LOUISE SHELTON
Reading edition
SECOND EDITION
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1916
COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
DEDICATED TO THE PRAISE OF THOSE AMERICAN
MEN AND WOMEN, OF WHATSOEVER
PERIOD, WHO HAVE PLANTED SO BEAUTIFULLY
THAT THEIR GARDENS ARE AN INSPIRATION
TO OTHERS IN ALL GENERATIONS
IN GREEN OLD GARDENS
Here may I live what life I please, Married and buried out of sight, Married to pleasure, and buried to pain, Hidden away amongst scenes like these Under the fans of the chestnut trees: Living my child-life over again, With the further hope of a fuller delight, Blithe as the birds and wise as the bees. In green old gardens hidden away From sight of revel, and sound of strife, Here have I leisure to breathe and move, And do my work in a nobler way; To sing my songs, and to say my say; To dream my dreams, and to love my love, To hold my faith and to live my life, Making the most of its shadowy day. —Violet Fane.