"
"My dear Elinor," said the Baroness, "you would save yourself all this
heart-burning and a lot of gardener's bills, not to mention sparrow
anxieties, simply by paying an annual subscription to the O.O.S.A."
"Never heard of it," said Elinor; "what is it?"
"The Occasional-Oasis Supply Association," said the Baroness; "it exists
to meet cases exactly like yours, cases of backyards that are of no
practical use for gardening purposes, but are required to blossom into
decorative scenic backgrounds at stated intervals, when a luncheon or
dinner-party is contemplated. Supposing, for instance, you have people
coming to lunch at one-thirty; you just ring up the Association at about
ten o'clock the same morning, and say 'lunch garden'. That is all the
trouble you have to take. By twelve forty-five your yard is carpeted
with a strip of velvety turf, with a hedge of lilac or red may, or
whatever happens to be in season, as a background, one or two cherry
trees in blossom, and clumps of heavily-flowered rhododendrons filling in
the odd corners; in the foreground you have a blaze of carnations or
Shirley poppies, or tiger lilies in full bloom. As soon as the lunch is
over and your guests have departed the garden departs also, and all the
cats in Christendom can sit in council in your yard without causing you a
moment's anxiety.
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