COMMUTER'S WIFE 99 



trimmed. This wood straggles in a half circle 

 toward west and south, out into a hillside pasture. 

 Back of the house is the vegetable garden plotted in 

 neat squares, edged with fruit bushes and trees, on 

 the farther side of which lie the long tangled beds 

 of mother's hardy flowers. 



These beds start at the Mother Tree at the north- 

 west corner. On the right the higher ground makes 

 a sort of wall, against which honeysuckle has been 

 let to run wild. On the left the ground is level. The 

 walk falls gently with the curve of the land until it 

 stops abruptly at what was once a strawberry bed, 

 but is now a flat bit of grass perhaps fifty feet 

 square, beyond which is the wild land, only broken 

 by the old cart track and a meandering cowpath 

 that threads through hemlocks, birches, and cedars 

 to a disused bar gate. 



Behind the apple tree, screening it from the 

 stable, is a stiff arbour made picturesque by sturdy 

 climbing roses that have been long unpruned. One 

 thing is certain, the hardy beds are in a charming 

 spot, with a high background on one side for the 

 taller plants, and open a lovely vista from the seat 

 under the tree and down over the fields. This much 

 shall remain, the great clumps of herbaceous 

 flowers transplanted, thinned out and alcoved by 



