OR, HOW I BECAME A FLORIST. 67 



ing apparatus. This seemed more cheerful, but not enough 

 so to warrant my erecting such a structure. The third 

 place resembled the others, excepting that everything 

 seemed cheaper and plainer. In this, too, I found the same 

 alarmingly high stages, and as I watched a man at work 

 upon them I felt sure I never should possess the strength 

 or the steadiness required for such a position. 



In the train home I met Mr. McTernan, and ventured to 

 approach him on the subject I was interested in. 



" Well, ma'am, they don't cost much, if ye builds 'em 

 cheap. I gets a carpenter to build mine, and has 'em made 

 kinder rough and cheap. They don't last as long, not more'n 

 six years, but they does grow the flowers. I generally cal- 

 culates to pay for 'em in two years, and when they tumbles 

 down, I builds another. Come and see me, and I'll show 

 ye all about 'em." 



And I did so, the very next day. He showed me a house 

 one hundred feet long, and twelve feet wide, which, he said, 

 cost, heating apparatus, stage, and all, about a thousand 

 dollars. It was a rough affair indeed, very rude, if not 

 shabby. Yet it was filled with flowers in the most vigor- 

 ous and healthy condition. 



"How much do you cut from such a building, Mr. 

 McTernan?" 



" Well, I gets about five dollars a day, take it all the year 

 round, sometimes more, and sometimes nothing at all for a 

 month." 



