Various

“ After a while, the thought of death settles into a bit of life. It’s the Lord’s will that it comes in one way to one and in another to another. But it’s all right if it means going to Him, and all we’ve got to do is to keep on following.”
“And you had your husband such a little time!” cried Lucy, thinking to herself that she and Charlie had already had more than seven years of happy life together.
“Yes,” said Mrs. May; “I was a widow at twenty-five. I’m just fifty now, and my people live long, so likely I’ve got a good bit to go yet. I had my Jarvist just for one year. ”

“ The gentleman that was praying and reading the Scriptures saw the men’s faces, and he broke short off to say, ‘Can we go? Can we do something?’ Why not? It was all in the service of God. And they went, and they brought off the man safely—a poor Norwegian.”
Lucy had learned to fear contact with strangers since her husband’s illness. Their misjudged “sympathy,” their well-meant comments, had so often been as the rubbing of salt into the ever-open wound of anxiety, and the almost tenderer spot of hope. ”

“ A lovely little lily is Lilium Krameri. The delicate pink of its blossoms, its slender growth, its early flowering, and its fragrance render it worthy of a place in every garden.
Like most of the lilies we have described, L. Krameri hails from Japan. In most particulars it resembles a little L. Auratum, but its flowers are totally different from any other species. They are about four inches across, of a waxy white to deep blush pink colour. The anthers are brown.
This lily flowers in June. It is not easy to do well with. It is rather tender and very susceptible to early frosts. ”

“ I think they all mean to be kind; but, Oscar, do you call our cousins—well, what shall I say? If we had met them at home, do you think we should have called them quite ladies and gentlemen—except Cyril?”
Oscar laughed, and made a little expressive grimace.
“Since they are our cousins, perhaps we’d better not put the question quite so straight, Sheila. But, indeed, it’s better not to think too much about rank and station and the gloss on the top. It’s very nice when one can get it too; but the great thing is whether people are really good and honest and kindly, as our relations are. ”

“ The buds develop quickly until they become the size of a large capsicum. Then they change colour, and if the weather is dry, they open in about a week.
Rain at the flowering time is the greatest enemy to this lily.
What a magnificent object is the L. Auratum when in full blossom! How beautiful is the wide open perianth! ”

“ But Jarvist’s father he came to me, and says he, ‘Joan’—and he put his hand on my shoulder, and it had a kind of feeling as if it pulled me up like—‘Joan,’ says he, ‘Jarvist has done his part. Now you’ve got to do yours. You married a sailor, Joan; he’s died at his place, you’ve got to live at yours. Don’t make no fuss about it, lass,’ says he (he speaks old-fashioned and homely) , ‘you won’t see Jarvist a day the sooner. You wouldn’t have liked Jarvist to stay at home to please you, would you?’ says he. ”

“ May turned towards her with a wistful smile.
“Ah,” she said, “how many ladies have said that to me! (Not that I tell everyone who comes, for some would not care to hear. There are folks who go out to picnic and dance on the Goodwins!) But look here, dear,” she went on eagerly, her last reserve melted in Lucy’s tears, “we all see houses, and yet somebody has died in every house; we all see our beds, and yet we’ve seen dear ones die on them, and we look to die there ourselves some day. It’s all hard just at first. ”

“ Moreover, the reserve had too much of actual hard fighting on hand, to admit of their growing downhearted. Any one of them might chance any day to win a smile of commendation from Moore; and that was worth fighting for, worth bearing anything for.
Roy soon learnt what it was to be under fire. If at first the experience was to him, as to most men, unpleasant, he grew quickly used to it. Before long he had the supreme delight of being personally praised by the General for dashing courage. It seemed to Roy then that life needed nothing more.
Journalising went to the wall during this retreat. ”

“ There is no doubt that brain-workers—whether literary, professional or business people—need the best of food served in the most agreeable manner, and in variety and abundance. If it were possible to live by brain alone, without any exercise of the muscles, then the diet might be exclusively confined to those articles which contain the fat, salt and phosphorus of which the brain is composed. ”

“ Probably the variety we call Rubrum is the type of the species.
The bulbs of L. Speciosum are large with loose scales. The flower spike is not often so evident in the bulb as it is with most lilies. The bulbs vary a good deal in colour from white to deep purple; but the colour of the bulb is no criterion as to the colour of the blossoms. In the variety known as Kraetzeri the bulbs are usually yellow.
This lily first sees the light as a thin, lanky shoot. In fact, those who have grown other lilies but not Speciosum would at once pronounce a perfectly healthy shoot of this lily to be “blind.” ”

“ What is the most famous signal ever made to the British Navy?
Hardly any competitors omitted to answer this question; almost every one right too. The ever-to-be-remembered signal was that made by Lord Nelson, before the battle of Trafalgar—“England expects every man to do his duty.” ”

“ Your first question, “What is a good way of getting out of being afraid that there is some illness or disease the matter with oneself?” is easily answered. There is no disease without definite symptoms. You will never get a disease which will leave you very long in doubt about your health. If you want to make perfectly certain, get yourself examined by a physician and have done with your ideas. Your second question is due to the same thing as the first—a morbid self-consciousness. Anybody can think herself into any trouble. You start by fearing that you may get—let us say phthisis. ”

“ The buds are borne on long stalks, each furnished with a single bract. From one to forty buds are produced on each stem.
The leaves of this species are long and linear in the type, but in the variety Platyphyllum they are very broad. There are rarely more than thirty or forty leaves, which are of a deep glossy green.
We have followed the lily to the stage when its buds become apparent. The next chapter in its history is too often one of mishaps. The strain on the plant at this stage must be enormous, and it is no wonder that such a large number of plants die at this time. ”

“ This is the month when we may begin one of our favourite dishes of spinach and eggs—one of our physic dishes, I might say, for on very good authority we learn that spinach contains more iron than almost anything else that can be mentioned, and when combined with the sulphur of the egg becomes a capital tonic medicine. ”

“ All these varieties are fine, and are all worth growing; but some are expensive, and some are very difficult to cultivate.
Of all the varieties we prefer that known as Platyphyllum. Its fine large foliage, immense and gorgeous blossoms, and its hardy constitution, make this lily the most desirable of all. Indeed, we would put a well-grown sample of L. Auratum Platyphyllum in its perfection as the most beautiful of all the vegetable productions of our planet. ”

“ Perpetual fighting had been the order of the day. Yet not once had the Regiments of the Reserve, either horse or foot, been beaten; not once had the rear-guard quailed.
Some seventy or eighty thousand soldiers, trained veterans of Napoleon, at first under Napoleon himself, and then under two of his most experienced commanders, had striven hard to overtake Moore, to outflank him, to cut off his little force of twenty-three thousand men. ”

“ The stem of L. Speciosum is thin but very flexible. Indeed, the lily rarely needs a stick, as it bends before the wind. We have never had the stem of one of these lilies broken.
The leaves are broader than is usually the case in this genus. They somewhat resemble the leaves of L. Auratum Platyphyllum.
The flower buds grow out from the main stem, and when they are fully grown they are furnished with very long stalks. This enables us to cut the flowers singly—which is very desirable, for one can take flowers from a single plant for some weeks, removing each as it opens. ”

“ They are inferior to the ordinary varieties.
But little need be said of the cultivation of L. Speciosum. Where L. Auratum will grow, L. Speciosum will grow; and it will grow in most places where L. Auratum will not grow. It likes a peaty soil with plenty of sand. Water must be given freely during growth.
L. Speciosum makes an excellent pot plant, and is grown by many people in their conservatories. In fact, it shares the honour with Lilium Harrisii of being the only lily commonly grown under glass. As a cut flower it is very useful. ”

“ Something in that face appealed keenly to the young Ensign’s sympathies. Then in a flash dread seized upon Roy. What might this visit portend? Moore could rebuke his subordinates scathingly—crushingly—when necessity arose. Roy felt that death would be far preferable to any words of stern reproof from those lips. But he had not consciously failed in his duty. Could it, perhaps, mean ill news of Jack?
Sir John glanced round before speaking. ”

“ It’s not so long for any of us after all.”
“I beg pardon for speaking so freely to you, ma’am,” she went on after a short pause, while Lucy’s tears dropped; “but there’s a look in your face that if you’d been a man would have sent you out to the Goodwins. But the women have to do their part at home—keeping ready dry clothes and hot gruel sometimes,” she added with a quiet laugh, “as we did one day this spring, when one poor soul was left wrecked on the Goodwins after all his shipmates were drowned. ”

“ In plants bearing twenty or thirty blossoms on the other hand, the general effect from a distance is one of extreme luxuriance; but on closer examination the effect is not so striking, for the individual blossoms cannot be perfectly formed, and the result is often bizarre and unsatisfactory.
L. Auratum has an extremely strong scent, which though pleasant in the garden is far too overpowering in a room.
In no lily does one meet with such great variety as in this species. The blossoms are exceedingly variable ”

“ The bulbs rapidly became cheaper, and the lily at once rose to a foremost position amongst garden plants.
The Lilium Auratum, or golden-rayed lily, is perhaps the most popular member of the genus. Its flowers are immense, indeed, it has the largest flowers of all the lilies. Of fine colour, producing many flowers on each stem, of great hardiness and of moderate ease to cultivate, it is not surprising that this lily should have attained its high popularity.
The Lilium Auratum is the most variable of all the lilies. There are eight named varieties. ”

“ The old Rubrum is the best of the red varieties. It is the most prolific of all the varieties.
The deepest coloured of all is a Japanese variety, Melpomone. This is a very fine big flower. Its colour is blood-crimson, spotted and bordered with white. The exterior of the blossoms is pale pink. Rubro-Cruentum and Purpureum are other fine purple varieties. They differ very slightly from Melpomone.
Some forms of L. Speciosum in which the stem splits into two or three parts are called monstrous or corymbiform varieties. There are white, red, and purple monstrous forms. ”

“ The first two stages of this history are states of morbid self-consciousness, the next two are on the verge of sanity, the last is a definite disease—not phthisis, but melancholia! You must get yourself to think about other things than your own imaginary evils ”