Evening star., 1932-12-17
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

I Is thrilling to feel that its symbolic
colors follow us all through the yeal
| and are never out of our sight. Ever
| in the snow, evergreens and berries
keep us in mind Of the Light of the
World, so humble yet eventtul is then
mission.
By the fireside the garden in prospect
takes on as many hues as flicker in
yonder log, as the fire strikes a gas
pocket in the wood.
All the hueS of the rainbow are there
| for a few seconds, then they fade to
| the standard color of flame, satisfying
enough in its place, under proper con-
troll.
The garden is like that.
| 1t must be controlled else it is not q
garden. 1t must bear the impress of a
human mind.
Humanity is what makes garden,
large or small; there is no substitute in
it for the directing mind, exercised con-
sciouSly or unconSciously.
| BY the fireside it is easy to see that
perhaps he is the happlest gardener
who gardens instinctively. Perhaps he
is the only one really deserving the
title
Yet from another vieWpoint-also by
the fire-there is much TO be said fol-
the man or woman who gardens by
the book" who comes to the exercise
as a task, and remains from love of it
If he likes gardening, thereafter
either in its theoretical or practical as
poets, or preferably both. he has right
to feel that he has worked harder for
his knowledge, that he has overcome
more, and that he has gained more.
The third ordinarily follows on the
! first two. does it not? More often than
| H. x1rlOn quar-
comes stands a better chance of gain
| ing than he who loafs and sees no ne
| cessity for overcoming anything.
There is a great body of ancient wis
dom which every one knows, in theory,
at least. but which few ever stop to ap-
ply to their own lives. The more one
studies the old writings. in all Ian
guages, and of all nations, the more one
sees that baSicaIiy human nature Is one,
and likewise ineScapable. What we dis
cover today Is amazingly like the dis
coveries of yesterday, except In the
realms we term science.
There is little new in human think
ing or emotions: the same old sltu-
ations, the same old reactions; here
every man is law unto himself under
the old provisions. What hits" one
will not strike another: all the other
can 90 Is LOOK Ufl III WOIluci, az
same time he understands the general
law; or at least makes an attempt to
comprehend it,
If one is very modern" one is likely
to feel inclined. at times. to sneer at the
old precepts, such as that about work
ing hard, and overcoming, and SO on.
Old stuff, to be sure but it is based on
long observation of human nature ''as
is" Its application to gardening is
easily seen. If one happens to be Of
the temperament which does not take
to gardening innately, but which forces
itself to take to it, one may stand a
chance of gaining more, in the long
row, than he who seiZes a hoe with
abandon because it is his nature to seize
hoes with abandon. The latter is so
enthusiastic that he cannot find enough
to hoe, and so loses his interest. where
as the former finds it SO much work to
hoe that he hoes away for dear life!
The flreside gardener will have many
plans to make. as he thinks back over
the mistakes of the past. Some Of them
can be rectified. others make no diff
ference. he sees now, although perhaps
he didn't see then.
One is able to see great many things
In the freight.