2OO 



many questions, a good deal easier asked than 

 answered. 



" If there were dreams to sell, 

 Pleasant, and sad as well, 

 And the crier rang his bell, 

 Which would you buy ? " 



It is not the time, however, now for dreams, 

 or for dream thoughts. It is nine o'clock in the 

 morning, and everybody ought therefore to be 

 wide awake and smiling. The garden at all 

 events is performing its duty in both these 

 respects, and seems, moreover, to be making 

 encouraging little signals, like some humble but 

 rather impatient suitor, who wishes to observe 

 that he has really been waiting a long time, 

 and deserves a little attention. Perhaps it 

 does. Perhaps, seeing that it is there, and that 

 we are here, it ought not to fare worse at our 

 hands than our own dull bodies, which have 

 to be clothed and fed, put to bed, and taken 

 up again, whatever the less material portion 

 may be feeling at the time. Here on my 

 table I see is a list of some of our latest 

 seedlings. They are not alpines this time, only 

 common border plants, with a sprinkling of 

 candidates for naturalisation, of which this 

 copse can absorb almost any amount, so long 

 as they are of the right sort. It is not a long 



