he coulC
come back to it from a year or two or
a great estate.
| All is comparative, and it is becaus,
he knows this better than most mer
that Templeton Jones can do grea
deal Of gardening without actually do
ing much physical labor.
Here he has a redwood beryl in &
shallow bowl.
Every one knows about the grea
I redwood trees of California, and pos.
sibly many know something about thu
! curious knobs which grow upon them.
But Jones was not able to find tn,
word "beryl," as applied to them, ir
any of the larger encyclopedias or die
| tionaries.
All he could find was a definition o