MAKING THE GARDEN 3 



Others will spell it " Keyes," imagining it to 

 be called after some distinguished person. And 

 none guess its purely local origin ; coming 

 from the seed-pods or, as we here in North 

 Hampshire call them, " keys " of the Ash a 

 group of huge old Ash trees, long since dead, 

 having stood in the lower meadow near the 

 river. 



The dear, good neighbours ! After their 

 first objections with regard to my insane 

 project of buying the land and building at 

 all, they simply inundated me with advice as 

 to what I should do. They did not even 

 preface this with " If I were you : " but made 

 positive assertions. I counted seven different 

 positions in my one and quarter acre meadow 

 on which I was told that I ought to build my 

 house. Six of these commands I bore with 

 patience which might, I think, have been 

 counted to me for righteousness, if I had 

 not mislaid my temper at the seventh. For 

 when my would-be guide, philosopher, and 

 friend insisted that the house ought to be 

 placed in the very lowest corner of the whole 



