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

ALL IN A GARDEN FAIR. 55
at the garden gate for tlie bo^'s 011 their way,
and be left there by tliem on their return.
As the cliildren grew older tliey went
fiirther afield, so that there was no part of tlie
forest whicli they did not know. They be-
longed to the forest ; wlien they left the houses
and crossed the great meadow which stretches
away from the road, and found themselves in
the broad green way which, like a made road,
runs here into the very heart of the forest, they
were at home. The lanes which lead right and
left from this green road were known to all of
them; they are lanes of springy turf; over
them are the boughs of oak and elm and birch ;
beside them, sometimes across them, are tufts
or clumps or little jungles of hawthorn, honey-
suckle, elder, and blackberry ;
the sunlight falls
on these lanes through the leaves and is always
soft, and there is a continual shifting of light
and shade caused by the movement of the
branches. The children explored all these
lanes and knew whither each one led : where
the broad way of turf widened out into an