COMMUTER'S WIFE 211 



a fine decoration for the dinner table, as my little 

 wild fernery is fading, and I must refill it at last with 

 some of my yellow tulips. I hope never to be too 

 poor to have something flowery on the table ; for eat 

 as daintily as we may, it is a very physical employ- 

 ment, and flowers do much to divert our minds at 

 least, from foodiness. Next to the dining table, the 

 stand in the hall is my favourite place for a bouquet 

 or a plant in bloom. Here every one can enjoy their 

 beauty the patients bound for father's office, to 

 whom the visit should be made as cheerful as possi- 

 ble ; and the maids about their work as well as 

 we ourselves are cheered even though uncon- 

 sciously. 



Evan says when I am ready to make my bog 

 garden, which if I follow his advice will not be 

 this spring, I had better buy my plants instead of 

 despoiling our own streams and ponds of them. Also 

 that it will be quite as cheap if I credit the price of 

 the necessary labour and wear and tear against them. 

 As usual he is right, I think, for I remember several 

 years ago I tried to dig some rose mallows by the 

 river several miles away. I broke my trowel and 

 ruined a pair of shoes, and the next day when Tim 

 went for the mallows he brought the clump back in a 

 fine block of peat ; but unfortunately it held only the 



