Gardener's Faith 



speech declared it available for public use. It spans 

 the widest reach of the river, and at night there 

 is to be seen a romantic vista up to the source 

 and down to the lake. By day the illusion is not 

 so potent, and the river has to be taken as a sham 



or not at all. 



The tea-house is a noble edifice. It is hexa- 

 gonal : 



" In Xanadu did Kubla Khan 

 A stately pleasure-dome decree . . • 



It has a rough conical roof of wood covered in 

 with tanned felt. Six posts support the roof, and 

 these are bound together with pine-branches. Up 

 two of the posts grow wistaria : up two more grow 

 laburnum, and the other two are held in no 

 embrace. . . . Outside, facing the bridge, is a 

 cluster of azaleas, and behind, looking through the 

 birch avenue, are daphnes, which are almost first 

 in the field with their mauve-pink blossoms arriv- 

 ing before their leaves, so that they may be ready 

 with the scarlet berries against the coming of the 



summer. 



Inside the tea-house is shade and very little 

 else : but, of all things in a garden, shade is one 

 of the most desirable. 



The floor is paved with stone, and in the centre, 

 sunk deep in the earth, is a mighty log of larch 



183 



