VI INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



x 



fashion, more than enough of vanity upon 

 vanity, and vexation of purse. Why should 

 they not have some of those wandering and 

 joyous fancies which solace my hours ? &quot; 



The suggestion ripened into execution. 

 Men and women read, and wanted more. 

 These garden letters began to blossom every 

 week ; and many hands were glad to gather 

 pleasure from them. A sign it was of wis 

 dom. In our feverish days, it is a sign of 

 health or of convalescence that men love 

 gentle pleasure, and enjoyments that do not 

 rush or roar, but distil as the dew. 



The love of rural life, the habit of finding 

 enjoyment in familiar things, that suscepti 

 bility to Nature which keeps the nerve gently 

 thrilled in her homeliest nooks and by her 

 commonest sounds, is worth a thousand for 

 tunes of money, or its equivalents. 



Every book which interprets the secret lore 

 of fields and gardens, every essay that brings 

 men nearer to the understanding of the mys 

 teries which every tree whispers, every brook 



