My Boyhood and Youth 



always to be trying to make it as much like 

 Eden as possible, and in a corner of it he gave 

 each of us a little bit of ground for our very 

 own in which we planted what we best liked, 

 wondering how the hard dry seeds could change 

 into soft leaves and flowers and find their way 

 out to the light; and, to see how they were 

 coming on, we used to dig up the larger ones, 

 such as peas and beans, every day. My aunt 

 had a corner assigned to her in our garden 

 which she filled with lilies, and we all looked 

 with the utmost respect and admiration at that 

 precious lily-bed and wondered whether when 

 we grew up we should ever be rich enough to 

 own one anything like so grand. We imagined 

 that each lily was worth an enormous sum of 

 money and never dared to touch a single leaf 

 or petal of them. We really stood in awe of 

 them. Far, far was I then from the wild lily 

 gardens of California that I was destined to see 

 in their glory. 



When I was a little boy at Mungo Siddons's 

 school a flower-show was held in Dunbar, and 



