MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 140 



have other company. The robin, the 

 most knowing and greedy bird out of 

 paradise (I trust he will always be kept 

 out), has discovered that the grape-crop 

 is uncommonly good, and has come back, 

 with his whole tribe and family, larger 

 than it was in pea-time. He knows the 

 ripest bunches as well as anybody, and 

 tries them all. If he would take a whole 

 bunch here and there, say half the num 

 ber, and be off with it, I should not so 

 much care. But he will not. He pecks 

 away at all the bunches, and spoils as 

 many as he can. It is time he went 

 south. 



There is no prettier sight, to my eye, 

 than a gardener on a ladder in his grape- 

 arbor, in these golden days, selecting 

 the heaviest clusters of grapes, and 

 handing them down to one and another 

 of a group of neighbors and friends, who 

 stand under the shade of the leaves, 



