290 Timehri. 



It is a pity so few people are able to enjoy the Gardens at night, 

 they are so lovely, the lilies are open, the nocturnal flowers yield such 

 sweet fragrance. A special few have at times obtained permission to 

 enter, but the general public fear mosquitoes and malaria and do not like 

 darkness. 



In 1881 the house built for the Head Gardener, though not finished, 

 was habitable, and how #lad we were to take possession ! True, as people 

 said, it was badly planned and constructed ; conditions of health and com- 

 fort were sacrificed to picturesqueness, the dormer windows harboured 

 bats, the heavy struts holding the rafters were dangerous and gave us 

 many a severe blow, the roof sloped to within three feet of the floor, 

 the house itself was low, squat and damp ; but we who had so long been 

 cramped in a "but and a ben" made light of minor ills. 



The house has been altered many times, the awful struts have been 

 removed, the structure and roof raised and many comforts added ; indeed 

 every alteration has been for improvement. 



Living in the Gardens was very hard at first. Messengers had to be 

 sent to town for everything. No telephones, no cars, no carts calling for 

 orders, no ice vans, no electric light, no neighbours, only one house in 

 the Bourda district. Wet or fine the children had to walk to school, 

 the boys far down the Brickdam to Mr. docket's, the girls to Camp 

 Street Convent. How we all rejoiced when the mule cars started and 

 children's and servants' tickets could be obtained at SI each per month. 



The condition of life in the Gardens for our successors will be on 

 pleasanter and healthier lines. 



It was natural that the constant turning over of long abandoned soil 

 should bring malaria in its train, and we were all so ill that in 1883 Mr. 

 J. E. Tinne offered to send us to England in one of Messrs. Sandbach, 

 Parker & Co.'s sailing ships, an offer gratefully accepted for the children 

 and myself, but as there was no Assistant Gardener, impossible for my 

 husband as he could not get leave. The day before we sailed a frail little 

 three-year old boy died and was buried a few hours after. Still for the 

 sake of the other children I had to go. We had such calm weather that 

 we were 49 days getting to Liverpool. The children did not like living 

 in England at all. And we were all very glad that, Mr. Deny having 

 been appointed Assistant Gardener, my husband was able in 1884 to 

 come and fetch us all home again. Home in every sense of the word 

 our house was not only to our family but to many others on Saturdays 

 and holidays. The house was over-run with children and many in distant 

 lands may recall the jolly times they spent in "The Wabys' house." 

 Except officially it was never called anything else. 



We had not heard of the Scouts' motto in those days, but we always 

 had to " be prepared" for all sorts of emergencies or accidents. Small 

 knees would get hurt over unfinished roads, and nurses hurried their 

 weeping charges to the Wabys to be mended, petted and consoled. Some- 



