284 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



to symmetry, color, and size, that he may estimate 

 and compare accurately the merits of the flowers 

 before him. He should know thoroughly their 

 habit of growth, their peculiarities of leaf and 

 wood, ihat he may correct misnomers, and detect 

 additions or duplicates. He should regard his 

 office as a sacred duty, not only because justice 

 and honor are sacred things, but because there 

 seems to be a special sanctity in such beautiful 

 handiwork of God : and to be untruthful and dis- 

 honest in such a presence and purity should be 

 profane in his sight, as though he lied to an angel. 

 But his duty 'will be his delight also, and thus, 

 having his inclination at unity with his conscience, 

 and his love instructed by his reason, he cannot 

 fail to fulfil it. Knowing the law thoroughly, and 

 sifting the evidence minutely, he must give the 

 sentence of a righteous judge. Never tiring, when 

 the competition is close, in his keen and patient 

 scrutiny, estimating every Rose by a fixed stand- 

 ard, setting down in his note-book, counting, 

 comparing their respective marks of merit and 

 defect, bringing the boxes, if distant, into close 

 proximity, anxiously attentive to the comments of 

 his colleagues, bestowing the same care upon the 

 ^' cottager's 6 " as upon the ''nurseryman's 72," he 

 is never satisfied until all doubts are dispelled, and 



