SUMMER. i 9 



plant a bower ; but whenever our changeable climate admits 

 of it. learn to sit out of doors. When actually in the 

 country, during a long walk or a short saunter, there is a 

 power of selecting fitting resting-places, and some people 

 seem to have a knack of finding the most pleasant nooks, 

 while others seat themselves anywhere, turning their backs 

 on the view, and evidently considering sitting out of doors 

 only as a rest from fatigue, not as an additional source of 

 enjoyment. Some never go to a new place but almcvst the 

 first thought is where they may sit out in the open air ; 

 and, ere two days have elapsed, the out-of-doors drawing- 

 room is as familiar as the indoors. 



Bright visions of past days come over me as I write. I 

 seem to see a gray rock half sunk in the grass, shaded by 

 an old holly tree ; it lay but a few steps from the cottage 

 door, on a hill-side, and around and beneath it lay stretched 

 the lovely vale of Grasmere, encircled by its guardian hills ; 

 or a quiet nook in the shades of Killiecrankie, with the wild 

 Garry rushing beside the half-hidden seat among brakes 

 and trailing brambles, while the timid squirrel would 

 gambol near, all unaware of human onlooker. 



" Beautiful ! — 

 How beautiful is all this fair, free world 

 Under God's opeu sky ! " 



In thus placing sitting out of doors as the first of our 

 summer enjoyments of the garden, I am not advocating 

 idleness : — what is meant is rather the carrying on of our 

 work, when practicable, in the open air — light reading and 

 ladies' work are as easily attended to as sketching, and do 



