MORE POT-POURRI 



SEPTHMBEB 



Reasons fon writing another ' Pot-Pourri ' — Advice of friends — 

 Critioisms grave and gay — Eetum home after three months 

 abroad — Disappointment with dry garden— Kingfisher — Sedum 

 spectaUle and insects — Gardening — Cooking. 



September 1st, 1898. — It is now a year and a half since 

 I finished my first book, and the public have been almost 

 as appreciative and generous in their praise of it as my 

 nieces were. Kind letters of all sorts have poured in, 

 and I have been overwhelmed with suggestions about the 

 future, and what I should or should not do. Some have 

 said — and I admit that these, in all friendliness, are the 

 most earnest in their heartfelt appeals — that I should 

 rest on my laurels and write no more. They urge that 

 a second book always falls flat. If on the same subject 

 as the first, it is generally a failure. If on a new sub- 

 ject, it is apt to be outside the writer's experience. And 

 then they quote several incontestable examples which 

 jump to the recollection of everybody. I really agree 

 with this view of the case up to the point of not acting 

 upon it. Nothing can ever bear being done a second 

 time. This is one of the sadnesses of life, and I do not 

 for a moment anticipate that No. 2 can please in the 

 same kind of way as did No. 1. The method not 

 being new, my readers will know pretty well what to 

 expect; and this, probably, will immensely sharpen their 



