COMPANION TO THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 
17 
ROSY RECOLLECTIONS. 
No. 1. 
Magpies were manly, for Jones the Prefect, kept one, and guinea-pigs 
were quite genteel; but we might not even speak of flowers. They were 
considered to be beneath the dignity of gentlemen who would be nine 
years of age next birthday. It was quite legitimate to make toffy, and 
it was honourable to play at horses; but when Simpkins minimus bought 
a Fuchsia there was one wuld howl of scorn. Entomology had ardent 
friends: butterflies were extensively impaled on cork; silkworms were 
openly maintained ; cockchafers were diligently harnessed to elegant lan¬ 
daus of walnut-shell, with buttons of bone for wheels ; frequent trials of 
strength and science were very generally encouraged between the various 
species of the genus beetle, and a terrific duel between a “ Soldier” and 
a “ Sailor,” which took place in a large pill-box, was the thrilling topic of 
“ the half.” There were collections of eggs, shells, seals, and autographs (I 
myself presented one of the juniors with a unique assortment of the latter, 
comprising scores of distinguished heroes, from Alfred the Great to 
Bendigo, and all written, like Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary, with a single 
pen), but not a boy of us dare to bring home a posy. Any such pusil¬ 
lanimous proceeding would infallibly have evoked from our disgusted 
community those epithets, so awful to the boyish soul, viz. “softy,” 
“nincompoop,” and “mollycoddy.” We trembled to remember those 
dark ages, when we had loved the wild Rose and the Honeysuckle, when 
we had filled our small fists with Violets, made golden balls of the Cowslip, 
decked ourselves with Daisy-chains, and when we were never weary of the 
tiny garden which was called our own. 
Such was our schoolboy creed. Venus w r as worshipped with so much 
devotion that twenty-six of us were in love with the same young lady; 
Diana was worshipped, by reason of her hunting propensities; Minerva 
was reverenced; Pomona was adored ; but none brought sacrifice to 
Flora. She was heterodox and excommunicated, a female Bishop Colenso. 
I rejoice to know that it is no longer so. I rejoice to see and to scent in 
the small studies at Eton, Harrow, and elsewhere, abundant evidences of 
a taste which adds so largely and so lastingly to the refinement and hap¬ 
piness of life. I only regret that it was not so in my time; that it was 
not as evident to us as to our sons that there is no incompatibility between 
a mental and a muscular, an intellectual and a physical excellence; that 
the eye and hand which are occupied in training and in tending some 
beautiful plant, are not disabled by that process from making a leg-hit for 
four; and that of all the capacities, which distinguish man from the irra¬ 
tional world, that is surely one of the most noble, which teaches him to 
appreciate the works of God. 
Oxford, had she deserved in my case the title of “ gentle mother,” would 
c 
