THE FLOWER GARDEN. 113 



The arrangement of the beds on paper was not dif 

 ficult, but to trace them on the natural sod was an 

 other matter. This could not be intrusted to a com 

 mon workman ; one, to whom the plan was shown, 

 insisted upon mistaking the w r alks for beds, and even 

 proposed some alterations, which he called improve 

 ments. Somehow, I never was very good at the prac 

 tical part of a design. Moreover, the weather had 

 been dry, for this point had been reached toward the 

 close of one of the rainless terms that alternated with 

 the floods of this particular season. The ground was 

 hard, the sun was hot, and my experience with a shov 

 el spade my man called it had been limited ; but 

 the difficulty had to be overcome, regardless of pre 

 vious habits, and, grasping the shovel bravely, I set 

 to work at once. 



The centre bed was a circle, and, by driving a 

 stake in the ground, and attaching to it a string, 

 there was no difficulty in making a faint impression 

 of the outline on the grass. This, outline I deepened 

 into a shallow furrow with my spade, although my 

 arms and back ached, and my clothes were damp 

 with perspiration before I had finished. The next 

 figure, which was a star, w r as not so easy ; and when 

 it came to the worms, and the bays, and promonto 

 ries, there bid fair to be far too little monotony. In 



