446 
Old Time Gardens 
Lord, two hours and a half of preaching — and 
doubtless far more than a tithe of his income to 
the poor. In sentimental association with his name, 
he had a few straggling Roses around his millyard 
— all old-time varieties ; and, with Orpine and Sweet- 
brier, he could gather a very pretty posy for all who 
came to Kettle Hole. 
We constantly read of Fritillaries in the river fields 
sung of Matthew Arnold. In a charming book of 
English country life, Idlehurst , I read how closely 
the flower is still associated with Oxford life, recall- 
ing ever the Iffley and Kensington meadows to all 
Oxford men. The author tells that “quite unlikely 
sorts of men used to pick bunches of the flowers, 
and we would come up the towpath with our spoils.” 
Fritillaries grew in my mother’s garden; I cannot 
now recall another garden in America where I have 
ever seen them in bloom. They certainly are not 
common. On a succeeding page are shown the 
blossoms of the white Fritillary my mother planted 
and loved. Can you not believe that we love them 
still ? They have spread but little, neither have 
they dwindled nor died. Each year they seem to 
us the very same blossoms she loved. 
Our cyclopaedias of gardening tell us that the 
Fritillaries spread freely ; but E. V. B. writes of them 
in her exquisite English : “ Slow in growth as the 
Fritillaries are, they are ever sure. When they once 
take root, there they stay forever, with a constancy 
unknown in our human world. They may be 
trusted, however late their coming. In the fresh 
vigor of its youth was there ever seen any other 
