Anastasia; while for Punch, Judy, and as many of their children as would
venture down from the rafters, the Infant had compounded a wonderful
salad of mixed nuts and corn. As the Infant ordained that "the childrens
shan't tum in 'til d'sert," we had the substantial part of our meal in
peace; but the candles were no sooner blown out and the cake cut than
Ginger left his clover to nibble the young carrots, the squirrels got
into the nut dish bodily and began sorting over the nuts to find those
they liked best, with such vigour that the others flew in our faces, and
Reddy fell off the box upon which the Infant had balanced him with
difficulty, nearly carrying the table-cloth with him, while at this
moment, the feast becoming decidedly crumby, we were surrounded by the
entire flock of English sparrows!

* * * * *

Now this is not at all what I started to tell you; quite the contrary.
Please forgive this domestic excursion into the land of maternal pride
and happenings. What I meant to write of was my conviction, that came
through sitting on the hay rafters and looking down upon the garden,
that as a beautiful painting is improved by proper framing, so should
the garden be enclosed at different points by frames, to focus the eye
upon some central object.

Though the greater part of the garden is as yet only planned and merely
enough set out in each part to fix special boundaries, as in the case of
the rose bed, I realize that as a whole it is too open and lacks
perspective. You see it all at once; there are no breaks. No matter in
what corner scarlet salvia and vermilion nasturtiums may be planted,
they are sure to get in range with the pink verbenas and magenta phlox
in a teeth-on-edge way.

From other viewpoints the result is no better. Looking from the piazza
that skirts two sides of the house, where we usually spend much time,
three portions of the garden are in sight at once, and all on different
planes, without proper separating frames; the rose garden is near at
hand, the old borders leading to the sundial being at right angles with
it. At the right, the lower end of the knoll and the gap with its bed of
heliotrope are prominent, while between, at a third distance, is the
proposed location of the white-birch screen, the old wall rockery, etc.
The rockery and rose garden are in their proper relation, but the other
portions should be given perspective by framing, and the result of my