GARDENS OF CELEBRITIES 



tears of amber gum. Opposite to these were a Codlin, a large and 

 ancient thorn (rose-red all over in May), and an acacia, certainly 

 the largest I have ever seen; "as high as the 'cacia " being our 

 nursery standard of comparison, where height was in question. 

 Close to the house was a Golden Pippin, which made a practice 

 of dropping its smooth and yellowing apples on the dewy grass in 

 the early morning, a tempting bait to the child who was the earliest 

 bird among us. He or she needed to rise betimes, for soon the old 

 gardener would arrive, and pick them up before whetting his 

 scythe to mow the lawn. How well I remember the sunshiny 

 mornings when one awoke to the pleasant sound of the sharpening 

 of the scythe, and to the " swish ! " of the long sweep of it over the 

 grass ; no patent lawn-mower ever invaded our paradise in those 

 days ! 



In the far corner of the garden, hard by the nunnery wall, was 

 a very ancient mulberry- tree. According to tradition it was one 

 of many planted in this corner of Middlesex by order either of 

 Queen Elizabeth or James L, both monarchs having wished to 

 encourage the silk industry in England. History says their attempt 

 was a failure ; but ours was a success ! My brothers and sisters 

 and I all kept silk- worms ; and very busy we were, every summer, 

 with our improvised winding-machines, reeling off the shining, 

 flossy silk from the cocoons ; whilst half the children of the hamlet 

 came begging at our gates for the daily dole of mulberry leaves to 

 feed their curious grey pets. 



There was a bowling-green at the back of the house ; at the 

 front a straight, stone-paved walk led up from the gate to the front 

 door-steps, and on each side of it, like sentries on guard, stood a 

 tall, dark tree, either cypress or fir ; at this distance of time I am 

 not sure which ; nor could I swear to anything concerning them, 

 except that they were coniferous, or cone-bearing trees. 



The flowers in our garden were all of the old-fashioned sort. 

 There were no " Standards," but everything grew on bushes ; 

 " York and Lancaster " roses, striped red and white ; sweet- 

 scented blush-roses, moss-roses (seldom seen nowadays) ; and 

 enormous pink cabbage-roses, in which it was delicious to bury 

 one's nose and inhale a long. draught of unrivalled fragrance. 



How it all comes back to me, bit by bit, little by little ! I did 

 not think I could recall it, until I tried. I remember particularly 



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