The Flower Book - Illustrated by Maxwell Armfield by Constance Armfield maxwell armfield

Author:Constance Armfield, maxwell armfield
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-08-21T16:00:00+00:00

Sweet Williams

THE Sweet Williams stood in a solid clump by the green Bay-tree. They were at a remote end of the straight path, but every year Calceolarias visited a neighbouring bed, and brought a suggestion of fashion into their retreat.

“Still there?” said the Calceolarias, shaking out their puffs to the best advantage.

“We never move,” said the Sweet Williams.

“Don’t you really, you extraordinary creatures?” said the Calceolarias. “What a constitution you must have!”

The Sweet Williams did not know they possessed such a fine-sounding thing, and said as much.

“Not know what a constitution is!” cried the Calceolarias, rustling all their puffs. “Such ignorance is past believing! Everyone has a constitution. If you don’t take care of it, you die.”

“We don’t,” said the Sweet Williams.

“But, then, you are only yokels,” said the Calceolarias, and preened themselves on their thin stems and felt delightfully delicate. “We have to take incessant care of ours, and naturally one sees the results. We are treated very differently from you.”

“You are planted in the soil, and depend on the goodwill of the Sun and Wind and Rain, don’t you?” said the Sweet Williams, with a puzzled expression.

“We arrive in a very different way,” observed the Calceolarias. “We’d have you know we’re carriage folk. The Garden has to be made ready before our chariot calls for us at our Glass Palace and wheels us here, and directly it is becoming chilly, we shall be called for and wheeled away again.”

“Where to?” asked the Sweet Williams.

“Back to our Palace, of course,” said the Calceolarias. “It is kept at an even temperature through winter, for it is entirely heated by hot-water pipes. We wilt at the tiniest draught.”

“We never mind the cold out here,” said the Sweet Williams. “But, then, we never think about it.”

“Yokels never think about anything,” said the Calceolarias; “that’s why they are so healthy. In a Hothouse one’s nerves become like harp-strings; the faintest change of atmosphere affects them. Some of us are positive miracles of nervousness; we can swoon for no reason at all.”

The Sweet Williams remained silent, because their comprehension could not grasp the value of this performance.

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