awful blow ever dealt the human imagination; it 

 left poor disillusionized mortals but one realm to 

 dream about — " The Blue-Rose Country." 



And now, alas ! and alas ! they've robbed us even 

 of thai. With the accompaniment of brass band 

 and fireworks the rosarians announced the greatest 

 achievement of the centuries, the materialization of 

 the long sought blue rose. And that it should have 

 happened so soon after the polar calamity and the 

 advent of the sky prowlers — Oh ! it is too much to 

 bear with fortitude. 



As I said, you may spend that surplus on the blue 

 rose if you feel so disposed, but I — no; far be it 

 from me to erase a time-honored phrase from litera- 

 ture, and destroy that halcyon land where my fancy 

 may stray when jaded by the banality of man's dis- 

 coveries. 



But to go back to the subject of our expenditures; 

 just think, an ordinary bunch of roses you'd buy at 

 the florist's to send your sweetheart (if you're a 

 man), or your sweetheart would send you (if you're 

 a woman) might cost more than all our old miserly 

 uncle has sent us — and the bouquet from the florist's 

 would be withered and thrown out in a week, while 

 here we're starting a rose garden for the grandchil- 



79 



