WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 65 



if there are good things to eat, nothing can be 

 pleasanter ; and they are very profitable, if you 

 have a good object. I agreed that we ought to 

 have a festival ; but I did not know what object 

 to devote it to. We are not in need of an organ, 

 nor of any pulpit-cushions. I do not know that 

 they use pulpit-cushions now as much as they 

 used to, when preachers had to have something 

 soft to pound, so that they would not hurt their 

 fists. I suggested pocket-handkerchiefs, and 

 flannels for next winter. But Polly says that 

 will not do at all. You must have some chari 

 table object, something that appeals to a vast 

 sense of something ; something that it will be 

 right to get up lotteries and that sort of thing 

 for. I suggest a festival ibr the benefit of my 

 garden ; and this seems feasible. In order to 

 make everything pass off pleasantly, invited 

 guests will bring or send their own strawberries 

 and cream, which I shall be happy to sell to 



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