haracter, and was modest and obedient, and possessed unbounded love
for her father. When she came to be fifteen years of age, she became
her father's housekeeper, and so thorough and constant were her habits
of cleanliness that the kitchen utensils shone brightly enough to be
easily mistaken for new.

We have already informed our readers that her father, James Rode,
earned his living as a gardener. Twice a week he carried the vegetables
and fruit which he cultivated to the nearest market-town. But, while
the growing of fruits and vegetables had to be looked after in order to
secure his subsistence, his greatest delight was in the cultivation of
flowers; and in this pleasant task Mary assisted him every hour which
she could spare from the work of the house. She counted the hours
devoted to this task among the happiest of her life, for her father had
the art of turning labour into pleasure by his interesting and
entertaining conversation. To Mary, who had grown up, as it were, in
the midst of plants, there had come a natural taste for flowers, and
the garden was to her a little world. She was never at a loss for a
delightful occupation, for every hour which she had at her disposal was
spent in cultivating the young plants with the utmost care.

Specially did she find pleasure in studying the buds of every strange
species. Her young imagination delighted in picturing what kind of
flowers they would become; and so impatient was she to see her
expectations fulfilled, that she was hardly able to wait until the
flowers had unfolded. When the flower for which she had waited long
appeared in all its beauty, the sight filled her with a strange joy. In
truth, there was not a day which did not bring some new pleasure to
Mary's heart. Sometimes it was by a stranger passing the garden and
stopping to admire the beauty of the flowers. The children of the
neighbourhood, as they passed on their way to school, never failed to
peep through the hedge, and were generally rewarded by Mary with some
little present of flowers as a token of her goodwill.

James, as a wise father, knew how to direct the taste of his daughter
towards the most noble ends. Often he used to say, "Let others spend
their money for jewels and silks and other adornments; I will spend
mine for flower-seeds. Silks and satins and jewels cannot procure for
our children so pure a pleasure as these beautiful exhibitions of the
wisdom and benevolence of God."

In the beaut