XXX MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR 
cultivation holds good whether you wish for the 
-mass or whether you only want the single bloom. 
To find humour in everything is a happy gift, and 
Mr. Foster-Melliar had it in abundance. His humour 
was sometimes sarcastic, which is dangerous, but more 
generally he used his gift to poke gentle good- 
natured fun at things and people. He _ nearly 
always managed to bring out the funny side of 
things, and especially did he have unending amuse- 
ment with his gardener, Paine. Paine was with 
him for a great number of years, and was a very 
quaint and rather illiterate individual. At the time 
that Osman Digma was defeated in the Soudan, 
Paine had a son born, and he decided that the 
unfortunate youth should be baptised with the name 
of Osman Digma. Fortunately, however, Paine 
wasn’t much of a ‘“‘schollard,’? and when he was 
asked for the name in church, he boldly replied 
“Osborne,” and ‘“‘Osborne”’ the boy is to this day. 
But Paine still fondly imagines that the boy is 
named after the eastern warrior. 
Paine had some peculiar disability which pre- 
vented him from ever giving an animal or insect its 
proper sex. He would call the cow “he,” the barn- 
door cock ‘‘she,’’ the mare ‘he,’ and the tom-cat 
“she.” Mr. Foster-Melliar came into lunch one 
morning, rejoicing in Paine’s latest exploit in this 
direction. A wasp’s nest was being built in a hole 
under the eaves of the roof, and Paine had been sent 
up to deal with it. Having dealt with it he reported 
progress to Mr. Foster-Melliar. It seems he applied 
smoke to the hole and, as a result, various young 
wasps dropped down it and were duly despatched. 
And ‘at last,’ remarked Paine with triumph, “‘ out 
