My New Zealand Garden 25 



me much humiliation, for I had not mastered it 

 when it appeared on the table, and the transfor- 

 mation of that memorable word into ' leonchun ' 

 was satisfactory to me for years afterwards. 



What procured for me too many holidays at 

 this epoch was the dull-green colour of ' Murray's 

 Grammar.' I know I went white at the sight of 

 it, and want of fresh air was often put down as 

 the cause, and I was sent out with the delightful 

 dismissal of ' Go and run about.' I did run about, 

 and was sometimes soon at the top of the highest 

 elm-tree, with my mouth packed with two rook's 

 eggs, ready for their safe descent. It was rather 

 interesting to be told by a dentist lately that my 

 mouth was rather large inside the rook's eggs 

 flashed across me. Although climbing trees was 

 admissible for me quite as much as it was for my 

 brothers, the roof of the house was not supposed 

 to be infested with monkeys like us. One morning, 

 however, I suppose ' Murray ' looked particularly 

 sickening, so I escaped in good time, and to the 

 roof I repaired without delay, to explore. It was 

 a three-story house, and I soon gained the top 

 by an attic window ; but I had never seen the 

 other side of the roof. It was a great expanse of 

 large slates not at all my idea of happiness and 

 steep, and I actually thought for a moment. But 

 the grade deceived me, and wetting my fingers to 

 prevent them from slipping, I started backwards 



