174 EVERSLEY GARDENS 



It is always, therefore, in an eager and de- 

 lightfully expectant condition of mind that I 

 drive over from time to time to a celebrated 

 garden that lies three miles away, where Hants, 

 Berks, and Surrey join hands, and my happy 

 expectations are never disappointed. For, 

 unlike other works of art, there is no finality 

 in such a garden. The picture once painted, 

 the statue once sculptured, it is finished. But 

 the garden goes on growing as long as time 

 and love of it shall last ; each succeeding year 

 adding some fresh touch to the beautiful con- 

 ception. And this Garden of Delight never 

 fails in fresh surprises. So that no matter at 

 what time of year one sets foot in it, one's 

 eye and imagination are alike satisfied, one's 

 ambition stimulated, and one's mind filled with 

 lovely pictures, which come back as light in 

 a dark place during long wakeful nights or 

 gloomy Winter days. On one visit at Whit- 

 suntide it was in all the glory of Rhodo- 

 dendrons, great bushes, nay, almost trees, of 

 purest white, pink, and crimson, against the 

 dark firs and sprouting heather. Three 



