114 FIVE ACKES TOO MUCH. 



fact, the figures would not take the shapes they as 

 sumed on paper, and the more they were worked at 

 the worse they grew. If they were narrowed, they 

 became immediately too long ; if they were length 

 ened, they had to be widened; if one part was taken 

 off, another portion immediately bulged out; bays 

 were either too deep or too shallow, promontories ei 

 ther stretched entirely across the adjoining walk or 

 disappeared utterly. The walks were continually be- 

 mg squeezed into a strait that would not by any pos 

 sibility admit the passage of modern crinoline, or 

 spread out into a sort of desert waste. The truth is, 

 such vulgar trivialities as are implied in practical 

 performance are not suited to the intellectual mind. 

 After working the plan several weeks, nearly killing 

 myself, and sadly confusing the man I had hired for 

 this express matter, I concluded to let him finish it 

 alone. It is a matter of pride, however, that, in spite 

 of some sad blunders through his ignorance, it still 

 bears palpable traces of the original design, and en 

 tirely avoids the fatal fault of monotony. 



While the man was completing the physical part, 

 there was an excellent opportunity to select the best 

 flowers that were to be procured. The study of bot 

 any is not a branch of the legal profession, nor even 

 included in the limits of a classical education ; but, 



