Zbc jfragrant IRote Book 



TO SAY YOU ARE WELCOME WERE SUPERFLUOUS. " 



II the inglenook beside the hearth he will point you to f 

 the guest book and lay his work-worn hand upon the, 

 volume while with a taloned fore-finger he will underscore y^^ 

 the message printed at the top. Clearly he wishes you to 

 read the page and will not be satisfied else. Indulgent 

 of his dumbness rather than interested in what you ex- 

 pect to find, you glance at the leaf which bears this 



~^\ 



To ALL visitors: The Sumb' porter has been 

 carefully instructed to welcome all who enter and 

 who wish to proceed farther through the grounds. 

 To those who feel themselves already weary it is r 

 frankly suggested that he who reads may run. Cax- 

 ton will explain to you in his voiceless way that the 

 purpose of the gardener has been, while raising plants 

 of his own, also to collect flowers from all climes, 

 flowers of all colours, flowers of all the ages. Thriving 

 in his garden will be found buds of poetry, blos- 

 soms of romance, perennial history, sprigs of mytho- 

 logy, with the seeds of fragrant legend and folk-lore. 

 The gardener recognises that everyone loves flowers 

 though everyone cannot grow them; that everyone 

 loves romance and a good poem though everyone 

 cannot live the one nor write the other; that the his- 

 tory and literature of the world are constantly linking 



