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GARDENING BY MYSELF. 



now to run wild and look weedy. The 

 well-established position, with roots deep 

 down and heads far up ; the easy, prosper- 

 ous circumstances ; with frequent showers, 

 and the warm. August sun and the cool Au- 

 gust dews — is it wonderful that even flowers 

 should slightly lose their wits and their 

 sense of propriety ? Petunias run about, 

 embracing everybod}^ and mignonnette 

 gives itself up to the pleasure of living, 

 and my passion-vine is clearly seeking for 

 more worlds to conquer. Little reck they 

 of an aster cut down last night ; or of a 

 fuchsia torn from its place by a wandering 

 dog, to make room for his huge stolen bone ; 

 or of white little Miss Murphy, well-nigh 

 turned out of house and home by the same 

 process. Do they care that one tuft of 

 phlox hangs its head in a dry corner; or 

 that my pansies dwindle and grow faint in 

 the sun ? Do they cheer on the httle mod- 

 est Silver Queen geranium, patiently putting 

 forth one fair leaf at a time, as it gains 

 strength ? Not a bit. And so my Fairy- 



