146 RIVERSIDE LETTERS XIX 



planted on the edge of the lawn, had pierced 

 the turf and were showing quite three inches 

 of green leaves above the ground ; the sun 

 had just cleared the snow from the ground 

 where they were, snow which had been lying 

 there for nearly a fortnight, but the ground 

 itself was still as hard as iron. How they 

 possibly managed to force their way up I 

 cannot imagine. I am quite sure that they 

 have somehow come through since the long 

 frost began, because during the mild weather 

 that preceded it, I had expected to see them, 

 and had searched for them in vain every day. 

 These daffodils grow on rather a sheltered 

 bank by the edge of the grass, and have not 

 had a very deep covering of snow on them at 

 any time, but the ground was and is still 

 frozen hard and deeply around them. 



I have not troubled you with statistics or 

 thermometer readings anent the frost, as you 

 get these, ad nauseam, in the daily papers. I 

 have no thermometer in the garden, except 

 a sort of living one, a certain aucuba laurel, 



