THE CHARM OF GARDENS 



flower. " Just a drink with lunch. That's right. 

 Perk up now. By Gum, you do want your drop regular, 

 you 'ardened teetotaler. Hello, hello, what's up with 

 you ? Looks to me as if a snail had bided along o' you 

 too frequent." 



His great hand, covered with ancient scars, would 

 lift the leaves tenderly, and search beneath for the 

 offending snail which, when found, would be held up 

 to view. 



" Five-and-twenty tailors ! " he would exclaim. 



He would be instantly corrected. " Four-and- 

 twenty." 



" You got your history wrong," he used to say. 



We repeated 



Four-and-twenty tailors went to catch a snail, 



And the best man among them dare not touch his tail. 



"Come the twenty-fifth," Walter added. "That 

 be I. So here goes, Master Snail." 



With that the snail was sharply crushed underfoot, 

 and the soliloquy continued. He is with us still, older 

 in years, younger than ever in heart, with the same 

 immortal personality, the same atmosphere of friend- 

 ship with the gods about him. He listens to orders with 

 a smile of amusement, just as if he had been laughing 

 about our ways only an hour before with some inhabi- 

 tant of an unseen world. He carried his own peculiar 

 atmosphere with him of indulgent superiority and 

 warm-heartedness combined, just as the tortoise carries 

 his house on his back. If that story is unknown by 

 any chance, here it is. 



JUPITER'S WEDDING 



When the toy had once taken Jupiter in the head to 

 enter into a state of matrimony, he resolved for the 



202 



