G2 A GARDEN DIARY 
JANUARY 3, 1900 
oy ae satisfactions of intercourse are apt to be 
overrated, yet there are times when they are 
certainly not without their uses. Living for the 
moment alone—if anyone can be said to be alone 
who possesses a few good neighbours, and one 
kind dog—lI find myself in an oddly dualistic con- 
dition of mind. In bodily presence I am here at 
H , engaged in sundry important avocations. 
I am path making ; copse cutting ; plant protect- 
ing; I am even bricks-and-mortar superintending 
in asmall way. To my own private consciousness 
I am really engaged in quite another set of pre- 
occupations, and a very long way from these 
green downs, and rustling oak copses of ours. 
The experience does not pretend to be particu- 
larly original, seeing that a large number of other 
people’s experience would probably just now bear 
it out. Solitude however emphasises these sort 
of odd dualities, and endows them with an air of 
greater distinction. Are mortals better and wiser, 
or worse and more foolish when they are alone? 
