FRANKNESS, GARDENING AND 

 OTHERWISE 



(Mary Penrose to Barbara Campbell) 



July 15. Midsummer Night. Since the month 

 came in, vacation time has been suspended, insomuch 

 that Bart goes to the office every day, Saturdays ex- 

 cepted; but we have not returned to our indoor bed- 

 room. Once it seemed the definition of airy coolness, 

 with its three wide windows, white matting, and muslin 

 draperies, but now I fully understand the relative 

 feelings of a bird in a cage and a bird in the open. 

 The air blows through the bars and the sun shines 

 through them, but it is still a cage. 



In these warm, still nights we take down the slat 

 screens that hang between the hand-hewn chestnut 

 beams of the old barn, and with the open rafters of what 

 was a hay-loft above us, we look out of the door-frame 

 straight up at the stars and sometimes drag our cots out 

 on the wide bank that tops the wall, overlooking the 

 Opal Farm, and sleep wholly under the sky. 

 202 



