OUR LITTLE HOME. 67 



completion of more necessary operations should allow 

 leisure for ornamental work, how delightful it would 

 be, on coming in out of the dust and the heat, to hear 

 the sweet, refreshing sound of falling water ; and to see 

 the bright drops splashing on the border of maidenhair 

 fern which was to surround the tiny basin. 



But, after all, our anticipations were never realized ; 

 for we soon saw that it would be necessary to choose 

 between our fountain and our pet animals — so numer- 

 ous among the latter were cases of " Found Drowned." 

 Our meerkats, in their irrepressible liveliness, were 

 always tumbling in ; and, being unable to climb up the 

 straight sides, would swim round and round calling: 

 loudly for assistance ; but we were not always at hand 

 to play the part of Humane Society, and the losses were 

 many, including — saddest of all — that of a too-inquisi- 

 tive young ostrich. 



Thousands of gnats, too, as noisy and nearly as 

 venomous as mosquitoes, were brought into existence ; 

 and, romantic as was the idea of water-plants growing 

 in our little room, it had to be given up ; and we con- 

 tented ourselves with seeing our blue lotus in the form 

 of a dado, on which we stencilled and painted them 

 ourselves in the true Egyptian conventional style, on 

 alternate long and short stalks. We bordered the fire- 

 place, and decorated the tops of the doors, with a few 

 good old tiles from Damascus, Tunis, Algiers, and 

 the Alhambra ; three beautiful hand-painted sarongs, 



brought by T from Java, formed each as perfect 



and artistic a portUre as could be wished, and hid the 



