44 FRANCIS ORPEN MORRIS 



along the gravel-walk, brings you to the Rectory 

 garden, which forms a sheltered retreat, and has for 

 years past been a veritable paradise of birds. Thanks 

 to the good taste of a former occupant of the bene- 

 fice, the ground, though not extensive, has been 

 well laid out, and the touch of time has aided the 

 hand of man in making the place what it is a home 

 of delight. Lying as it does at the end of a valley, 

 the view from the low terrace in front of the house 

 is not a wide one ; but this is made up for by many 

 interesting peeps which the garden itself affords. 

 Stand where you will, there is always something 

 pleasant to look upon ; it may be a glimpse of the 

 grassy slopes of the abutting wold as you peer 

 through an opening beneath the boughs of a lime or 

 a sycamore ; or if you turn your eye in another direc- 

 tion you will see, through the light and graceful 

 foliage of the birch, a Gothic window of the little 

 church hard by, with the steep and wooded ascent 

 of the Brant in the background ; or you can sit in 

 the summer-house and watch the swallows skimming 

 over the beck which runs through the garden ; at 

 the same time you may gain sight of the fly-catcher 

 making sudden darts after its scarcely visible prey 

 from -the rustic bridge over the stream, returning 

 ofttimes, as is its wont, to the point from which 

 it started. 



The main charm of the place seems to centre in 

 the little stream of water, a never-failing source of 

 pleasure. Along its banks the water-voles make their 

 home, and they can constantly be seen nibbling the 



