three years of my life can come up to these in happiness, and not even
those splendid years of childhood that grow brighter as they recede were
more full of delights. The delights are simple, it is true, and of the
sort that easily provoke a turning up of the worldling's nose; but who
cares for noses that turn up? I am simple myself, and never tire of the
blessed liberty from all restraints. Even such apparently indifferent
details as being able to walk straight out of doors without first
getting into a hat and gloves and veil are full of a subtle charm that
is ever fresh, and of which I can never have too much. It is clear that
I was born for a placid country life, and placid it certainly is; so
much so that the days are sometimes far more like a dream than anything
real, the quiet days of reading, and thinking, and watching the changing
lights, and the growth and fading of the flowers, the fresh quiet days
when life is so full of zest that you cannot stop yourself from singing
because you are so happy, the warm quiet days lying on the grass in a
secluded corner observing the procession of clouds--this being, I admit,
a particularly undignified attitude, but think of the edification! Each
morning the simple act of opening my bedroom windows is the means of
giving me an ever-recurring pleasure. Just underneath them is a border
of rockets in full flower, at that hour in the shadow of the house,
whose gables lie sharply defined on the grass beyond, and they send up
their good morning of scent the moment they see me leaning out, careful
not to omit the pretty German custom of morning greeting. I call back
mine, embellished with many endearing words, and then their fragrance
comes up close, and covers my face with gentlest little kisses. Behind
them, on the other side of the lawn on this west side of the house, is a
thick hedge of lilac just now at its best, and what that best is I wish
all who love lilac could see. A century ago a man lived here who loved
his garden. He loved, however, in his younger years, travelling as well,
but in his travels did not forget this little corner of the earth