Box Edgings 93 



the aunts, who all recalled the occurrence, as they 

 reassured the fainting and bewildered girl. She, of 

 course, had never known aught of this till she was 

 told it by the old Box. 



Many other instances of the hypnotic effect of 

 Box are known, and also of its strong influence on 

 the mind through memory. I know of a man who 

 travelled a thousand miles to renew acquaintance and 

 propose marriage to an old sweetheart, whom he had 

 not seen and scarcely thought of for years, having 

 been induced to this act wholly through memories 

 of her, awakened by a chance stroll in an old Box- 

 edged garden such as those of his youth ; at the gate 

 of one of which he had often lingered, after walking 

 home with her from singing-school. I ought to be 

 able to add that the twain were married as a result 

 of this sentimental memory-awakening through the 

 old Box ; but, in truth, they never came very close 

 to matrimony. For when he saw her he remained 

 absolutely silent on the subject of marriage ; the 

 fickle creature forgot the Box scent and the singing- 

 school, while she openly expressed to her friends 

 her surprise at his aged appearance, and her pity for 

 his dulness. For the sense of sight is more powerful 

 than that of smell, and the Box might prove a 

 master hand at hinting, but it failed utterly in per- 

 manent influence. 



Those who have not loved the Box for centuries 

 in the persons and with the partial noses of their 

 Puritan forbears, complain of its curious scent, say, 

 like Polly Peacham, that " they can't abear it," and 

 declare that it brings ever the thought of old grave- 



