Elizabeth and Her German Garden · Chapter
May 14th explained
The narrator describes her secret gardening efforts, her joy in nature, and the challenges of managing a garden with a reluctant gardener.
What happens
The narrator describes her secret gardening efforts, her joy in nature, and the challenges of managing a garden with a reluctant gardener. She recounts a cow attack on her garden, the capture of three baby owls, and her interactions with her children, particularly the valiant June baby. The chapter reflects on her contentment with her rural life contrasted with town acquaintances' views.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and Gardening as a Source of Joy
The narrator finds profound happiness in gardening, describing it as a 'blessed sort of work' and contrasting it with the perceived imprisonment of town life.
Solitude vs. Society
The narrator cherishes her peaceful evenings alone in the garden, feeling 'blest above all my fellows' while town acquaintances view her life as imprisonment.
Motherhood and Childhood
The narrator interacts with her three young children, noting their ages and behaviors, including the June baby's bravery and the April baby's fear.
Characters to notice
- Elizabeth
Reflects on her love of gardening, her secret planting of ipomoea, and her joy in nature and solitude.
- The Man of Wrath
Mentioned as being on a journey; the narrator hopes to surprise him with the captured baby owls.
- April
The eldest baby, age five, who panics and runs shrieking when cows invade the garden.
- Bertha
The June baby, age three, who valiantly brandishes a stick to fend off the cows.
- Parsons
The gloomy gardener who gives notice monthly, dislikes the narrator's planting preferences, and is currently ill in bed.
Key passages
“I did one warm Sunday in last year's April during the servants' dinner hour, doubly secure from the gardener by the day and the dinner, slink out with a spade and a rake and feverishly dig a little piece of ground and break it up and sow surreptitious ipomoea”
Last April, while the servants were at dinner and the gardener was off duty, I secretly sneaked out with gardening tools to dig and plant ipomoea.
Highlights the narrator's clandestine gardening efforts and her impatience to cultivate her garden.
“What a happy woman I am living in a garden, with books, babies, birds, and flowers, and plenty of leisure to enjoy them!”
I am a very happy woman, living in a garden surrounded by books, children, birds, and flowers, with ample time to enjoy them.
Expresses the narrator's contentment with her rural, garden-centered life.
“The gardener has been here a year and has given me notice regularly on the first of every month, but up to now has been induced to stay on.”
The gardener has worked for me for a year and has threatened to quit on the first of each month, but I have always persuaded him to stay.
Illustrates the gardener's ongoing dissatisfaction and the narrator's efforts to retain him.
“I saw that a whole army of young cows, pasturing in a field next to the garden, had got through the hedge and were grazing perilously near my tea-roses and most precious belongings.”
I noticed a herd of young cows had broken through the hedge and were dangerously close to my prized tea-roses and other valuable plants.
Describes the cow invasion that damages the garden.
“I put it into a roomy cage and slung it up on a branch near where it had been sitting, and which cannot be far from its nest and its mother.”
I placed the baby owl in a spacious cage and hung it on a branch close to where I found it, likely near its nest and mother.
Details the capture and caging of the baby owl, with the intention of showing it to the Man of Wrath.
