6 THE FLORAL TELEGRAPH. 
around me. I wandered quietly, hap¬ 
pily, and gratefully, from Flower-bed 
to Flower-bed — for, in that fragrant 
solitude, I never found myself less 
solitary. 
At length, in my musings, I ap¬ 
proached a Time-crushed and yet a 
Time-embellished wall. If the old 
Destroyer had thrown down some 
stones, he had covered his injuries 
with festoons of his own graceful ivy. 
Of a truth, he had, with his invincible 
teeth, been gnawing away the battle- 
mented top ; but he had crowned it 
also with splendid coronals of Flowers; 
and, wherever it was not covered with 
verdure, it was coated with moss. Of 
