THE PEACEFUL VALLEY 45 



and with remote villages nestling only in the 

 hollows far from railway or high roads, keep the 

 hearts of the people as simple as they were before 

 the rise of mechanical and commercial England. 

 During the days of tense anxiety that so many 

 families are passing through, it is with very real 

 thankfulness that we raise a prayer of gratitude 

 for having up to now, in this wide expanse of 

 peaceful country, had only distant reminders of 

 the fierce and bitter struggle that is going on in 

 other lands. 



The moon shines over the steep slope of garden 

 with the valley below it, and high above the long, 

 low line of downland opposite is one very bright 

 star, which is always the earliest to appear and 

 heralds the coming of many twinkling lights from 

 the small cottages scattered across the plain. It 

 is by moonlight that we see best the very subtle, 



| r aried outline of the downs, for in the daytime, 

 naybe, the different colours and moving shadows 

 [raw attention to other beauties. At night, 

 tanding out dark-blue against a lighter sky, every 

 mall rise or fall of ground is noticeable, and very 

 rhythmical and beautiful the line is, as seen from 

 y house, rising slowly from the direction of 

 ewhaven until it culminates in the high, bold line 

 f Firle Beacon. 



What different impressions a garden gives at 

 ight ! We then depend upon the shape and form 

 trees and leaves for the chief effects, and flowers 

 come secondary objects. First, as I leave the 

 ouse, there is the jessamine and honeysuckle arch, 

 trayed by its fragrant scent, that leads by the 



