" As art is said to be utterance of beauty, so a garden tkat is 

 carefully tended, utters perhaps the truest words in 

 praise of and shows beauty in its most perfect form*" 



P. FLEMMING. 



DECEMBER 



TN the bare days of Winter, when a bright day returns to us 

 A in the early days when the leaves have but lately left 

 the trees, the Summer's scent of roses seems to linger in the 

 air, and Autumn's gold is in our eyes it is like a welcome 

 friend's returning. It is just the same when, on such a day, 

 we find a blossom, glowing in the garden, whose life we 

 thought had ended with warm winds and sunny skies how 

 much it brings to us of the Summer past. Its open petals are 

 as a book, just as Browning said 



" Into the garden I brought it to read, 



And under the arbrite and laurustine 

 Read it, so help me grace, in my need 

 From title-page to closing line." 



For there is much to be read in the leaves of a flower, and 

 in keeping with this thought of mine this graceful passage on 

 flower associations has Canon Ellacombe in one of his garden- 

 books : 



" There are flowers which tell of pleasant travels, and long 

 walks and pleasant spots ; there are others which bring to 

 memory voices which we shall never hear, and faces which we 

 shall never see again in the world ; and hundreds more which 

 in their several ways have their own associations and 

 memories, which will make each and all forget-me-nots of the 

 highest value and beauty ; and in looking on our flowers and 



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