{"id":8563,"date":"2024-03-21T13:44:39","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T13:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=8563"},"modified":"2024-03-21T13:44:39","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T13:44:39","slug":"the-glory-of-the-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2024\/03\/21\/the-glory-of-the-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"The Glory Of The Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>To mark International Poetry Day, here's an unusual bit of Kipling first published in <em>A School History of England<\/em> (1911).<\/p>\n<p class=\"entry-summary\">Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,<br \/>\nOf borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,<br \/>\nWith statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;<br \/>\nBut the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.<\/p>\n<p>For where the old thick laurels grow, along the thin red wall,<br \/>\nYou'll find the tool- and potting-sheds which are the heart of all<br \/>\nThe cold-frames and the hot-houses, the dung-pits and the tanks,<br \/>\nThe rollers, carts, and drain-pipes, with the barrows and the planks.<\/p>\n<p>And there you'll see the gardeners, the men and 'prentice boys<br \/>\nTold off to do as they are bid and do it without noise ;<br \/>\nFor, except when seeds are planted and we shout to scare the birds,<br \/>\nThe Glory of the Garden it abideth not in words.<\/p>\n<p>And some can pot begonias and some can bud a rose,<br \/>\nAnd some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows ;<br \/>\nBut they can roll and trim the lawns and sift the sand and loam,<br \/>\nFor the Glory of the Garden occupieth all who come.<\/p>\n<p>Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made<br \/>\nBy singing, \"Oh, how beautiful,\" and sitting in the shade<br \/>\nWhile better men than we go out and start their working lives<br \/>\nAt grubbing weeds from gravel-paths with broken dinner-knives.<\/p>\n<p>There's not a pair of legs so thin, there's not a head so thick,<br \/>\nThere's not a hand so weak and white, nor yet a heart so sick<br \/>\nBut it can find some needful job that's crying to be done,<br \/>\nFor the Glory of the Garden glorifieth every one.<\/p>\n<p>Then seek your job with thankfulness and work till further orders,<br \/>\nIf it's only netting strawberries or killing slugs on borders;<br \/>\nAnd when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,<br \/>\nYou will find yourself a partner In the Glory of the Garden.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees<br \/>\nThat half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,<br \/>\nSo when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray<br \/>\nFor the Glory of the Garden that it may not pass away!<\/p>\n<p>And the Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To mark International Poetry Day, here's an unusual bit of Kipling first published in A School History of England (1911). Our England is a garden that is full of stately views, Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}