64 THE JONATHAN PAPERS 



amusement, and possibly a shade of disap 

 proval. 



&quot;Lord!&quot; he finally remarked; &quot;you ve got 

 it!&quot; 



&quot;Got what?&quot; I said, though I knew. 



&quot;The garden germ.&quot; 



Yes. There was no denying it. I had it. I 

 have it still, and there is very little chance of 

 iny shaking it off. It is a disease that grows 

 with what it feeds on. Now and then, indeed, 

 I make a feeble fight against its inroads: I 

 will not have another flower-bed, I will not 

 have any more annuals, I will have only 

 things that live on from year to year and take 

 care of themselves. But 



&quot;Alas, alas, repentance oft before 

 I swore but was I sober when I swore? 

 And then and then came spring &quot; 



and the florist s catalogues! And is any one 

 who has once given way to them proof against 

 the seductions of those catalogues? Those 

 asters! Those larkspurs! Those foxgloves 

 and poppies and Canterbury bells! All that 

 ravishing company, mine at the price of a few 

 cents and a little grubbing. Mine ! There is 



