OUR COUNTRY LIFE 



a sense of companionship with Nature which only life 

 in the country can bring; that as I wandered through 

 the shrubbery freeing a choice bush from the too 

 friendly grape, digging up a burdock or spying out a 

 hidden thistle, pulling the ragweed or clipping along 

 the path, my only regret was that I had not another 

 pair of eyes to take advantage of earth and sky? The 

 study of Nature tends to difTuseness rather than to con 

 centration. No matter with what determination you 

 start out, no matter how interested you may be in that 

 particular branch, I defy you to shut your eyes to other 

 passing beauties, to countless other beguiling sights. 



"Pause a bit," they seem to say, "stop and realize the 

 joy of living. Let not the love of order keep you from 

 the love of us. Be still, relax, lay down that learned 

 book, that well-thumbed list, those shears and fly-whisk 

 deft. Come sit in quiet contemplation at our feet." 



Few parts of our estate have had more careful thought 

 and none proved of more educational value than the 

 bit of ground, fifty by sixty feet, known as our formal 

 garden. It seemed a perfectly simple proposition, 



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