104 A GARDEN DIARY 



FEBRUARY 12, 1900 



I HAD occasion to go to Guildford yesterday 

 despite the weather, and met in the train 

 our eminent horticultural acquaintance, Mr. R. P. 

 We have always a good deal to say to one 

 another on the subject of our respective gardens, 

 although his is a long-established and renowned 

 one, ours such a callow young thing that it is 

 hardly fit as yet to be called a garden at all. On this 

 occasion, seeing that he was coming from London, 

 my first remark was not a horticultural one. 



" Is there anything fresh ? " I asked. " News 

 seems so often to come in just after the morning 

 papers are out." 



" Fresh ? Oh, you mean about the war ? 

 No, I think not. Everybody seems to be pretty 

 sick over the whole business. I saw Sir F. J. 

 the day before yesterday, and he was very much 

 in the dumps about it. He says the Tommies 

 out there don't like it one bit. That they have 

 got their tails regularly between their legs, and 

 I'm sure / don't wonder." 



