Evening star., 1932-04-13

wherever he found himself he began
to turn his mind inward on himself.
This was the real discovery OF the
New World.
The Greeks, the Egyptians, the AS
syrians and the Hebrews all antedated
Columbus No doubt We should Include
the Chinese in this list OF mental ex-
plorers.
Soon it was discovered that making
the best of life by means of the mlno
was an exercise more interesting ano
more difficult than making the best oi
the world and its physical problems
1t is one thing to develop tanned
skin which will enable one to with
stand the burning sun of the tropics
but 1t is quite another to work up such
state of mental resistance that mis-
fortune will not wilt one too entirely
or to become so accustomed to looking
at life honestly that one is able to de-
tach the things really worth while from
those merely boguS-all the hundred
and one fraudulent appeals which clam
or the more loudly the falser they are.
x y
The gardener, amateur or profes-
sional. theoretical or actual, in large
way or in a small way. has solved one
of the main problems Of living, because
he accepts the life Of the garden as II
comes.
If it rains. well, it rains.
If the sun comes out, then the sun
comes out.
If the rain washes away the grass
seed which he has just planted, he
waits for it to stop and sowS more.
II the sun in hot Autumn kills his
grass. he recognizes that it was not the
suns fault but solely his own, in that
he did not provide extra water for his
grass to make up for natural de-
ficiency.
When insects begin to eat his flowers
he does not curse insects, but attempts
to find out what sort of plant enemies
these are and what one may do TO rid
the flowers Of them.
Thus in a small way, he applies in
telligence to life. And if any one
thinks this is common thing he is very
optimistic indeed.
The gardener has learned how to be
cne with nature of which he is a part
Instead of railing at the burning sun
when 1t tends to wilt his plants. or
cursing the rains when it becomes too
much for them. he accepts sun and
rain and wind as part of the divine
dispensation, and is able to view them
all as parts in the most incompatible
drama.
This is the immortal conflict which
the cave man knew, which Moses saw
from the mountain and which the
modern gardener mi see from his din
ing-room window, or out on the garden
path.
To him the battle Of the insects
against the spray, and the spray against
the insects, is filled with as much in
terest as the latest detective story.
He loves good work of fiction, but
no less he IS thrilled by the battle going
on all the time IN everything he sees
around him.
This Is life, this garden, this small
postage stamp Of ground.
A lilac bush grows here.
Well, lilac could grow no more if it
stood alone on a thousand-acre prairie.
This plot Of ground Is enough for
this snail. coiled II its protective shell :;
and shall it not be enough for the
gardener?
He is the so-called owner Of the
ground and the lilac and the snail to
him come sunrise and sunset, and sunny
days and rainy days.
These century-old forces come to him,
in his little garden, quite as we'll as to
the wheat raiser on his 50,000-acre
farm.
Perhaps they come to him more
surely, In one sense. because he has
time to realize that they are the same
forces WHICH Caesar knew. They were
before machines, and they will be after
machines