COMMUTER'S WIFE 37 



The first difficulty is that people often think that 

 by living in the country they can do without the 

 comforts and necessities, lacking which city life 

 would be doubly unbearable. Also they begin with 

 no sort of preparation, either hereditary or acquired. 

 Nature simply despises people who come to her as 

 a last resort and try to squeeze a living from her, 

 or otherwise harry her. She must be wooed under- 

 standingly, like any high-spirited woman, not bullied, 

 for she has a capricious temper, and is at once a 

 spendthrift and an economist. 



Why, then, should any one expect by a mere 

 " declaration of intention " and a railway journey 

 to conquer the country and learn the secrets of the 

 life it offers, in perhaps a single season ? And why 

 should one expect to lead a satisfactory country life 

 upon a cheap basis that would not maintain life else- 

 where ? 



"But," again hints my "Boke of the Garden," "what 

 has this tirade to do with gardeners ? " Everything, 

 dear, patient, unresisting confidant, everything. It 

 is these experimentalists that cause bad service both 

 hi and out of doors, and by putting up with incom- 

 petence, encourage it. 



