CHAPTER IV 



SOMETIMES I attribute my love for rake, 

 ^5 spade, and hoe, to have proceeded from the 

 lack of a good education, which, as compared with 

 my own, most children received, for I was always 

 shaky about the three R's, nor much better read 

 than the old gardener, who could master every word 

 in his book except the long one at the end ' Picca- 

 dilly.' And I might have been in the same dilemma 

 as the young student who was to pass his divinity 

 examination on the correct answer of the one 

 question, ' Who was the first King of Israel ?' 

 He said ' Saul,' but when leaving the room he 

 turned round and said to the examiners : ' I forgot 

 to say, gentlemen, that he was afterwards called 

 Paul.' Then, again, my wholesale ignorance 

 might almost have compared with that of the 

 youth in London who, unable to decide whether 

 to propose to Maria or Anne, found his help in 

 Ave Maria Lane, and settled to 'ave Maria. And 

 my spelling well, I suppose I had a pretty good 

 ear for sound, but the word ' luncheon ' brought 

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