446 Old Time Gardens 



Lord, two hours and a half of preaching and 

 doubtless far more than a tithe of his income to 

 the poor. In sentimental association with his name, 

 he had a few straggling Roses around his millyard 

 all old-time varieties ; and, with Orpine and Sweet- 

 brier, he could gather a very pretty posy for all who 

 came to Kettle Hole. 



We constantly read of Fritillaries in the river fields 

 sung of Matthew Arnold. In a charming book of 

 English country life, Idlehurst^ I read how closely 

 the flower is still associated with Oxford life, recall- 

 ing ever the Iffley and Kensington meadows to all 

 Oxford men. The author tells that "quite unlikely 

 sorts of men used to pick bunches of the flowers, 

 and we would come up the towpath with our spoils." 

 Fritillaries grew in my mother's garden ; I cannot 

 now recall another garden in America where I have 

 ever seen them in bloom. They certainly are not 

 common. On a succeeding page are shown the 

 blossoms of the white Fritillary my mother planted 

 and loved. Can you not believe that we love them 

 still ? They have spread but little, neither have 

 they dwindled nor died. Each year they seem to 

 us the very same blossoms she loved. 



Our cyclopaedias of gardening tell us that the 

 Fritillaries spread freely ; but E. V. B. writes of them 

 in her exquisite English : " Slow in growth as the 

 Fritillaries are, they are ever sure. When they once 

 take root, there they stay forever, with a constancy 

 unknown in our human world. They may be 

 trusted, however late their coming. In the fresh 

 vigor of its youth was there ever seen any other 



