The Seen and the Unseen 



delicate fragrance that the dashing 

 shower has started from the Sweet- 

 briar rose I planted now near twenty 

 years ago! There was a real promise 

 to pay on the part of that tiny rootlet 

 when I set it there one May-time of 

 the days, "lang syne," and here am I 

 collecting all the interest many times 

 compounded! Here am I so over- 

 joyed at freedom once again regained 

 that I am straightway asking you to 

 sit with me beneath the greenwood 

 tree; just child enough in spirit to 

 want to tell you all about it; just 

 guileless enough to imagine that every- 

 body else is as interested in all I see 

 about me as I am myself! Well, you 

 are not compelled to follow just be- 

 cause I am obliged to write. 



I have said that we were behind our 

 usual schedule coming out, but the 

 moment I saw a hollyhock in bloom 

 and heard a cricket underneath the 

 window, I knew at once that Nature 

 was as much ahead of her accustomed 



[9] 



