S6 TOWN AND WINDOW GARDENING 



moment, while you are resting, and scatter your board 

 with beauty. 



One of the most experienced among these lady- 

 workers has told me that, of all colour-schemes, the best 

 for lighting up well at night is pink and silver. Pink 

 Roses in silver bowls are lovely, but invisible receptacles, 

 meandering about a table, are pretty too. Sometimes, at 

 the last moment, the particular flower desired will not 

 be procurable — the market has been cleared — and pink 

 Sweet Peas or Pelargoniums must take the place of Roses, 

 purple Stock do duty for Pansies, or Scarlet Geranium for 

 fallen Poppies. It is anxious work. 



The lady decorator is wonderfully quick. She has to 

 be. James the First — all the Jameses, indeed — plushed, 

 powdered, silk-stockinged, and calmly insistent, say, 

 " You cannot have the table till such-and-such an hour." 

 Very well ; then all the flowers must be prepared before 

 they are packed to bring — every single leaf and every 

 blossom, all must be wired. This makes them go much 

 further, besides keeping them in their places, and it does 

 give the effect of lightness ; but it is a thing to which 

 I am never able to reconcile myself. You take a Lily- 

 of-the-Valley from its vase, attracted irresistibly by its 

 scent, and find it fast set in a corsettere of steel — each leaf 

 and stalk, almost each separate blossom, wired. This 

 gives you a horrid feeling ; you idly untwist the cruel 

 bonds, and then the poor flower droops or falls to pieces. 



In the ballroom dreadful things are suffered by the 

 Roses. Fancy a curtain all made of these lovely flowers, 

 wired together in long trails to match the festoons that 

 wave softly overhead ! 



The lady decorator is pleasant to work with ; she 

 will use your own flowers if you like, so that one's 

 country-houses can send their quota, and one always enjoys 

 the things from home. She is equally ready to fill your 

 window-box or balcony, to furnish your dwelling-rooms 



