| Stonewall Collegiate Institute 1956 - 57 | ||||
| Essay --- "The Pleasures of A Garden" | ||||
|
Bernice Bowler |
|||
|
Of all the things that God has created for our pleasures the one that gives us the greatest fulfillment out of life is the garden. To everyone the garden has a different meaning. To some, the garden is a place of beauty and their purpose is to keep it this way. The enthusiasm of the ardent gardener begins early in the spring following shortly after the disappearance of the snow. These garden lovers begin to "thumb through" the seed catalogue, selecting their garden flowers for the season. Every year they make attempts to successfully grow new varieties of flowers, which will further the beauty of their gardens. How beautiful the flowers look in the catalogue! The purpose of these enthusiastic gardeners is to grow flowers as beautiful and even more beautiful than those seen in the catalogue. The pleasures of seeing God's creations develop to fulfillment is one of the most wonderful sights to the gardeners. But the beauty is not the only reason that a garden is so pleasurable. The actual gardening is enjoyable. People, as they grow older, love to putter about in the garden for, to them, it is a way of passing their time. Also, they enjoy gardening because they can actually watch God's handiwork. People working in their gardens are very closely associated with God, through nature. As the flowers grow into fulfillment the satisfaction of the gardeners is overwhelming for they have, in their small way, helped to make life more pleasant for others. Besides the actual gardening, the produce from the garden makes our life more pleasurable. Vegetables from the garden are preserved so that we can enjoy them as we did in the summer. To some the greatest pleasure is eating, and the garden becomes their favorite place. Early in the month of October we are given a chance to thank God for the kindness he has shown us. This day is known as Thanksgiving. Most of the food eaten on this day is produce from the garden. So our third pleasure of the garden is the produce obtained from it. Of course, we should not think of food only, for a garden offers itself as a place of tranquility. A garden is a place where one can, as mentioned before, enjoy its beauty and also the chance to have a little peace. In a garden one can get away from the noise and confusion of the outside world and rest in solitude. Only the twitter of the birds and the fragrance of the flowers remain to remind us of the world about. The peace that one can find in a garden is due to the closer association with God through nature. Wordsworth says that at the bottom is man, at the top is God, and in between is nature. Through nature a feeling of tranquility occurs. To me the pleasures of a garden are the beauty, the actual gardening, the produce, and last, but not least, the tranquility found there.
|
||||