Evening star., 1932-08-19
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEFELL.

this word as a jewel, including the
amethyst.
Yet here was a red knob Of wood with
| tiny green shoots coming out OF II, IKE
feathery pins in very dark pin cusn-
! ion
Jones got as much amusement out Of
| this as some men would out OF lo-acre
field
A few days observation showed that
most of the growth OF the staiks oc-
Cured at night.
Night air was good for them.
Templeton Jones entered into the
spirit of growth there quite as well as
| II he had a spade in hand, and was
delving in the earth.
This is the faculty of interest, which
permits this unusual man to leap In
stantly to a conclusion, offer 1t to
friends. and then forget 1t.
Whether they accept it or not. makes
| little difference to Templeton Jones.
| So many times has he heard others
make belated acknowledgement OF his
| perspicacity that he no longer worries
about such matters.
Right or wrong, he is himself. and
others will have to accept him so.
Right and wrong he knows. are COM
paratives. also. Every man thinks he
| knows what is wrong when some one
! else does it. but he Is not sure he Is
right when he does 1t.
| Templeton Jones has acquired some
of the eternal peace which lies so large
on the features OF the great men Of the
ages.
They. too, in all likelihood, were gar
deners without doing much gardening.
They did not find 1t necessary, and
neither does Jones.
l. - xa1l oh
dening because he Is able to see the
process, whoever does 1t, in its true
| light of interest over the ages.
No action of mankind draws the ma
tions together over the centuries as
surely as this one. This man in the
field. seen from the speeding railroad
train, might be Scipio at his plow 1000
years ago, glimpsed from a roaring
chariot
Jones co-ordinates this garden and
that garden, this field and that field
uniting them with the eternal bond of
human interest in something interest
ing 1t is this which makes the differ
ence between him and some person who
talks gardening but does not know gar
dening. There is a great difference
Jones really knows what he is talking
about. because he has been interested
enough to stand by the side Of those
who do the work and to see and under
stand just how they do it and just why
they do it.
Often he understands the why Of it
and the wherefore, better than the
doers, because it is his pleasant fate to
have his hands free at the time they
must have theirs busy. And say what
you please about the understanding
which the use Of the hands brings tc
the mind and heart, there is also some.
thing to be said for the use of the minc
free and unhampered by the clutch OF
human hands, especially ones owr
hands.
In the garden the real "dirt gardener
often is so busy with the actual manipu.
lation of the soil that his entire atten.
ton necessarily must be given to tht
task Not for him can there. be pfilo-
sophical inclinations brought into being
by the things which he Is doing. Tit
doing is his province.
Here is where Templeton Jones
shines. 1t Is his task, self f-appointed, tt
consider each detail Of the job. and t.
ask himself sternly, What are the
Implications"
If there are implications, large OF
small. Jones sees them, whereas tn,
actual gardener of the moment only
sees the tomato worms on the tomatoes
Jones sees the tomato worms on the
tomatoes, too, but he asks himself why
every tomato plant must have its worm
and whether or not such things must
continue to be. and how they happened
in the first place. and whether there Is
no hope in the future for tomatoes with
out tomato worms. 1t is all a puzzle
and nobody knows 1t better than Tenn
] pleton Jones.