THE SIX OF SPADES. . 145 



nurseryman, superannuated and in liis dotage, as 

 soothing reminiscences of early life ; or mamma 

 might have a bed of them in front of the nursery 

 window, and point to them, when reading the voyages 

 of Gulliver, as charming illustrations of the forest 

 scenery of Liliput. " They be for children," as Lord 

 Bacon said of yew-trees clipped into dolphins and 

 peacocks ; and I remember an instance in which 

 children made a striking and serio-comic use of 

 them. 



I was contemplating the only attempt which I ever 

 made to realize the meek, modest, little idea of trans- 

 forming winter into summer, and of breaking in the 

 garden committed to my charge the annual Sabbath 

 of its rest and I was thinking what a dreary dis- 

 appointment it was, when my attention was drawn to 

 the altered appearance of a bed, in which a large 

 number of juvenile Irish yews were arranged with a 

 dreadful uniformity. Little mounds had been raised 

 here and there among them, and a large white 

 wooden "tally," taken from the potting-shed, was 

 inserted at the head of each. On a closer scrutiny, 

 the beak of a defunct robin was observable rising out 

 of one of these small hillocks, while from another 

 the corpse of an ancient doll exhibited its toeless 

 foot ; and my conjecture as to the meaning and 

 intention of these arrangements was speedily verified 

 by a sweet little voice, which said, "Oh, please, Mr. 

 Tissick, me, and Blanche, and Bertie have been 

 playing at Cementerry, and Victoria Eugenie would 

 not go into her coffin " (a cigar-box), " and Bertie went 

 and got his night-gown, and was going, you know : to 

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