[CHAP. Vv. The Picture-shops. 87 
Edward loved garden flowers, he very much preferred those 
which he found in the woods or growing by the way-side, 
and which he had known from his infancy. Nevertheless, 
he took his mother’s advice; and knowing many of the 
places near the town where the gardeners threw out their 
rubbish, he went and gathered from thence a number of 
roots, flowers, and plants, which he brought home and plant- 
ed in his garden. The greater number of them grew very 
well, and in course of time he had a pleasant little garden. 
He never planted more than one specimen of each flower, 
so that his garden was various in its beauty. The neigh- 
bors, who had at first sneered at him as a fool, on seeing 
his pretty garden, began to whisper that the “loon” was 
surely a genius, and that it was a pity that his father had 
not made him a gardener, instead of a shoe-maker. Ed- 
ward himself often wished that his parents had been of the 
same mind as the neighbors. 
Near the back of the house in which Edward lived was 
an old tannerv, with a number of disused tanning-pits, full 
of water. These, he thought, would be a nice place for 
storing his powets and puddocks.* He pot a large pail, 
went to a place where these creatures abounded, and brought 
back a large cargo, heaving them into the pit. But they 
did not thrive. They nearly all died. He next put about 
thirty newts there, but he never saw them again, dead or 
alive. At last he gave up this undertaking. 
About the same time he used to make a tour among the 
book-sellers of the town, to inspect the pictures which they 
had in their windows. These visits proved a source of 
great profit and pleasure to him. He learned something 
from the pictures, and especially from the pictures of ani- 
mals. He found that there was more to be gained from a 
visit to the picture-shops than from a visit to the public- 
house. When he saw a book that he could buy, he bought 
it, though his means were still very small. 
4 
* Tadpoles and frogs, 
