A MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE 165 



mate things force themselves into comparison. Now 

 we are seeing from outside and looking in at ourselves, 

 so to speak, very much like the robin, who has his third 

 nest, lop-sided disaster having overtaken the other two, 

 in the old white lilac tree over my window. 



Some of our doings, judged from the vantage point of 

 the knoll, are very inconsistent. The spot occupied 

 by the drying yard is the most suitable place for the new 

 strawberry bed, and is in a direct line between the fence 

 gap, where my fragrant things are to be, and the Rose 

 Garden. Several of the walks that have been laid 

 out according to the plan, when seen from this height, 

 curve around nothing and reach nowhere. We shall 

 presently satisfy their empty embraces with shrubs 

 and locate various other conspicuous objects at the 

 terminals. 



Also, the house is kept too much shut up; it looks 

 inhospitable, seen through the trees, with branches 

 always tossing wide to the breeze and sun. Even if 

 a room is unoccupied by people, it is no reason why the 

 sun should be barred out, and at best we ourselves surely 

 spend too much time in our houses in the season when 

 every tree is a roof. We have decided not to move in- 

 doors again this summer, but to lodge here in the time 

 between vacations and to annex the Infant. 



