GARDENING BY M YSELF. j g 



that dress for themselves under all circum- 

 stances ? 



Plenty of these there must be, at all 

 events. Phlox and verbenas and sweet peas 

 and stocks and asters and pansies and bal- 

 sams ; with mignonette everywhere, and 

 sweet alyssum in spots ; and SAveet scabious 

 and sweet sultan for the scent of present fra- 

 grance and the perfume of old times. Pop- 

 pies, too, for we w^ere close friends once, 

 when they were taller — or I was shorter ! — 

 peers in the old spring-time, frequenting the 

 gravel walks together, and nearer of a 

 height than we shall ever be again. And I 

 find (curiously enough) that other people 

 seem to have the same sort of recollections, 

 only tJiey have not been true to their early 

 friendships. I have seen one and another 

 stop by my poppy beds with a little cry of 

 pleasure that came near being pain. 



" Oh, poppies !" they say, — and hang over 

 the Httle red faces with a sort of tender in- 

 terest which poppies in themselves have not 

 often the credit of inspiring. No — they 



