58 RIVERSIDE LETTERS vn 



and peaches ripened well in our garden, to say 

 nothing of apples and pears. 



My eldest sister was a first-rate gardener. 

 She kept bees too, and knew her flowers 

 thoroughly and well ; of these we always had 

 plenty. We younger ones had also little 

 gardens of our own, and thus it was that I 

 imbibed an early and true love for flowers, by 

 which I mean not only delight in them as 

 beautiful objects, but also the pleasure to be 

 found > and found only, in tending to their 

 culture personally, and watching the phases 

 of their growth and nature from year to year. 

 All the flowers that grew in that old garden 

 I have now in my new one along with many 

 others, but none are so dear to me as the old 

 favourites. 



This is, I am afraid, a sentimental letter, 

 but I trust you will pardon it, for it is a wet 

 day and I am all alone, which may in some 

 way account for it. 



