Gardens of Eden.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 43349, 14 July 1908, Page 2

Gardens of Eden.

(By A. Banker.) . , In the poorer district of a great'cßy is a small public garden surrounded by squalid, uncared for tenements, and pre- ■, senling a truly melancholy and lugubrious \ picture. Instead of brilliant flower beds /: and well cared for gravelled walks,, a .few. begrimed and sooty evergreens, here and,v ; there a dilapidated vase containing ,® dead plant, and a few seats, : rickety., iind unclean, create an impression of prof sun d gloom and depression But not on t all, for at the further end of the garden a., young couple are walking to and fro, hand in hand, and judging by the rapj, enamoured expression on jboth countenances, and the fir<£mH<Snd tion which glistens iTV^Mkeir 1 eyes, they have plighted their troth'Msach'to the other, and are indulging in • glad antiti- - pai ions of happiness and. of joy. Truly, this place is to these a Garden of Eden.® very Paradise. . .. And there are other of these earthly, ones, these Gardens of Eden ; some, so alluring from their inherent beauties ; some from their associations, and* memories. There are for instance tbfe gardens of the seas, such as may so well * ■ be seen on a quiet day through the transparent waters cf the lovely tortuous chaunels flowiug amidst the Scilly Islands. Here, perhaps, a fine specimen of the peacock’s tail, its fringed filameutsreflccting all the colouis of the raiu-bowt t here an undulating copse of the graceful pink or purplish feather plant, its delicate plumes gently waving to and fro as the oars disturb the clear waters ;,of here, its . bulb firmly fixed to a rock, a great plant of the “Sea-furbelows.*’ its outspread! frouds perhaps as much as twelve feet in diameter. And now the boat passes over a verilable flower garden Beauti-,-,*’ ful sea-an onion os of many hues siireadirig their tentacles in search of prey ; cuuips and tufts N of the graceful coralline;' ; numerous varieties of hinall feathery, sea* plants of many colours - pink, and scarlet., and white and light olive green perhaps, here and ihere a specimwr'bf the striking soa-fan, or its still stronger congener the sea-pen ; whilst amidst all this labyrinth of beauty from . time to., time -1 bright silvery fish of various kinds. flaßu by, or hover in search of an unwOTT • shrimp or prawn. Aye, to the lover 0f,,, the beautiful in nature this is truly a j paradise. . But there is one garden of surely inf in-/ itely greater iuterest than any other on earth. “For in the place where was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb.” And this “Gar* . den To.ub,” situate at the foot of the reputed Hill of Calvary outside the wall? of Jerusalem, is now believed by •, many to be tbe actual sepulchre wherein | was laid the sacred Body of the Saviour of the world, after, on the adjoining Golgotha, making expiation for the sms of all who will but appropriate to themselves the beuefit of that great sacrifice. And happily this ever hallowed site n, now vested in British hands under a deed of Trust, which provides that it “be kept us a quiet spot, and preserved on the on® hand from desecration: and on the other hand from superstitious uses.”