348 THE GARDEN OF A 



gradually through the pit to the den windows. The 

 violets are quite settled in their frames, and to-day 

 Evan is wearing some in his buttonhole. 



Frost is never welcome, and yet without it one 

 would lack the courage to destroy and regulate the 

 garden for its winter sleeping season. Frost bids us 

 pause and retrospect, giving us time to note the 

 difference between the good and illy planned before 

 snow obliterates the traces. For this reason October 

 is the " year's mind " of the garden, the anniversary 

 of completion. 



Ah, the glitter and sparkle of the mornings and 

 the rides down to the shore and along the crisp shin- 

 gle ! I never care much for the bay in season, when 

 the summer people use it for a bath-tub, or disport 

 themselves nervously in naphtha launches that fret 

 its placid surface. But when the October winds 

 have scattered these and the gulls return to circle 

 and call, then I must go to the wafer, for my heart 

 answers the gulls' notes with a wild cry and, like 

 them, has its time of venturous free flight. Father 

 goes with me, and often we do not speak a word 

 after the lighthouse boat answers our signal, but sit 

 and watch the water slip off the oars, in the complete 

 companionship of silence. 



Walks, too, there are, long walks to the hill country 



