i8 



STARLIGHT AND SUNSHINE, 



in contact with the limits of the animal 

 jy^ kingdom. 



A midnight visit to one's garden, 

 even by the most venerable devotee of 

 his " own ground," will perchance reveal 

 the fact that he "doesn't know beans" af- 

 ter all. 



The perennial familiar blooming borders of 

 those "old-fashioned flowers," as well as 

 the more prosaic domain of our gar- 

 dener's immediate concern, whose paths 

 lead to the kitchen, wear a strange look 

 at night, and seem peopled with foreign 

 shapes. His " Limas " and scarlet -run- 

 ners now excite his wonder, if not solici- 

 tude, with their apparent drooping 

 foliage, all the three leaflets nodding 

 as if broken at their juncture with 

 the stem, the two side leaflets in 

 many instances touching their 

 backs beneath the stem. 

 But he will find them 

 firm and self-willed in 

 their attitude. 



His pea blossoms 

 have taken in sail, and 

 nod on their keels. 

 The leaves of his 

 young cabbage-plant, 

 usually more or less 

 spreading, now stand 

 quite erect, guarding that 

 promising young head with- 

 in, for this plebeian cabbage- 

 head knows a trick or two 

 above its garden associates, and 



