Another Beauty Spot

Cromwell Argus, Volume LXVIII, Issue 3484, 30 August 1937, Page 2

Another Beauty Spot

In a Carolina valley an old woman lives in a small, unpainted house. There is no sign to tell passers-by that here he can buy eggs, butter, milk and vegetables, yet the old woman rarely can supply the demand for them. “How do people know you have them for sale" I asked her, "Well, sir, mostly they don't know right off. But when they're drivin' by, they sees my flowers, the brakes go on, and they stop. Then they come in to ask questions, and I tell ’em what I've got." And so, with the most remarkable front yard within 20 miles as her advertisement, the old woman gets along. The beauty she developed by transplanting flowers from the mountainsides and glens and by obtaining cuttings and bulbs from friends is her sales agent. More, her yard is a contagious beauty spot. Other women are getting flowers from her, and inspiration. Her presence is transforming that whole valley into a more pleasing, more civilised place of abode. Beauty pays. And if we ever should attain to universal enthusiasm for it, many of our sorest economic problems would dissolve. Wo then would find more of the satisfaction in activities that are not costly. We would have a standard of living, as distinguished from the standard of spending. And that, after all, may be what we must have before we can climb toward the heights of satisfying life. In those heights dwells serenity, and serenity and beauty are sisters.