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WINTER 
203 
summer as it comes round should find the 
garden fairer and brighter. The plants slowly 
but surely will grow finer and larger. The 
garden which at first was nearly empty will 
soon need much care and attention, for fear 
that the plants, in growing strong and tall, 
should overcrowd or hurt each other. In time 
the creepers, which were but a few inches high 
when put in, will climb up over the trees. The 
bulbs will soon spread and increase, the roses 
will grow and flower profusely, and the apple 
tree will bear its load of tempting fruit. But 
before all this can be achieved the fairy bells 
must have rung their chimes for many seasons, 
and all the while children must bfe acquiring 
that virtue which I told you was the chief to 
be- learnt from gardening—patience. Plants 
will not be hurried, but it is well worth waiting 
for them to reach perfection and see our toil 
rewarded. 
A toadstool comes up in a night, 
Learn the lesson little folk :— 
An oak grows on a hundred years, 
But then, it is an oak. 
Now, children, we have gone all through the 
seasons together, and I have told you much 
more than you can possibly remember. Perhaps 
you are almost bewildered at the number of 
