44 One of the chief charms I find in a garden, is to say to 

 myself: *I am shut up, I and my imagination, my 

 body and spirit in a place filled with flowers, that 

 is to say, with rich colours, dulcet perfumes, and songs 

 of birds * * where no one will come except a friend** " 



ALPHONSE KARR. 



AUGUST 



A FTER a spell of glorious weather, the sky, grey and over- 

 **' cast, has opened its flood-gates, letting fall upon the 

 parched garden a welcome rain, and the rich smell which arises 

 from fallen leaves, gives us a foretaste of Autumn. How 

 the pictures of Summer flit before us when the first grey day 

 appears after a long reign of bright sunshine and blue skies. 

 But we may still keep Summer with us for a few weeks yet, 

 although we cannot help noticing the almost roseless gardens, 

 the dimmed brightness of the green trees, and the twilight 

 hour falling earlier upon the world. 



August suggests the sea, blue waves and golden sands ; 

 idle days and sweet wanderings high above the weed-strewn 

 shore, with the sea-perfumed breeze blowing around us, where 

 Nature seems to be but 



" An empty sky, a world of heather," 



where 



" Crowds of bees are giddy with clover, 

 Crowds of grasshoppers skip at our feet, 

 Crowds of larks at their matins hang over." 



Many a beautiful picture the sea's border has to give. 

 Perhaps one of the fairest scenes is the sweet sea- valley, lying 

 between the downs, cool with the fresh breeze blowing in 

 from the sea through the gaps at the end of the vale where 



