330 
Old Time Gardens 
recalled that the child had eaten them on the day of 
her death. 
Oleander blossoms were lovely in shape and color. 
Edward Fitzgerald writes to Fanny Kemble : 
“ Don’t you love the Oleander ? So clean in its 
Feaves and Stem, as so beautiful in its Flower ; lov- 
ing to stand in water which it drinks up fast. I 
have written all my best Mss. with a Pen that has 
been held with its nib in water for more than a fort- 
night — Charles Keene’s recipe for keeping Pens in 
condition — Oleander-like.” This, written in 1882, 
must, even at that recent date, refer to quill pens. 
The lines of Mary Howitt’s, quoted at the begin- 
ning of this chapter, ring to me so true ; there is 
in them no mock sentiment, it is the real thing, — 
“the garden thicket’s shade,” little “cubby houses” 
under the close-growing stems of Filac and Syringa, 
with an old thick shawl outspread on the damp 
earth for a carpet. Oh, how hot and scant the air 
was in the green light of those close “ garden- 
thickets,” those “ Filac ambushes,” which were really 
not half so pleasant as the cooler seats on the grass 
under the trees, but which we clung to with a 
warmth equal to their temperature. 
Fet us peer into these garden thickets at these 
happy little girls, fantastic in their garden dress. 
Their hair is hung thick with Dandelion curls, made 
from pale green opal-tinted stems that have 
grown long under the shrubbery and Box borders. 
Around their necks are childish wampum, strings of 
Dandelion beads or Daisy chains. More delicate 
wreaths for the neck or hair were made from the 
