Page:Frank Owen - Rare Earth, 1931.djvu/108



T is the love of growing things, the earth, rare earth, that makes brothers of men the world over. The Japanese grows cherry blossoms in his garden and works in the lush wet soil of the rice fields. He has a beautiful custom of bowing down in the midst of the farmland and praying to his gods to make the soil productive. He looks upon the soil as a living being. The growth of the soil to him suggests the growth of human life. Ofttimes when he wishes a child he causes his wife to lie in the fertile fields that the fertility of the soil may find an echo in her body. Chinamen love gardens. Like the Japanese they adore charming vistas and set up bridges and pagodas where the view is most