THE STORY OF A GARDEN 1 37 



Eight acres of rolling ground, and 

 in the centre a plainly cheerful house 

 decides the point of view. The loca- 

 tion of a house much affects the in- 

 mates; here sunshine penetrates every 

 room and a free current of air sweeps 

 all about, and there is a well of spark- 

 ling water close at hand. This well is 

 rock-drilled, deep and cold, and the 

 patron divinity of all good wells, the 

 north star, watches over it, and nightly 

 Ursa Major's dipper circles above, as 

 if offering a cooling draught to all the 

 constellations. 



For a space about the house the 

 grass is cropped, and some plump beds 

 of geraniums, Fuchsias, heliotropes, 

 serve to grade the eye from indoor 

 precision, to rest the vision before the 

 trees and moving birds compel it to 

 investigation. However much natural 

 wildness may soothe and satisfy, the 



