BOTANICAL: THE UPPER CLASSES. 169 



The boy, twelve, sold newspapers ; the girl, nine, lay sick 

 upon a truckle-bed all day, sitting up only when her 

 brother was at home. They had been born in the 

 country, but now, there they lived in that stifling attic, 

 with no sight of a green tree, and scarcely any of the sky, 

 while the buttercups bloomed and withered, and the wild 

 rose was in flower, and the hay was made, and the corn 

 was cut, all round the cottage where they used to live. 



" One day she said, ' Tom, do you think I could get 

 out anywhere just for once ? ' 



" ' Could you stand it ? ' said Tom. 



" ' I'll try,' she said. 



" And that brave boy saw the shining in his sister's 

 eyes, as he lifted her up in his arms and carried her down 

 the stairs ; and he carried her all the 'u-ay to the Thames 

 Embankment, about a mile away, and he put his dear 

 burden down upon a seat just inside one of the garden 

 gate?, and, as she looked at the trees, and shrubs, and 

 flowers, and green grass, she put her head on Tom's 

 shoulder, and was overheard saying, very softly, ' Tom, 

 it's heaven ! it's heaven ! ' ' 



We are very unwilling to leave this fascinating part 

 of our employment, but we have other paths yet to tread. 

 And we must take our leave presently of flowers, with the 

 remembrance of dear Mary Howitt's simple but beautiful 

 lines, the very memory of which brings us back to our 

 beloved boyhood 



" God might have made the earth hring forth 



Enough for great and small, 

 The oak tree and the cedar tree, 

 Without a flower at all. 



u He might have made enough, enough 



For every want of ours, 

 For luxury, medicine, and toil, 

 And yet have made no flowers. 



