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

56
ALL IX A GARDEN FAIR.
amphitheatre, they made it a playing ground,
a race-course, a stage for dramatic representa-
tion ; where it narrowed again and became no
wider than one of tlie httle lanes they followed
on through shade and sunshine under tlie
branches of the old oaks till it opened again.
They knew it all. It is not a very great forest ;
beside Fontainebleau and the forests of Eu or
Chantilly, or the New Forest, or the Forest of
Dean it is small ; but it is real forest, it is wild.
An active lad would soon cover the whole
ground. But then a forest is not a park nor is
it a field ; there are endless things to explore
in it ; tliere are creatures—wild creatures
which may be started in the underwood
among them are the tame cats who have grown
wild and now ])nss ])recanous lives in great
discomfort ; in the spring and summer the air
is musical with birds of which these children
knew every note ; in the winter there are the
donkeys who run loose and keep themselves
they will let themselves be ridden in hard
times, bare backed, and never a kick, for a