UNEMPLOYED GARDENERS
• [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In your issue of April 14th you very kindly published an appeal from me for plants for the allotments of a number of unemployed miners, who have been assisted by us to obtain a garden. We have recel–ed 22 parcels of seeds, plants, &c., and these donations have reached us from all parts of Great Britain. All those, where the senders gave their names and addresses, have been acknowledged direct by us, and we would like to take this opportunity also of thanking the anonymous donors from St. Albans, Banbury, Dorking, Parkstone, Windermere ttnd Ottery St. Mary.
You, Sir, and your kind readers, have been instrumental in bringing a little joy into the lives of a number of good men, who are under the shadow of long years of unemploy- ment, and we send to you our very sincere thanks and appreciation. Not the least welcome part of the gifts was the many understanding and kindly messages sent with the plants—the senders would have felt well repaid for their kindness if they had witnessed the keen interest and the gratitude displayed as the various boxes were opened. These men were greatly cheered by the greetings of your readers.
Last, but not least, the publication of our letter has resulted in the 23-year-old son of one of the men obtaining work in the garden of a large estate in Kent at good wages and with a kindly and understanding employer. The young man in question was medically examined before we finally selected him for the post—the doctor's report was "thin, under- nourished and a bit dazed through long unemployment and lack of proper food," but we have packed him off tonight to Kent full of hope for the future and profoundly grateful "to the Fates" because now he no longer feels unwanted in a world of want.
For "twenty-two boxes of Sunshine" and "one drop of Gold," we all send you our grateful thanks,
"And my heart with gladness fills, And dances with the daffodils."
P.S.—My nom-de-plume in this ease is "Oliver Twist"!
Verb. Sap.
Previous page
