But, above all, don't tell any friends
that they are mine for the present. Of course if they DID
succeed, I would republish and add my name. But I want to be incognito
for the present--1st, to get free criticism; 2nd, to give them fair
play; 3rd, not to do any damage to my reputation in another "walk" of
story-writing. I do not in the least mean to give up my own style and
take to fairy tale-telling, but I would like to try this
experiment....

Monday, April 19, 1869.

... I have two or three _schemes_ in my head.

"Mrs. Overtheway" (_2nd series_), "Fatima's Flowers," etc.

"The Brownies (and other Tales)."

"Land of Lost Toys," "Three Christmas Trees," "Idyll," etc.

"Boneless," "Second Childhood," etc., etc.

"The Other Side of the World," etc., etc.

"Goods and Chattels" (quite vague as yet).

"A Sack of Fairy Tales" (in abeyance).

"A Book of _weird queer_ Stories" (none written yet).

"Bottles in the Sea," "Witches in Eggshells," "Elephants in
Abyssinia," etc.

And (a dear project) a book of stories, chiefly about Flowers and
Natural History associations (_not scientific, pure fiction_),

"The Floating Gardens of Ancient Mexico," the "Dutch Story,"
"Immortelles," "Mummy Peas," etc., etc. (none even planned yet!)...

To H.K.F.G.

[Undated, _Fredericton_.]

... How well I know what you say about the truth of Mother's sayings
of the soothing effects of Nature! I used to feel it about gardening
also so much. Visions of three yellow, three white, and three purple
crocuses blooming in one pot beguile the mind from less happy
fancies--perhaps too the _largeness_ and _universality_ of Nature
disperse the selfishness of personal cares and worries. Then I think
the smell of _earth_ and _plants_ has a physical anodyne about it
somehow! One cannot explain it....

TO MRS. GATTY.

_Fredericton, N.B._
5th Sunday after Trinity, 1869.

... We have another "dogue."... _Trouve_ is the name of Hector's
successor. 'Cos for why, we found him locked up in one of the barrack
rooms, when I was with Rex on one of his inspections. He is a "left
behind" either of the 1st Battalion 22nd, or the 4th Battalion 60th
Rifles, we do not know which. He has utterly taken to us, and is
especially fond of me I think. He is a big, black fellow, between a
Newfoundland and a retriever. In the "Sweep" line, but not so big. He
is wonderfully graceful and well-mannered (barring a trifling incident
yesterday, when he got