we call him, for convenience just now, Mr. Perseverance,--who had been
looking out of the window, down upon a very little garden, suddenly
turned round, and exclaimed that something might be made prettier than
any thing they had yet done. He told what it was. "It is impossible to
do it now. We must wait till next year," said his friends. "Nothing
like trying: a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. No time like
the present," replied Mr. Perseverance, a pertinacious gentleman, who
wanted to "strike when the iron was hot," and carry out his notion
without delay. Accordingly, he caught up two sticks, and nailed them
together, so as to get the right shape. Then he went down town,--the
town being small, he had not far to go,--begged at the bookstore a few
"show-bills," containing the letters he needed for patterns; bought a
sheet of gold paper and half an ounce of gum-arabic, twice as much of
both as he really wanted; people in a hurry are not apt to calculate
very nicely, or be very economical, you know. He carried his articles
back to the barn, and asked a lady to try to cut out a motto he had
selected, and gum it on a ribbon. "But where shall I get the ribbon?"
said the lady. "Oh! find it somewhere," said Mr. Perseverance; "and be
sure and have all ready when I return." There was one spot in the
woods he remembered visiting months before with a boy in his
neighborhood, on which grew another material, indispensable to his
project. He found the lad: they jumped into a chaise; rode two or
three miles to a grove; and, on searching a few moments, found what
they were after,--a plant green in mid-winter as well as in summer,
and prized by everybody who loves Christmas; gathered a bushel of it,
more or less; and got home again before dinner. Meanwhile, the lady,
with others to help her, had been busy; and all were wide awake now,
entering into the spirit of the matter, thinking that the bright idea
of Mr. Perseverance might possibly be accomplished in season. A
splendid bunch of pure white lilies, not quite open, was fastened to