22 chapters
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22 chapters
AUTHOR OF "THE GARDEN OF A COMMUTER'S WIFE," "PEOPLE OF THE WHIRLPOOL," "AT THE SIGN OF THE FOX," ETC.
AUTHOR OF "THE GARDEN OF A COMMUTER'S WIFE," "PEOPLE OF THE WHIRLPOOL," "AT THE SIGN OF THE FOX," ETC.
New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 1906 All rights reserved Copyright, 1906, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1906. Norwood Press J.S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A....
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GREETING
GREETING
This book is for those who in treading the garden path have no thought of material gain; rather must they give,—from the pocket as they may,—from the brain much,—and from the heart all,—if they would drink in full measure this pure joy of living. "Allons! the road is before us! It is safe—I have tried it—my own feet have tried it well—be not detained." Walt Whitman....
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THE WAYS OF THE WIND
THE WAYS OF THE WIND
"Out of the veins of the world comes the blood of me; The heart that beats in my side is the heart of the sea; The hills have known me of old, and they do not forget; Long ago was I friends with the wind; I am friends with it yet." —Gerald Gould." Whenever a piece of the land is to be set apart for a garden, two mighty rulers must be consulted as to the boundaries. When this earth child is born and flower garnished for the christening, the same two must be also bidden as sponsors. These rulers a
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THE BOOK OF THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I
THE BOOK OF THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I
April 30. Gray dawn, into which father and Evan vanished with their fishing rods; then sunrise, curtained by a slant of rain, during which the birds sang on with undamped ardour, a catbird making his début for the season as soloist. It must not be thought that I was up and out at dawn. At twenty I did so frequently, at thirty sometimes, now at thirty-five I can do it perfectly well , if necessary, otherwise, save at the change of seasons, to keep in touch with earth and sky, I raise myself comfo
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CONCERNING HARDY PLANTS
CONCERNING HARDY PLANTS
When the Cortrights first came to Oaklands, expecting to remain here but a few months each summer, their garden consisted of some borders of old-fashioned, hardy flowers, back of the house. These bounded a straight walk that, beginning at the porch, went through an arched grape arbour, divided the vegetable garden, and finally ended under a tree in the orchard at the barrier made by a high-backed green wooden seat, that looked as if it might have been a pew taken from some primitive church on it
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THEIR GARDEN VACATION
THEIR GARDEN VACATION
(From Mary Penrose to Barbara Campbell) Woodridge , May 10. " Dear Mrs. Evan , "For the past week I have been delving in the seed bed, and until it was an accomplished fact, that is as far as putting on the top sheet of finely sifted dirt over the seeds sleeping in rows and rounding the edges after the most approved methods of bed-making, praying the while for a speedy awakening, I had neither fingers for pen, ink, and paper, nor the head to properly think out the answer to your May-day invitati
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ANNUALS—WORTHY AND UNWORTHY
ANNUALS—WORTHY AND UNWORTHY
Oaklands, May 25. A garden vacation! Fifty dollars to spend for roses! What annuals may be planted now to tide you easily over the summer? Really, Mary Penrose, the rush of your astonishing letter completely took away my breath, and while I was recovering it by pacing up and down the wild walk, and trying to decide whether I should answer your questions first, and if I did which one, or ask you others instead, Scotch fashion, about your unique summer plans, Evan came home a train earlier than us
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THEIR FORTUNATE ESCAPE
THEIR FORTUNATE ESCAPE
(Mary Penrose to Barbara Campbell) June 5. I have not dipped pen in ink for an entire week, which has been one of stirring events, for not only have we wholly emerged from indoor life, but we have had a hair-breadth escape from something that not only threatened to mar the present summer, but to cast so heavy a shadow over the garden that no self-respecting flowers could flourish even under the thought of it. You cannot possibly guess with what we were threatened, but I am running ahead of mysel
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A SIMPLE ROSE GARDEN
A SIMPLE ROSE GARDEN
(Barbara Campbell to Mary Penrose) Oaklands, June 5. Yesterday my roses began to bloom. The very old bush of thorny, half-double brier roses with petals of soft yellow crêpe, in which the sunbeams caught and glinted, took the lead as usual. Before night enough Jacqueminot buds showed rich colour to justify my filling the bowl on the greeting table, fringing it with sprays of the yellow brier buds and wands of copper beech now in its velvety perfection of youth. This morning, the moment that I cr
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A MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE
A MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE
(Mary Penrose to Barbara Campbell) June 21. The rosary has been duly surveyed, staked according to the plan, and the border lines fixed with the garden line dipped in whitewash, so that if we only plant a bed at a time, our ambition will always be before us. But as yet no man cometh to dig. This process is of greater import than it may seem, because with the vigorous three-year-old sod thus obtained do we purpose to turf the edges of the beds for hardy and summer flowers that border the squares
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FERNS, FENCES, AND WHITE BIRCHES
FERNS, FENCES, AND WHITE BIRCHES
(Barbara Campbell to Mary Penrose) Hemlock Hills, July 3. For nearly a week we have been sauntering through this most entrancing hill country, practically a pedestrian trip, except that the feet that have taken the steps have been shod with steel instead of leather. Your last chronicle has followed me, and was read in a region so pervaded by ferns that your questions concerning their transplanting would have answered themselves if you could have only perched on the rock beside me. There is a fer
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FRANKNESS,—GARDENING AND OTHERWISE
FRANKNESS,—GARDENING AND OTHERWISE
(Mary Penrose to Barbara Campbell) July 15. — Midsummer Night. Since the month came in, vacation time has been suspended, insomuch that Bart goes to the office every day, Saturdays excepted; but we have not returned to our indoor bedroom. Once it seemed the definition of airy coolness, with its three wide windows, white matting, and muslin draperies, but now—I fully understand the relative feelings of a bird in a cage and a bird in the open. The air blows through the bars and the sun shines thro
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A SEASIDE GARDEN
A SEASIDE GARDEN
(Barbara Campbell to Mary Penrose) Gray Rocks, July 19. Your epistle upon the evils of an excess of flowers in the house found us here with the Cortrights and Bradfords, and I read it with Lavinia and Sylvia on either side, as the theme had many notes in it familiar to us all! There are certainly times and seasons when the impulse is overpowering to lay hold of every flower that comes in the way and gather it to one's self, to cram every possible nook and corner with this portable form of beauty
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THE TRANSPLANTING OF EVERGREENS
THE TRANSPLANTING OF EVERGREENS
(Mary Penrose to Barbara Campbell) Woodridge, August 8. Back again in our camp, we thought to pause awhile, rest on our oars, and drift comfortably with the gentle summer tide of things. We have transplanted all the ferns and wild herbs for which we have room, and as a matter of course trees and shrubs must wait until they have shed their leaves in October. That is, all the trees that do shed. The exceptions are the evergreens, of which the river woods contain any number in the shape of hemlocks
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LILIES AND THEIR WHIMS
LILIES AND THEIR WHIMS
(Barbara Campbell to Mary Penrose) Oaklands, August 18. As a suitable text for this chronicle, as well as an unanswerable argument for its carrying out, combined with a sort of premium, I'm sending you to-day, freight paid, a barrel of lily-of-the-valley roots, all vigorous and with many next year's flowering pips attached. No,—I hear your decorous protest,—I have not robbed myself, neither am I giving up the growing of this most exquisite of spring flowers, whose fragrance penetrates the innerm
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FRAGRANT FLOWERS AND LEAVES
FRAGRANT FLOWERS AND LEAVES
(Mary Penrose to Barbara Campbell) Woodridge, August 26. The heliotrope is in the perfection of bloom and seems to draw perfume from the intense heat of the August days only to release it again as the sun sets, while as long as daylight lasts butterflies of all sizes, shapes, and colours are fluttering about the flowers until the bed is like the transformation scene of a veritable dance of fairies! Possibly you did not know that I have a heliotrope bed planted at the very last moment. I had neve
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THE PINK FAMILY OUTDOORS
THE PINK FAMILY OUTDOORS
(Barbara Campbell to Mary Penrose) Oaklands, September 1. So you have been away and in going discovered the possibilities of growing certain pinks and carnations out-of-doors that, in America at least, are usually considered the winter specialties of a cool greenhouse! We too have been afield somewhat, having but now returned from a driving trip of ten days, nicely timed as to gardens and resting-places until the last night, when, making a false turn, ten o'clock found us we did not know where a
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THE FRAME OF THE PICTURE
THE FRAME OF THE PICTURE
(Mary Penrose to Barbara Campbell) Woodridge, September 10. Your chronicle of the Pink Family found me by myself in camp, dreaming away as vigorously as if it was a necessary and practical occupation. After all, are we sure that it is not, in a way, both of these? This season my dreams of night have been so long that they have lingered into the things of day and vice versa , and yet neither the one nor the other have whispered of idleness, but the endless hope of work. Bart's third instalment of
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THE INS AND OUTS OF THE MATTER
THE INS AND OUTS OF THE MATTER
Chronicled by the rays of light and sound waves upon the walls of the house at Opal Farm. People Involved The Man from Everywhere , keeping bachelor's hall in the eastern half of the farm home. Amos Opie , living in the western half of the house, the separating door being locked on his side. Maria Maxwell , who, upon hearing Opie is again ill, has dropped in to give him hot soup and medicine. Amos Opie was more than usually uncomfortable this particular September evening. It may have been either
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THE VALUE OF WHITE FLOWERS
THE VALUE OF WHITE FLOWERS
(Barbara Campbell to Mary Penrose) Oaklands, September 29. Michaelmas. The birthdays of our commuters are not far apart. This being Evan's festival, we have eaten the annual goose in his honour, together with several highly indigestible old-country dishes of Martha Corkle's construction, for she comes down from the cottage to preside over this annual feast. Now the boys have challenged Evan to a "golf walk" over the Bluffs and back again, the rough-and-ready course extending that distance, and I
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PANDORA'S CHEST
PANDORA'S CHEST
(Mary Penrose to Barbara Campbell) Woodridge, October 10 . Nearly a month of pen silence on my part, during which I have felt many times as if I must go from one to another of our chosen trees in the river woods and shake the leaves down so that the transplanting might proceed forthwith, lest the early winter that Amos Opie predicts both by a goose bone and certain symptoms of his own shall overtake us. Be this as it may, the leaves thus far prefer their airy quarters to huddling upon the damp g
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EPILOGUE
EPILOGUE
Woodridge, January 3. In the face of circumstances that prevent my holding the pen in my own hand, I am resolved that the first chronicle of the New Year shall be mine,—for by me it has sent The Garden, You, and I a new member and our own garden a new tree, an oak we hope. The Infant is exultant at the evident and direct result of her dealings with the fairies, and keeps a plate of astonishing goodies by the nursery hearth fire; these, if the fairies do not feast upon personally, are appreciated
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