256 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES 



He cares nothing for the Rose itself, sees no beauty, 

 and smells no perfume, only for the prizes it may win. 

 Truie aime plus bran que Rose^ and will go through 

 any amount of dirtiness to get his nose to the swill. 

 On the eve of a show he will beg or will buy the 

 Roses of his neighbours. He will show several flowers 

 of the same Rose, attaching different names. Charles 

 Lefebvre appears as Marguerite Braisac and Paul 

 Jamain, Maurice Bernardin as Exposition de Brie 

 and Ferdinand de Lesseps, Baron Bonstetter as Mon- 

 sieur Boncenne, Adam as President, Madame Bravy 

 as Alba Rosea, as well as in their own names. He 

 knows how to conceal an eye, and to fix a petal in 

 its place by gum. He will add foliage, wherever he 

 dare. He, too, likes a few words with the judges 

 before they make their awards. He never saw them 

 in such wonderful health ; in fact, their youthful ap- 

 pearance is almost comic. They will find the Roses 

 rough and coarse (which means that his own are too 

 small) ; or there is a sad want of size in the blooms 

 this morning (which means that his are overblown). 



In accordance with the old and true proverb, his 

 dishonesty does not thrive. He steals several paces 

 in front of his brother archers, but for one arrow 

 hitting the gold, he misses, breaks, or loses fifty. I 

 remember some years ago, just as we had commenced 

 our survey as judges at one of the provincial shows, 



