IP c , ^IKTER GREENERIES AT HOME. 



one day pacing this court, when he happens to notice a 

 slight upheaval of earth between the stones of the pave- 

 ment, and on examination finds a small plant pushing its 

 way upward. This is "Picciola" la pauvre picciola, 

 " the poor little thing," as the kind-hearted jailer calls it. 

 Perhaps it is only a " Gilly-flower," but it brings a won- 

 derful relief to the prisoner. It becomes his care and 

 study, his companion and instructor, and finally the 

 means of his deliverance from both skepticism and prison, 

 and of his marriage to a far higher ' ' Picciola. " 



A delightful story of love ? Let us say of very hum- 

 ble, but successful floriculture of floriculture under the 

 most unfavorable circumstances, and yet with the hap- 

 piest results. To say the least, it is a touching picture 

 of companionship between a lower and a higher form of 

 life the plant and the man. 



Can you for the moment put yourselves in the place 

 of the prisoner of Fenestrella, and really understand the 

 subtle charm of his mute companion ? How it stole into 

 his heart, beguiled his hours, changed his fortunes ! 

 And yet nothing seems exaggerated, or in any respect 

 improbable. The story describes only the natural pro- 

 gress and the very possible results of the plant's influence 

 on one in the peculiar circumstances of the Count. 



Happily, you have no such need of it as he ; though I 

 have heard of young ladies who were quite as much at a 

 loss for something agreeable to do during the cold, 

 stormy days of winter. Their in-door sources of enjoy- 

 ment were so scanty that on their own testimony, it is 

 said home seemed to them almost a prison. What a 

 pity! 



But, for any one, winter is itself a sort of prison at the 

 best. It may not confine you to the house, or really 

 diminish your home delights, but for long months it 

 sternly interposes its icy barriers between you and all the 

 verdure of gardens and fields and woods. Under such 



