AMONG THE SOUTHERN UPLANDS 225 



come ; and, living so far apart as they did, he could 

 visit only two or three at a time. He was, for all 

 the world, like a man whose children are scattered, 

 and who grieves that he can no longer have them 

 all together as he used to do. So he fixed upon a 

 common home, and spent a few summer days in 

 tenderly gathering two or three of each, and 

 placing them as near together as their differing 

 habits would allow. 



One can picture the scene. I think, by patient 

 search, could pick it out. And it would be 

 worth finding ; for if ever spot on earth was 

 hallowed by the purity and simplicity of man, that 

 spot was. 



It would be bordered by a channel, whose rocky 

 shelving, laid bare by the rude torrent, gave root- 

 hold to the starry saxifrage. It would include a 

 marshy area, tender with the blue of forget-me-not, 

 white with mountain avens, and touched with the 

 red of sundew. It would possess a shadow, 

 quaintly pretty with the spikes of enchanter's 

 nightshade ; and a rough track lit with the scarlet 

 fruit of the stone bramble, and overrun with the 

 white purple - tipped blossoms of the wood vetch. 

 These at least. 



Alas ! for the best laid schemes. His face wore 



