GARDEN OF A COMMUTER'S WIFE 75 



should be able to use hammer, saw, and glass 

 cutter, as well as rake and spade, or the commuter 

 in whose garden he digs will be buried by an autum- 

 nal leaf fall of small bills, more deeply than were 

 the babes in the wood by the well-intentioned 

 robins. 



Chris the literary seems to have massacred the 

 old garden implements and cremated their remains, 

 for of whole tools there are next to none, while the 

 usual array of halt and maimed are likewise missing, 

 so that Evan has ordered a fresh supply, all of which 

 I must list in the special part of my garden book 

 that treats of his godmother's wedding gift of fifty 

 pounds for something " useful and instructive " and 

 what we did with it, so that we may judge, when the 

 account is closed, if the conditions have been com- 

 plied with. 



Bertie is now cleaning out a jumble of broken 

 flower pots, old seeds, and boxes holding odds and 

 ends of Paris green, hellebore, and various other 

 compounds that bring death to bugs and sneezing 

 to humans; and he is also going to whitewash the 

 walls of the little building. One comfort about 

 Evan is that he not only knows exactly what he 

 wishes done, but is able to leave directions in such 

 a form that they cannot possibly be misunderstood. 



