"I want you to go in an' see Mr. Castle; he's goin' to show you how to ride," said Mr. Lord, in as kindly a tone as if he were conferring some favor on the boy.
If Toby had dared to, he would have rebelled then and there, and refused to go; but as he hadn't the courage for such proceeding, he walked meekly into the tent, and toward the ring.
[to be continued.]
[THE NATIONAL FLOWER OF JAPAN.]
BY WILLIAM ELIOT GRIFFIS.
The cherry blossom is the national flower of Japan, as the rose is of England, the lily of France, the thistle of Scotland, and the shamrock of Ireland. On the Mikado's flags, papers, and carriages, and on the soldiers' caps and uniform, you will see the open chrysanthemum. But the flower of the people and of the nation is the flower of the blossoming cherry-tree.
"Do not all cherry-trees blossom?" you will ask.
Yes; but the Japanese cultivate all over Japan, by the millions, the sakura-tree, which is valued only for the beauty of its blossoms. Botanists call it Prunus pseudocerasus. From an entire tree you could not get ripe cherries enough to make a pie; but the blooms are massed together on the boughs like clouds, and the blooms are often as large as a rose. Picnics in Japan are called, "Going to see the flowers." In June, millions of the people go out to sing and sport and laugh and play under the cherry-trees, or to catch "the snow-showers that do not fall from the skies." There are tens of thousands of stanzas of poetry about the cherry-tree. Some of the people become so enchanted with the lovely blossoms that they actually say their prayers under them, or even worship the famous old trees. Here is an instance, which the artist has told by his pencil. A sacred cherry-tree has been carefully surrounded by a fence of bamboo, and two old gentlemen are worshipping the tree, while one young fellow is snickering at them from around the corner, and the other's mouth is wide open with astonishment, and he is probably saying, "Naru hodo" (Well, I declare!).