DECEMBER 285 



years of waiting between seed and flower when 

 once they lift up their lovely heads ! The 

 Chinese primrose and the primula obconica 

 are good indoor flowers, and if there be no gas 

 about the house, all of the begonias are inter- 

 esting now. I used to think them great bores ! 

 By December, however, if one have a fairly 

 open mind, one has grown humble, and humi- 

 lity is so great a virtue that by its aid one may 

 come, in time, to bow before an abutilon. 



Calla lilies, impatiens, and Dutch bulbs, 

 grown in pots or in water, as you will, belong 

 to the indoor garden, but palms do not, nor 

 crotons, nor Norfolk Island pines, nor carna- 

 tions, nor roses, except a small pink one, and 

 the old crimson Otaheit, nor most emphatically, 

 india-rubber plants. These are either green- 

 house things or decorative plants that can 

 have nothing whatever in common with the 

 tender old friends for the sake of whose green 

 leaves and infrequent bloom so much care is 

 lavished. How they are shielded from frosts 

 and draughts, how they are sprayed and 

 watered and turned sunward, how are all the 

 pretty devices love can offer lavished upon 

 them ! The house plants always belong to a 



