A GARDEN IN VENICE 



lobs they use or used to use in Thames punt 

 fishing. 



It is difficult to take leave of one's garden, 

 even in writing. Though it is not an altogether 

 selfish mistress, it is so all absorbing that even if 

 one had the pen of a great word-painter, and 

 could say all one would say as one would wish to 

 say it, one might easily doddle too long over its 

 lilies and roses, as a young man is prone to do 

 over his lady's charms and perfections. 



I will leave mine, then, advising those who 

 have not a garden if they can to get one. Those 

 who have, to work in it. Those who have 

 children, to bring them up with a taste for it. I 

 was given a garden of my own, a rake and a 

 spade, when I could scarcely walk, and can 

 remember still my delight when I saw the oats 

 I had taken from the stable cornbin begin to 

 sprout. 



There is no pursuit, as has been found by big 

 men and small, that will so readily and healthily 

 take a man out of himself, and away from his 

 pains and his griefs, physical or moral. If the 

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