CHAPTER XV 
CHILDHOOD IN A GARDEN 
“ I see the garden thicket’s shade 
Where all the summer long we played. 
And gardens set and houses made. 
Our early work and late.” 
— Mary Howitt. 
OW we thank God for the noble 
traits of our ancestors ; and our 
hearts fill with gratitude for the 
tenderness, the patience, the lov- 
ing kindness of our parents ; I 
have an infinite deal for which to 
be sincerely grateful ; but for 
nothing am I now more happy than that there were 
given to me a flower-loving father and mother. To 
that flower-loving father and mother I offer in ten- 
derest memory equal gratitude for a childhood spent 
in a garden. 
Winter as well as summer gave us many happy 
garden hours. Sometimes a sudden thaw of heavy 
snow and an equally quick frost formed a miniature 
pond for sheltered skating at the lower end of the 
garden. A frozen crust of snow (which our winters 
nowadays so seldom afford) gave other joys. And 
the delights of making a snow man, or a snow fort, 
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