122 
NATURE NOTES. 
a long stand, on which were arranged the flowers which had been 
sent in for competition. 
Before the proceedings began I walked along the front of this 
stand, and looked at the flowers. They were a sight truly worth 
seeing, a sight of deep suggestion, of gladness and of pathos. 
Small variety was there. Fuchsias, geraniums, creeping -jennies, 
ferns and musks. Starved flowers one saw them to be, the best 
of them, even the creeping-jennies, which had a good deal of 
foliage though no blossom was to be seen. It was sorrowful to 
see the thinness of the fuchsias, trained as they and the musks 
were on sticks arranged in various patterns, the poor plants tied 
up with oddments of wool — blue, grey, any colour. The blossoms 
of the geraniums were wretched enough, and the first-prize fern 
— poor thing ! — was wilted at the ends of some of its fronds. 
It was sorrowful in one aspect, with its vista of unfulfilled life ; 
of bloom that might have deepened ; of foliage that might have 
been lovely in its richness ; of development that never now might 
be. But it was sweet also, for these flowers, amid all the disad- 
vantages of poor soil, of dirt, and of darkness, had silently helped 
and comforted in more ways than one, in their dependence on 
the hands that had tended them for many a day, to whose 
owners the red was the fairest red and the green the loveliest 
green. 
There were prizes for plants, and prizes for window-gardens ; 
prizes for women, boys and girls. These prizes were in variety, 
too ; kitchen tables (one small boy bravely carried off one of these 
in the absence of his mother, the prize-winner) ; chairs which, 
went, I think, in pairs ; trays with teapot, cups and saucers, &c., 
all complete ; chair-bedsteads, and blankets. These for the 
matrons. For the boys and girls ; dresses, boxes, bags, and bags 
that were furnished, too. I looked, after the show was over, into 
the bag of a small maiden, and saw comb and brush, hand- 
kerchiefs, and a piece of gold braid, together wth something to 
which she delightedly drew my attention, “ and looking glasses, 
too ! ! ” 
There was plenty of noise all the while, to make up for the 
lack of music. 
One of the first prizes was taken by an old woman who hobbled 
up to the table with a stick ; and one of the prizes for girls fell to 
the share of a tiny child, who was lifted on to the table, and given 
her box and her prize flower. Three or four she looked, but I 
was told that she was older than that, only stunted in growth ; 
“ a little dwarf,” they called her, the poor wee maiden ! 
The sister of one of the prize-winners advanced to receive his 
prize, and on being asked where her brother was, replied that he 
had stayed at home to mind the baby. I am afraid she had to 
listen to an expression of opinion as to the propriety of her having 
stayed at home instead. 
There were eight competitors for the window-garden prizes. 
A gardener had gone round with the vicar to see these, and the 
