g I received a little box, with a note
on the outside which said in her handwriting, "Something for you. Be
kind to him." And I opened it and found Sidney.

He was a Japanese dwarf-tree--the merest boy. At eighty or ninety,
according to the photographs, he would be a stalwart fellow with thick
bark on his trunk, and fir-cones or acorns (or whatever was his
speciality) hanging all over him. Just at present he was barely ten. I
had only eighty years to wait before he reached his prime.

Naturally I decided to lavish all my care upon his upbringing. I would
water him after breakfast every morning, and (when I remembered it) at
night. If there was any top-dressing he particularly fancied, he should
have it. If he had any dead leaves to snip off, I would snip them.

It was at this moment that I discovered something else in the box--a
card of instructions. I have not got it now, and I have forgotten the
actual wording, but the spirit of it was this:

HINTS ON THE PROPER REARING AND BRINGING-UP OF A JAPANESE DWARF-TREE

The life of this tree is a precarious one, and if it is to be
successfully brought to manhood the following rules must be
carefully observed--

I. This tree requires, above all else, fresh air and exercise.

II. Whenever the sun is shining, the tree should be placed outside,
in a position where it can absorb the rays.

III. Whenever the rain is raining, it should be placed outside, in a
position where it can absorb the wet.

IV. It should be taken out for a trot at least once every day.

V. It simply loathes artificial light and artificial heat. If you
keep it in your drawing-room, see that it is situated as far as
possible from the chandelier and the gas-stove.

VI. It also detests noise. Do not place it on the top of the
pianola.

VII. It loves moonlight. Leave it outside when you go to bed, in
case the moon should come out.

VIII. On the other hand, it hates lightning. Cover it up with the
canary's cloth when the lightning begins.

IX. If it shows signs of drooping, a course of massage will
generally bring it round.

X. But in no case offer it buns.

Well, I read these instructions carefully, and saw at once that I should
have to hand over the business of rearing Sidney to another. I have my
living to earn the same as anybody else, and I should never get any work
done at all if I had constantly to be ru