At the back of our old home garden were two giant squares of orchard, one of pear, one of cherry trees, each square as big as a city lot. Between was a long, long asparagus bed, and there was spare land flanked by a gravel walk. This spare strip of earth was cut into the children’s gardens. Each child could do exactly what he liked in our own garden. It was unsupervised, the most independent spot of our lives. Bigger’s was always trim. She had an English lavender bush, some fine cowslip and polyanthus roots, mignonette and pansies.
A dirt path trodden hard by the children’s feet divided Bigger’s garden from Middle’s. Middle’s garden was more cemetery than flower bed. Up near the asparagus bed was a bush of old man’s beard(1) and a root of bleeding heart. There was a rim of annuals around the edge of the plot and some seedy-looking pansies. The centre of the plot was bumpy from the shallow graves of creatures buried in shoe boxes, matchboxes and some in paper bags.
Creatures as big as cats took an apple box and a grave that took days to dig. It was hard for the three toy spades, even at work in combination, to dig graves deep enough. Middle tried to combine the planting of a corpse with the simultaneous planting of a flower root to lessen digging. The flowers did not thrive on boxes and died before their roots could reach the meat of the corpse. Small’s garden was at the end of the gravel walk. It was square and small. Everyone walked over it to save the corner. You might as well try to dig cement, and Small’s spade was wood.
Small gave up flower growing and established a mud pie bakery. Small’s spade of wood was blunt. It would not even dent the hard soil till she hit it with a stone. After a number of prodigious grunts, Small gave up and imported dough earth from the chicken yard for her bakery. She made pies of all sizes and shapes but unfortunately, though she stood them in rows on boards, they never even sun-cracked because no sun ever touched Small’s garden. “Oh,” wailed Small, “if there were only cracks like grown-up pies to let the jam run out, I could bear it.”
Brother Dick was too young for a garden then. But by and by when he grew big enough, and Bigger outgrew a child’s garden and interested herself in the grown-up garden beds, Small was promoted to Bigger’s plot and Dick had Small’s. ≈ ≈ ≈ By and by the three little girls grew up and the town grew up, and the Father and Mother died. Then the old property was divided, cut up into city lots. The Elder built a big house on her lot to rent out but lived on in the family home. Bigger lived with Elder. She did not build a house, she built a garden on her lot next door to the Elder’s lot.
Middle built her school just opposite and Small an apartment house just round the corner. All staying by Father’s original land, the sisters dined together on Sundays immediately after morning Church. When dinner was over they went to the three houses to inspect the three gardens each had made according to her taste. Bigger’s was the finest of the three, and she was very proud of it. It took up the whole deep lot and had pergolas and rockeries and a vegetable garden and orchard as well as flowers.
It took a long time to see it all, for Bigger made us compare each Sunday how much each plant had grown during the week. Then we crossed the street to Middle’s schoolhouse, with a flower and fruit garden behind and a gravel play-yard with a swing for the children. In front it was not so orderly as Bigger’s but it was pretty and homey and full of life. “Now,” said Small, quivering to show the others what she had made out of her hummocky Elder’s lot.
Middle built her school just opposite and Small an apartment house just round the corner. All staying by Father’s original land, the sisters dined together on Sundays immediately after morning Church. When dinner was over they went to the three houses to inspect the three gardens each had made according to her taste. Bigger’s was the finest of the three, and she was very proud of it. It took up the whole deep lot and had pergolas and rockeries and a vegetable garden and orchard as well as flowers.
It took a long time to see it all, for Bigger made us compare each Sunday how much each plant had grown during the week. Then we crossed the street to Middle’s schoolhouse, with a flower and fruit garden behind and a gravel play-yard with a swing for the children. In front it was not so orderly as Bigger’s but it was pretty and homey and full of life. “Now,” said Small, quivering to show the others what she had made out of her hummocky wild lot. But Bigger said, “I must get ready for Sunday school,” and Middle said, “I must take the children to the beach.” So Small went to her garden alone. It was the same every Sunday. Her sisters took no more interest in Small’s garden than they had taken in her mud pie bakery.
It hurt Small but with a toss of her head she lied, “I don’t care. I think mine the very nicest garden of them all,” and she opened the gate that shut the apartment house business from her own private garden. There in the cherry tree sat the little monkey Woo with a whoop of joy at seeing her, and there came the great silver Persian cat, and the moment she opened the yard gates, in poured the “Bobbies”, adult dogs and puppies.
Any kind of creature Small had in her possession at the moment came running to the lawn, for this was their garden as much as Small’s. Every flower, every shrub and bulb was a live friend. Today was Small’s, her own. The tenants minded their own business on Sundays. And Small had her garden and her creatures. “Punk,” whispered Small into the ear of the great Bobtail kennel sire.
“Punk, we have the most lovely garden in the whole world!” and every creature bounced with the truth of it. Bigger passed by with a tangle of Sabbath School girls hanging on each arm. Middle passed with a drove of infants in wheeling wagons before her and behind her. But Small and her creatures drowsed in their own garden. A nose, a paw touched Small’s hammock, or a warm human monkey hand swung the hammock rope. Sway, sway, “Life is dear,” sighed Small, and slept a little and sang a little.
