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ADVENTURES OP A GARDENER —;—' ♦ ' , \ (Written for the Ring by "Pearl Wings" (16), Masterton.) ANDRIA MAELOWE wiped her'hands on her apron, and put a water jug down on the path. Very carefully she loosened the soil in the little red Sower pot, and as she was about to stand it down in a ■"toeltered corner of the' garden she gave a shrill shriek of delight. Cousin John, a tall-boy.of sixteen; was chopping wood when he heard her shriek. In an instant he had dropped the axe arid, ever the courteous gentleman, he was gunning towards her. '-.' .'•' In mock anxiety he gripped her arm, helpfully picked up the jug, and endeavoured to push it to her lips. "John, it's come at last," said Andria, as she gave a vicious push at the jug, spilling the contents over his,, shirt and face. "What has come? A good rainfall I should say," and he laughingly shook himself. -V '•".'■■ - '. \ , "Silly, you 'deserved;that. I mean my bulb has just come up, and it's a special one? too." ■ '.\". '•'•"■■ ■ '" : : "Oh, is that all?" John asked in. a casually teasing tone. "I thought something had bitten you. Instead I find you have discovered your daffodil is through.' .finally,"old girl, you are 'dry,'" he finished in a bored voice. "WbII,: that's more than you areV' she retorted, and having had the last word, rpn'jnto the house. ; : : •■■■■. Unknown, to John, Andria had purchased the bulb with the intention of entering'it for thY Winter Show- For weeks she had looked longingly .at it, iH'^he. window of a little old shop, and hoarded up. tier savings. Mr. Jud4/Wh<). the.flower, shop, was an unscrupulous, grabbing old man. When; Andria::asked for the Golden Crown.daffodil, the most expensive flower in the ship,;his crafty old brain worked rapidly.- He shuffled through the fkwmy little, shop,'into a room at the back and returned with a-small, everyday bjilk. This," he explained, was.the same as the one in,the' window, which .'wasv^fibt for sale.'. ■'Andria believed him vand hurried home. Time anil "time again Mr. Judd successfully played the same trick on his unsuspecting customers but, as often happens, he tried it once-too often. John, who was full ofirrepressible pranks', had decided for his latest venture/to hide;Andria'S: daffodil. Watching from behind the hedge, John saw her lift ;it^ oh to the sill for the night. "Now's ;my Chance,"-he whispered as Andria went indoors. Creeping warily out from his hiding-place, he reached the sill, secured the pot,.and stole off to the woodshed. John stood it down behind some tools and hurried back. No sooner was his back turned than a small shadowy figure crept out of the garage. It was Keith, Andria's young brother. Keith scaled the wall and climbed through the toolshed window to save anyone from the house from seeing the door open. He was quite ip the dark as to what John's mission had been, and thought that he had proLably been putting the axe away. Keith's real object was to look for some bulbs and plants. As Andria was a keen gardener,'he had suddenly got the idea into his head that he was, too. . But, like all his passions, it was only a fleeting whim, and in a.few days it would be moths, bugs, or birds' eggs. Suddenly in the dim light he espied the leaves of Andria's daffodil. Not knowing that, it was in a pot, he pulled extra hard and the leaves came off in his hand. With a small gardening fork he groped around in the flower pot until he felt it stick fast, into something. On pulling it up he found that a; prong had broken the bulb in half. Snorting with disgust he threw it away, and :decideti that, for Him, gardening certainly didn't pay. After .tea John heard 'An dria: talking to her mother, and it was then he learned-that she was" entering her bulb for the show. Early the next^mornihg John jiurried out to the toolshed. With a gasp of dismay he remembered what Keith had said when Mrs. Marlowe had spoken to him about his grimy hands. The unwitting; boy had ruined his sister's chance, and John's harmless, prank had ended disastrously. There remained only a faint hope. " With all the money he possessed he set out nervously for Judd's store. He arrived'just as the sandy-haired assistant was opening the doors, and breathlessly asked for the Golden Crown daffodil. When Andria came out after breakfast she saw a beautiful flower so large and golden standing where she had left it. No one having seen the flower was the least, surprised when Andria was awarded first prize. "Every cloud has a silver lining" sang John and avoided his cousin's quizzical glance.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19360718.2.161.1

Bibliographic details

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 16, 18 July 1936, Page 20

Word Count
780

Page 20 Advertisements Column 1 Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 16, 18 July 1936, Page 20

Page 20 Advertisements Column 1 Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 16, 18 July 1936, Page 20

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