Old Friends and New 273 
lightful possibilities. We need not walk in 
dull company unless we so elect. It gives 
one a comfortable homelike feeling, a kinship 
with the open, to go west to the Rocky Moun- 
tains and find the trees and flowers familiar 
and friendly and the birds old cronies, and to 
move on to Arizona or California and still 
be in an outdoor company among whom we 
may count some friends. ‘To know these good 
American families of plants, too, gives one a 
pervading sense of satisfaction as of a certain 
social well-being. Overhead and underfoot 
are those whose history, whose connections, 
and whose charms are known to us. We 
ourselves become of more account in virtue 
of the number and distinction of our friends— 
our wild friends. 
‘A garden is a lovesome thing—God wot,” 
—and what a garden is this that has de- 
scended to us. How many nooks and corners 
it has; what streams to go a-fishing in; what 
deserts to go a-dreaming in; and what dim 
silent forests in which to walk with the Owner 
of the garden. 
18 
