A GARDEN DIARY 231 



be antecedent, not alone to itself, but to the 

 whole social warp and woof, of which it is an 

 outcome. Just as the trees in one wood seem, 

 to anyone who wanders often in it, to have ac- 

 quired a sort of identity, so two who have walked 

 for some time very closely together, though they 

 may differ as widely as an ash does from a pine, 

 as an oak does from a hornbeam, acquire a sort 

 of similarity, due to the same sunshine having 

 warmed, the same storms having shaken and 

 darkened both. It is well to speak a good word 

 now and then of a personage whom one habitu- 

 ally abuses, so let it be recorded in favour of that 

 odd compound of good and ill which we call 

 our existence that, if it has thwarted our desires, 

 dwarfed our ambitions, nipped in our joys, chilled 

 back our aspirations, cut down our hopes, and 



not infrequently wrung our hearts, at least 



it has given us our friends ! 



