IRature IRotes: 
Selboune Society’s ^l^aoasine. 
No. 43. ^ JULY, 1893. VoL. IV. 
A LONDON FLOWER SHOW. 
T was held in the heart of a district of many, many poor ; 
a district far enough from the West End, and yet 
having no claim to the name of East End. A district 
needing help and sympathy just as sorely as the East 
End needs them, and yet, curiously, as it were, leaped over 
by the help and sympathy bestowed upon the East End by the 
West End and other districts. A dull, depressing place, with 
thick air and ugly houses. No lovely display of rare orchids ; 
no splendour of form and colour and scent ; and yet what beauty 
and suggestion of beauty were there ! We had no rare flowers, 
nor common flowers cultivated into the kind of loveliness we 
associate with rarity. We had no exquisitely-dressed ladies, 
moving rhythmically about, with low, clear voices and graceful 
gestures. We had no music of a band, military or unmilitary. 
We were occupants of the covered-in playground of a Board 
School. The arches, at the back and at one side, had red blinds 
and yellow blinds ; one end was wall, and in front ran arches, 
two of which divided one section of the ground from another, 
or united these sections — according to one’s point of view. Across 
the centre arch ran a line on which hung a good number of tiny 
flags and pennons, red and yellow, red and white, blue and white. 
Large plants in pots were arranged here and there, which had 
probably been hired for the occasion. The competitors and 
their friends were in the undecorated section of the playground : 
the other part was reserved for the “ officials,” i.e., those who had 
arranged the show, and the lady who gave out the prizes, to- 
gether with some parishioners, district visitors, and stranger 
guests. Behind the chairs of the folk I have called officials ran 
