WAY-SIDE HINTS 



"Very great care — grand labor !" 

 "It must make a heavy bill for the company 

 to foot?" 



"Pardon, monsieur, the work is mine and 

 the gain is mine." 



"Not very much, it is to be feared." 

 "Pardon" again; the station-master (it was 

 only an out of the way country station) has 

 sold enough of bouquets to passing travellers 

 to establish his boy at a pension: he hopes 

 everything for his boy. The story gave a new 

 fragrance to the roses, and to the Marguerites 

 which he handed me. 



Now, I am afraid our station-masters, 

 whether in Massachusetts or along the Hud- 

 son, will not be capable of making themselves 

 good florists at a bound; but yet the hint has 

 its value. What objection can there pos- 

 sibly be to the careful culture of such strips 

 of land as come within the jurisdiction of every 

 station-master upon our iron roads? In not 

 infrequent instances he has the lea of some 

 deep cutting for shelter ; he has the eyes of an 

 observing crowd (who are debarred from pil- 

 fering) for an incentive; he may have his 

 thousand customers for floral offerings every 

 summer's day. Could not the townsfolk aid, 

 with prudent foresight, in any such diversion 



165 



