64 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



diocese ; and, the following year, St. Bernard 

 excommunicated the flies in the Monastery of 

 Foigny ; and in 1510 the ecclesiastical court 

 pronounced the dread sentence against the rats 

 of Autun, Macon, and Lyons. These examples 

 are sufficient precedents. It will be well for the 

 council, however, not to publish the bull either 

 just before or just after a rain; for nothing can 

 kill this pestilent heresy when the ground is 

 wet. 



It is the time of festivals. Polly says we 

 ought to have one, a strawberry-festival. She 

 says they are perfectly delightful : it is so nice to 

 get people together ! this hot weather. They 

 create such a good feeling ! I myself am very 

 fond of festivals. I always go, when I can 

 consistently. Besides the strawberries, there are 

 ice-creams and cake and lemonade, and that sort 

 of thing : and one always feels so well the next 

 day after such a diet ! But as social reunions, 



