CHAPTER XIII 



FLOWER-SHOWS were among the few gala 

 days in the past. In fact, they were the 

 only out-of-door public enjoyments that I can 

 remember ; and they were well attended, as 

 flower-shows should be. Here we had ices and 

 heard one of the best bands play ; but the penalty 

 was smart clothes. My brothers had long white 

 trousers, which allowed of no romping, and 

 I had a starched muslin frock, with the raw, stiff 

 edges of the seams acting on my neck and arms 

 like a saw. But in spite of this irritation, I can 

 distinctly remember being spell-bound in front of 

 pyramids of Lapagerias in pots, and ever since 

 I have experienced a hankering after them more 

 than any other flower. But my readers will 

 endorse it when I say that we do not always 

 get what we want, and I never had any until 

 about seventeen years ago. Before I got them, 

 I asked a friend if she had ever grown them. 

 She said she sowed them every year, but added, 

 that if I didn't look out they would run over every- 

 thing ! It was a bad mistake of hers, because 



