Argosy: The Short Story Magazine — page 101: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

IOI Nip in the Air Uneasily, the vegetables crouch down Among their leaves at sunset; on the tree The anxious fruit hangs, waiting heavily Baskets that do not come. Prescience of brown Afflicts the flowers; though bravely they have tossed Their heads at hint of change within the air, They welcome scissors snipping them to spare Their blaze for rooms out of the reach of frost . HELEN panei Night Before Frost Perennial Delights “What flowers did the Empress like the best? ”’ I asked. ‘“Tt’s difficult to say what she liked the best. She wanted me to grow all the flowers and blossoms that figure on pictures and scrolls. She had very unusual taste in flowers. She never could bear the curled or trained flowers that we see in the market. So I had to grow all the flowers in our gardens and our own green- house.”’ ‘“ Did she like these little rock gardens? ”’ I asked again. ‘““ Oh, she loved them! ”’ said Uncle Li. “ I think she grew up in the country, so she was very fond of nature. She ordered land- scape gardening round the Summer Palace. She often taught me how to arrange miniature rock gardens. I had to grow many dwarf pines, willows, and evergreen trees to go with all sorts of flowers in pots. I searched for odd-looking picturesque old branches to graft on plums, cherries, or peaches to be planted in pots and rock gardens.” ‘“* T heard that you grew tiny peony and camelia flowers in your rock gardens,” said I. “ How long could you keep them? My father had one, but it did not last long.”’ “This is a good question. Let us go back to what I meant to comiclooks.conm