JANUARY 21 



which I shall mention among the March books. Pelar- 

 goniums, under cultivation and with much watering, no 

 longer require these tubers, and they disappear. Seed 

 was sent to me from some of the wild plants at the Cape, 

 and even the first year, as the plants grew, there were 

 the little tubers, quite marked and distinct. 



January 31st. With the high temperature we have 

 had this year, one is apt to forget the horrors of a severe 

 winter, till reminded just lately by two very cold nights. 

 The frosted windows of my bedroom made me think of a 

 charming little poem which appeared last year in the 

 Pall Mall Gazette at the time of the very cold weather : 



JOHN FROST 



The door was shut, as doors should be, 

 Before you went to bed last night, 



Yet John Frost has got in, you see, 

 And left your windows silver white. 



He must have waited till you slept, 



And not a single word he spoke, 

 But pencill'd o'er the panes and crept 



Away again before you woke. 



And now you cannot see the trees 



Nor fields that stretch beyond the lane ; 



But there are fairer things than these 

 His fingers traced on every pane. 



Kocks and castles towering high, 



Hills and dales, and streams and fields, 



And knights in armour riding by 



With plumes and spears and shining shields. 



And here are little boats, and there 

 Big ships with sails spread to the breeze ; 



And yonder palm-trees, waving fair 

 On islands set in silver seas 



