PETER AND HIS RELATIONS. 
143 
the total up to date goes on rising at the rate of several 
inches a day. The people say that this rain is particularly 
good for the crops, and so I find it. The crops of mould 
and mildew have grown rank beyond all precedent. If 
I neglect my library for a few days a reindeer might 
browse upon the lichens that whiten my precious books. 
The roots of these vegetables, penetrating the binding, 
disintegrate the glue underneath, so the books gradually 
acquire a limp and feeble-minded aspect, and presently 
the covers are ready to come away from the bodies ; and 
the rain has undoubtedly some effect of the same kind 
on ourselves. How is it possible to keep up any firmness 
of mind or body in such weather ? It is too dark to do 
anything inside the house and too wet to do anything 
out of it. 
Peter, the Parrot, enters deeply into the general dulness. 
If it were fair he would be sitting in some shady bush in 
the garden, nipping the leaves off one by one and strewing 
the ground with them, but now he is confined to his cage 
with nothing to do. He looks at me so longingly as I 
pass, that my heart, already flabby from the effects of the 
weather, is quite softened, and I have to open the door 
and let him get on my shoulder. This consoles him, and 
