60 MADGE’S MISTAKE,

and supply his customers with choice cut
flowers. .

Having beckoned to a small boy who has
watched my approach with great awe and
interest, I place Frisk in his charge, and, after
giving him strict injunctions not to hold his
head, as he has an awkward habit of biting
anyone who takes this liberty, I open the
gate, and, after walking down one of the
paths a little way, stand and look about
me.

I see Mr. James Mullins in the distance,
busy with his raspberry canes, so I bend my
steps thither and somewhat astonish him by
suddenly saying close to his ear:

“Good morning, Mr. Mullins! it’s a fine
day, isn’t it?”

“Why, bless my heart alive! if ’tain’t
Miss Erickson,” says the little man, and he
stands up; and, after pushing his hat further
off his head, continues:

“Why, you don’t mean to tell me, Miss,
that you've come all the way from the Oaks
this morning.”