“The moon is up, the moon is up! 
      The larks begin to fly,
    And, like a drowsy buttercup,
      Dark Phoebus skims the sky,
    The elephant with cheerful voice,
      Sings blithely on the spray;
    The bats and beetles all rejoice,
      Then let me, too, be gay.”

CHAPTER X

THE U.S.C.  AND THE COMMUNITY

Roger’s interest in gardening had extended far beyond fertilizers and sweetpeas.  It was not long after the discussion in which the Mortons’ garden had been planned on paper that he happened to mention to the master of the high school, Mr. Wheeler, what the Club was intending to do.  Mr. Wheeler had learned to value the enthusiasm and persistency of the U.S.C. members and it did not take him long to decide that he wanted their assistance in putting through a piece of work that would be both pleasant and profitable for the whole community.

“It seems queer that here in Rosemont where we are on the very edge of the country there should be any people who do not have gardens,” he said to Roger.

“There are, though,” responded Roger.  “I was walking down by the station the other day where those shanties are that the mill hands live in and I noticed that not one of them had space for more than a plant or two and they seemed to be so discouraged at the prospect that even the plant or two wasn’t there.”

“Yet all the children that live in those houses go to our public schools.  Now my idea is that we should have a community garden, planted and taken care of by the school children.”

“Bully!” exclaimed Roger enthusiastically.  “Where are you going to get your land?”

“That’s the question.  It ought to be somewhere near the graded school, and there isn’t any ploughed land about there.  The only vacant land there is is that cheerful spot that used to be the dump.”

“Isn’t that horrible!  One corner of it is right behind the house where my aunt Louise lives.  Fortunately there’s a thick hedge that shuts it off.”

“Still it’s there, and I imagine she’d be glad enough to have it made into a pleasant sight instead of an eyesore.”

“You mean that the dump might be made into the garden?”

“If we can get people like Mrs. Smith who are personally affected by it, and others who have the benefit of the community at heart to contribute toward clearing off the ground and having it fertilized I believe that would be the right place.”

“You can count on Aunt Louise, I know.  She’d be glad to help.  Anybody would.  Why it would turn that terrible looking spot into almost a park!”

“The children would prepare the gardens once the soil was put into something like fair condition, but the first work on that lot is too heavy even for the larger boys.”

“They could pick up the rubbish on top.”

“Yes, they could do that, and the town carts could carry it away and burn it.  The town would give us the street sweepings all spring and summer and some of the people who have stables would contribute fertilizer.  Once that was turned under with the spade and topped off by some commercial fertilizer with a dash of lime to sweeten matters, the children could do the rest.”