HOW TO SHOW THE ROSE. 257 



Ing brow, 9 inches in diameter. '\You reach the 

 show ; you win every prize, laurels^c^enough to 

 make triumphal arches along afl your homeward 

 way. Suddenly a change, a horrible change, 

 comes o'er the spirit of your dream. How the 

 van, in which you are travelling with your Roses, 

 jumps and jolts ! how dark the night, and how the 

 thunder rolls ! Ah, tout est perdu I Crash fall 

 the horses, or rather the nightmares, down a steep 

 incline, and you find yourself standing, aghast and 

 hopeless, knee-deep in pot-pourri ! 



Awaking, for the sixteenth time, with a terri- 

 ble impression that you have overslept yourself, 

 and that the time for cutting Roses is past, you 

 are comforted in hearing the clock strike two. 

 Another restless hour, and you are up in the grey 

 dawn. At 3.30 you should be among the Roses, 

 never so lovely as now, lifting their heads for the 

 first kisses of the sun, and, alas ! for decapitation. 

 See, your gardener is there, keen as yourself! He 

 fills a score of the tubes with pure, sweet rain- 

 water ; he places them in one of your spare boxes, 

 and is ready to follow, when, having glanced at 

 your programmes, and armed yourself with the 

 trenchant blades, you lead the way to glory and 

 the Roses. 



Cut first of all your grandest blooms, because 

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