In today’s entry, Linda Stowe visits us again with her intelligent, witty, insightful writing.
The following story comes from another one of our “Wordle Words” entries. I found it quite interesting, and hope that you find the same.
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Gnomes by Linda Stowe
In visiting any well-tended garden today, it would not be surprising to find various features around the grounds adding texture and interest to the area. Often one of those features would be a garden gnome tucked away under the shade of an ornamental plant.
There was a time when these gnomes were actual live people.
In the 18th century, wealthy British landowners trying to outdo rival neighbors hired people known as “ornamental hermits” to live in their estate gardens. These hermits lived in little huts or grottos established for that purpose. Guests walking about the grounds would delight in catching a glimpse of someone in the distance, most of- ten attired in a long robe, moving between the trees or sitting in contemplation.
Typically, these hermits would be hired for years at a time and would not be paid until the end of their contract. The website Atlas Obscura shares a 1797 advertisement for such a hermit: ”the hermit is never to leave the place, or hold conversation with anyone for seven years during which he is neither to wash himself or cleanse himself in any way whatever, but is to let his hair and nails both on hands and feet, grow as long as nature will permit them.”
I don’t know if modern-day ornamental hermits exist, but I would not be surprised to find that they do.
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It’s Polly here again.
We have a couple of little garden gnomes tucked away in our yard, mostly near the toad houses. Since reading Linda’s story, I will, from this day forward, look at those little dudes differently.
I love to find things in life that cause me to see the world in a new way. I think it is essential for anyone to grow — that ability to see the world anew. Whether it is a garden gnome, an ancient wisdom, or a brand-new philosophy.
Today, may we all have the chance to see.
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“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
― Confucious
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“What we do see depends mainly on what we look for. … In the same field the farmer will notice the crop, the geologists the fossils, botanists the flowers, artists the colouring, sportmen the cover for the game. Though we may all look at the same things, it does not all follow that we should see them.”
― John Lubbock
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“After all, the true seeing is within.”
― George Eliot, Middlemarch
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The Garden Gnome. Errr. Hermit. Errr. Dude. By Linda Stowe.
