56 MORE POT-POURRI 



the water ever in your ears. This sound is usually resolv- 

 able into three elements. There is, first, the great boom 

 of the waves, the chorus of many waters, far and near, 

 heard in one deep unison ; then there is a noise as of 

 liquid being poured continuously out of one vessel into 

 another that, I think, is caused by the falling crest of 

 the waves ; and lastly, there is a low and lisping talk 

 ever going on between the water and the pebbles.' I 

 call that an excellent word -rendering of sea -sounds. 

 Then: ' In the pools and tiny basins there are a thou- 

 sand fairy creatures, whose motions you may watch even 

 as you lie reposing green and thread-like tentacula 

 issuing and retreating, purple atoms spinning round and 

 round in some strange dance which is the beginning and 

 end of their existence, gorgeous anemones, and many a 

 tiny shell, delicately built and cunningly colored : 



'Slight, to be crush 'd with a tap 

 Of my finger-nail on the sand, 



Small, but a work divine ; 

 Frail, but of force to withstand, 

 Year upon year, the shock 

 Of cataract seas that snap 



The three-decker's oaken spine 

 Athwart the ledges of rock.' 



In mentioning these books, I mean no slight on any 

 that I am not fortunate enough to know. I have kept 

 to the same rule which I found necessary with the old 

 garden -books of only naming those that I not only 

 know, but possess. 



October 20ih. I have been very busy here hollowing 

 out new rockeries and digging deep holes, eight to twelve 

 feet deep, and throwing up the sandy earth on either 

 side, so making slopes and mounds of earth. Small, 

 narrow paths lead into these hollows, and instead of 

 catching the water at the bottom, as I did before, I 



