DAYS IN MY GARDEN 



yet waked, except, as it were, to unveil their eyes by 

 casting from their buds the silky coats, too small to 

 clothe the rapidly swelling growth, as they unfurl 

 their new-born crumpled leaves. 



And so the life of each leaf has begun, its short 

 existence of sun-absorption contributing its iota of 

 help in rearing the perfect and superb elegance of 

 the mature tree ; and, passing through its sequence 

 of greens to autumn's golden brown, its work all 

 done, it looses its hold and floats down on its first and 

 SHADE UNDER last journey, to add to the brown carpet, monopolising 



BEECH TREES 



the ground and forbidding all save a few favoured 

 flowers to spring up in the almost tidy setting of the 

 pillared grove. 



Few things flourish in the shade and decayed 

 mould of beech leaves, but they provide a home for 

 patches and mounds of greenest moss, which, not 

 content to weave carpet patterns, in some instances 

 climbs the great boles of the monsters, following the 

 tracery of branches to a great height, there giving 

 place to greyer lichens where the sunlight glints and 

 the myriad boughs dance in cross shadows of sun 

 and shade. Through yonder glade the stems are 



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