72 A GARDEN DIARY 



JANUARY 3, 1903 



'THHE satisfactions of intercourse are apt to be 

 -* overrated, yet there are times when they are 

 certainly not without their uses. Living for the 

 moment alone if anyone can be said to be alone 

 who possesses a few good neighbours, and one 

 kind dog I find myself in an oddly dualistic con- 

 dition of mind. In bodily presence I am here at 



H , engaged in sundry important avocations. 



I am path making ; copse cutting ; plant protect- 

 ing ; I am even bricks-and-mortar superintending 

 in a small way. To my own private consciousness 

 I am really engaged in quite another set of pre- 

 occupations, and a very long way from these 

 green downs, and rustling oak copses of ours. 

 The experience does not pretend to be particu- 

 larly original, seeing that a large number of other 

 people's experience would probably just now bear 

 it out. Solitude however emphasises these sort 

 of odd dualities, and endows them with an air of 

 greater distinction. Are mortals better and wiser, 

 or worse and more foolish when they are alone ? 



