GARDENING ON PAPER

When Sat.u.r.day came and the United Service Club tramped over Dorothy's new domain, including the domain that she hoped to have but was not yet sure of, every member agreed that the prospect was one that gave satisfaction to the Club as well as the possibility of pleasure and comfort to Mrs. Smith and Dorothy. The knoll they hailed as the exact spot where a house should go; the ridge behind it as precisely suited to the needs of a garden.

As to the region of the meadow and the brook and the rocks and the trees they all hoped most earnestly that Mrs. Smith would be able to buy it, for they foresaw that it would provide much amus.e.m.e.nt for all of them during the coming summer and many to follow.

Strangely enough Roger had never found the cave, and he looked on it with yearning.

"Why in the world didn't I know of that three or four years ago!" he exclaimed. "I should have lived out here all summer!"

"That's what we'd like to do," replied the Ethels earnestly. "We'll let you come whenever you want to."

Roger gave a sniff, but the girls knew from his longing gaze that he was quite as eager as they to fit it up for a day camp even if he was nearly eighteen and going to college next autumn.

When the exploring tour was over they gathered in their usual meeting place--Dorothy's attic--and discussed the gardens which had taken so firm a hold on the girls' imaginations.

"There'll be a small garden in our back yard as usual," said Roger in a tone that admitted of no dispute.

"And a small one in Dorothy's present back yard and a LARGE one on Miss Smith's farm," added Tom, who had confirmed with his own eyes the glowing tales that Della had brought home to him.

"I suppose we may all have a chance at all of these inst.i.tutions?"

demanded James.

"Your mother may have something to say about your attentions to your own garden," suggested Helen pointedly.

"I won't slight it, but I've really got to have a finger in this pie if all of you are going to work at it!"

"Well, you shall. Calm yourself," and Roger patted him with a soothing hand. "You may do all the digging I promised the girls I'd do."

A howl of laughter at James's expense made the attic ring.

James appeared quite undisturbed.

"I'm ready to do my share," he insisted placidly. "Why don't we make plans of the gardens now?"

"Methodical old James always has a good idea," commended Tom. "Is there any brown paper around these precincts, Dorothy?"

"Must it be brown?"

"Any color, but big sheets."

"I see. There is plenty," and she spread it on the table where James had done so much pasting when they were making boxes in which to pack their presents for the war orphans.

"Now, then, Roger, the first thing for us to do is to see--"

"With our mind's eye, Horatio?"

"--how these gardens are going to look. Take your pencil in hand and draw us a sketch of your backyard as it is now, old man."

"That's easy," commented Roger. "Here are the kitchen steps; and here is the drying green, and back of that is the vegetable garden and around it flower beds and more over here next the fence."

"It's rather messy looking as it is," commented Ethel Brown. "We never have changed it from the way the previous tenant laid it out."

"The drying green isn't half large enough for the washing for our big family," added Helen appraisingly. "Mary is always lamenting that she can hang out only a few lines-ful at a time."

"Why don't you give her this s.p.a.ce behind the green and limit your flower beds to the fence line?" asked Tom, looking over Roger's shoulder as he drew in the present arrangement with some attention to the comparative sizes.

"That would mean cutting out some of the present beds."

"It would, but you'll have a share in Dorothy's new garden in case Mrs.

Morton needs more flowers for the house; and the arrangement I suggest makes the yard look much more shipshape."

"If we sod down these beds here what will Roger do for his sweetpeas?

They ought to have the sun on both sides; the fence line wouldn't be the best place for them."

"Sweetpeas ought to be planted on chicken wire supported by stakes and running from east to west," said Margaret wisely, "but under the circ.u.mstances, I don't see why you couldn't fence in the vegetable garden with sweetpeas. That would give you two east and west lines of them and two north and south."

"And there would be s.p.a.ce for all the blossoms that Roger would want to pick on a summer's day," laughed Della.

"I've always wanted to have a garden of all pink flowers," announced Dorothy. "My room in the new house is going to be pink and I'd like to keep pink powers in it all the time."

"I've always wanted to do that, too. Let's try one here," urged Ethel Brown, nodding earnestly at Ethel Blue.

"I don't see why we couldn't have a pink bed and a blue bed and a yellow bed," returned Ethel Blue whose inner eye saw the plants already well grown and blossoming.

"A wild flower bed is what I'd like," contributed Helen.

"We mustn't forget to leave a s.p.a.ce for d.i.c.ky," suggested Roger.

"I want the garden I had latht year," insisted a decisive voice that preceded the tramp of determined feet over the attic stairs.

"Where was it, son? I've forgotten."

"In a corner of your vegetable garden. Don't you remember my raditheth were ripe before yourth were? Mother gave me a prithe for the firtht vegetableth out of the garden."

"So she did. You beat me to it. Well, you may have the same corner again."

"We ought to have some tall plants, hollyhocks or something like that, to cover the back fence," said Ethel Brown.

"What do you say if we divide the border along the fence into four parts and have a wild garden and pink and yellow and blue beds? Then we can transplant any plants we have now that ought to go in some other color bed, and we can have the tall plants at the back of the right colors to match the bed in front of them?"

"There can be pink hollyhocks at the back of the pink bed and we already have pinks and bleeding heart and a pink peony. We've got a good start at a pink bed already," beamed Ethel Brown.

"We can put golden glow or that tall yellow snapdragon at the back of the yellow bed and tall larkspurs behind the blue flowers."

"The Miss Clarks have a pretty border of dwarf ageratum--that bunchy, fuzzy blue flower. Let's have that for the border of our blue bed."

"I remember it; it's as pretty as pretty. They have a dwarf marigold that we could use for the yellow border."