" THE THINGS THAT ARE MORE EXCELLENT " 245 



hands doing work after eight at night, as well as at 

 five in the morning. Those are the pleasantest hours 

 of a gardener's life, and although many who have 

 only seen what sunrise looks like when they have 

 had the prospect of a cub-hunt before them might 

 hesitate as to this enjoyment, a gardener, if she 

 be true to her profession, treasures early and late 

 hours above all others. 



Those are times, when, alone with Nature, it is 

 possible to step from the track of habitual routine 

 and take a wider, more far-reaching view of the 

 world in which we really live. With W. Watson 

 she is able to say : 



" To things, not phantoms, let us cleave, 

 The things that are more excellent." 



Then, it must be remembered, too, that in the 

 heat of midday, at a moment when most people 

 first leave the house to go for a drive in their car, 

 a gardener rests. Her days, in short, are turned 

 into the habitual, customary ones of a Southern 

 people, and between eleven and two a light lun- 

 cheon and peaceful slumber in a darkened room 

 revive her so much that nothing short of waning 

 evening light stops her ardour for work. On ex- 

 ceptionally hot days there is the swimming pool 

 in the meadows below, where a refreshing interval 

 can be spent ; thus time flies quickly by and 

 perhaps what makes the days seem more peaceful 

 than those of other people is a freedom from 

 household cares. During a student's training, the 

 housekeeper at the hostel and the other landladies 



