FEBRUARY. 41 



amused him a good deal, by fetching a handful of tan out of one of 

 the pits, that ^vas full of sow-bugs, and bringing him out of the 

 flower-pot he lived in, she put it before him, and, as the squire said, 

 he stood like his pointer would have done at a pheasant, only turn- 

 ing his bright eye, and sending out his long tongue, and licking the 

 sow-bugs up with a click, one after the other, before they could run 

 out of his reach. It taught me a lesson, if it didn't any body else ; 

 and that was, to look into things myself, and not take all for granted 

 people say ; and I believe if all of us that are gardeners did this, we 

 should find many things we think bad, like little birds, frogs, toads, 

 efts, lizards, and snakes too, are good things in their places. 



I was glad to find my old friend come off so well, for I couldn't 

 have borne to have stopped where I was without her ; and we went 

 on very comfortably together till she died, when, for a while, it was 

 like losing my mother again, I was so very lonely. 



But this kind of life was oddly brought to a close. One No- 

 vember night I was fast asleep, when I woke and thought the world 

 was come to an end. A furious gust of wind had blown the top 

 off a great elm that hung over the furnace-shed where I slept, and 

 crushed in one end of the roof, smashed the glass of the greenhouse, 

 and ruined the whole concern. This worked my deliverance ; for 

 the squire coming with my lady to look at the mischief in the morn- 

 ing, saw my crib, and said, "What's that hole for.''" (His sporting 

 dogs' kennel was a beauty to it.) I was by, and answered, " It's 



my bed-place, sir." " The it is !" said he. ** Why didn't 



you complain to me about it .^" I began to tell him that I had 

 once asked for a little more wages, when he had only said, " That 



be ." But before I had said as much he moved away. Now, 



he was not a bad-hearted man, but he never looked into such things, 

 as he did into things about his dogs and horses ; and if he used foul 

 language, in " the good old times" I suppose it was thought " the 

 thing." This I know, every man and boy about the premises did 

 the same, and tried to improve upon it; and that's another thing 

 I've learnt, that let servants try to imitate " their betters" in any 

 thing else, they were always beat ; but at swearing and the like. 

 Jack was as good as gentleman ; and if nothing else didn't make 

 the quahty leave off the habit, I wonder that didn't; for suchlike 

 persons as our squire like to see a distinction, as much as any of 

 the florists. 



[To be continued.] 



REMARKS ON BRITISH FERNS. 



(Continued from p. 11.) 



No. II. 



AsPLENiUM ALTERNiFOLiuM. That this apparently scarce British Fern 

 has every appearance of being an intermediate form between A. sep- 

 tentrionale and A. Ruta muraria, and more especially the latter, I 



NEW SERIES. VOL. I. NO. II. K 



