All in a garden fair; the simple story of three boys ... - University Library

54
ALL LV A GARDEX FAIR.
she became a great girl, and a maiden fully
grown.
To begin with, she had no other playmates ;
she lived a good w\ay from the school, where
the other girls were mostly boarders. Then
the forest is a safe place for children ; yon may
climb up a tree and fall off a branch, no doubt
or a branch may be detached by an evil-minded
tree and come doAvn upon yon, but very little
else can happen. There are pools in the
forest, but most of them are shallow ;
there are
marshy places and qungs, but a wet foot is the
worst that can happen ; there are gipsies, but
they have ceased to steal children, and only
steal linen, poultry, ducks, and sucking-pigs ;
and even on Sundays there are never here, as
there are in Epping Forest, men who bawl,
drink too much beer, laugh at nothing, carry
their hats at the back of their heads, shout, and
behave, as regards walking, like unto a sailor
on board ship when the raging winds do blow.
Then the cottage in which Claire lived was
the nearest to the forest, so that she could wait