138 BIRD PARADISE 



the old seat and watch the little creature. It goes 

 to and fro, sinking to the bottom at will, a verita- 

 ble wizard of navigation. Master of his craft in 

 his appointed sphere, lacking nothing, so I sit at 

 his feet sure that I am listening to one of nature's 

 great preachers. 



The growth of the present season, I think, I 

 have never seen equaled. My garden apparently 

 has not lost a moment since it entered upon the 

 race last spring. I find it necessary to visit it 

 several times a day in order to keep abreast of 

 its forward march. At times I fancy there is a 

 well-ordered contest between the different vege- 

 tables. Those that revel in vines seem to have 

 the advantage. A squash vine has pushed its 

 way so vigorously that it is already twenty-five 

 feet on its march and the end is not yet. Here 

 and there it has camped, leaving a memento of 

 the stay in a squash of no mean proportions. 

 The wise heads of the place are the lettuce and 

 cabbage. If they nod at all it is when I am look- 

 ing the other way. Just now the early potatoes 

 are proving their worth in the test that is the 

 proof of the pudding. What delicious balls of 

 fluffy white they present when they are bringing, 



