Evening star., 1936-04-11

the year, one Of the prettiest, owing TO
the clean bark, with the ripening pods
hanging.
Recognition of such trees adds a great
deal to normal city life.
There are many handicaps to such
living, one may think, from time to time.
One of the greatest Of these is the fact
that city life takes one away from the
soil, not so much actually, as via the
mind.
One may have q fine little garden,
and enjoy working therein, but unless
one keeps his mental relationship with
growing things of Nature, he insensibly
day by day becomes weaned away. This
Is so true that q garden, In itself, Is not
enough. What is required is mental
curiosity, q real interest in everything
that grows up from the earth.
This will mean that the man or woman
who wishes to prevent the city from
spelling him or her must become some
thing Of an amateur botanist.
The study of plants has many depart
ments. It extends back in the historic
past to those days when man first gath
cred herbs for food and medicine.
Since then these things have made
vast appeal to persons of certain tem-
peraments. The point is, we believe, that
nobody, especially the confirmed city
person, can be sure whether he is of
this temperament or not until he has
made determined effort to find out.
The way to begin is twofold, to plant
things, and to read about them.
If the subject is interesting, go on
with it. If not, drop it. No human
should, except in case of necessity, go
ahead with anything which naturally
repels him.
But he will not be able to know him.
self, in this respect. If he walks over
things unSeeingly, as the hundred did
the Kentucky coffee beans. Our friend
Jones, who is, above all, an eminently
person, to see If they looked at the beans,
and that, to the best of his knowledge,
he was unable to catch a spark of recog-
milton or even interest. The sad thing,
he said, was that no one was interested,
although all were walking over some
thing completely new on the sidewalk.
If it had been a dollar bill glued to the
walk every last man would have spot
L6Q IL. "A OUlldT Ul1l 1S 11cW,
even out of place, whereas pod Of the
Kentucky coffee tree is not seen in
every block.
One must be enough interested to no.
tice such things.
AS to how one may become interested,
the best answer is, to begin.
Begin to notice natural things, begin
to study them, begin to be interested in
them Just little.
This is the natural antidote to lack
of interest induced by city life. One
does not have to have the slightest in
terest, of course. Plants bloom just the
same, they help make the city gay in
season, for one and all. Noticing and
being interested are additions to life.
They make 1t so much better. And if in
one direction, then in another, and an
other. This is that good widening of
life's interests which accounts for the
fact that many humans are happy in
ways others do not understand. For
there is little boasting or ballyhoo in
these things. knowledge Is not pulled
up. 1t does its work quietly. Even a
little knowledge is better than none, in
most cases. There are exceptions, but
they simply prove the rule. ObServa-
ton of natural phenomena may fill in
times when one is doing nothing else, and
the beholder is thus the gamer.