3 GARDENING BY M YSELF. 



roadside ? — g-uiltless of everything but weath- 

 er paint ? — and in the window an old rough 

 box ? Look now at the magnificent "• lam- 

 brequin " of sweet peas, which drapes the 

 window and almost hides the box in which 

 they grow. There are no new varieties, it 

 is true, — neither '' striped, from Ceylon," nor 

 scarlet, surnamed, "invincible." "Painted 

 ladies," every one of them, but such a solid 

 phalanx of their bonny faces I never saw. 



Do you see this other house ; low, un- 

 pretending? Two poor men live there — 

 bachelor brothers ; daily workers for their 

 daily bread. There is no show of anything 

 about the house, inside or out, with just one 

 exception. Each side the front door, hke 

 a supporter of its humble dimensions, stands 

 an immense hydrangea ; with heads of 

 bloom that can rival anything. And of the 

 rare colour too (whichever that is ! — I'm al- 

 ways as puzzled as the old w^oman about 

 her bluing) — the colour that everybody 

 tries for, and few can induce. All the other 

 hydrangeas in the village are in their native 



