tock of split-cane under one arm. He will
weave a new cane-seat to an old chair for 9d., and he will set down
his load and do it before your eyes in your own garden, if you prefer
that to intrusting him with it; that is, he will make the bargain, and
his wife will weave the seat under his supervision, unless there
happen to be two to be repaired, when husband and wife will work
together. We have noticed that it is a very silent operation, that of
weaving chair-bottoms; and that though the couple may be seated for an
hour and more together rapidly plying the flexible canes, they never
exchange a word with each other till the task is accomplished.
Sometimes the wife is left at a customer's door working alone, while
the husband wanders further on in search of other employment,
returning by the time she has finished her task. But there are no
chairs to mend this morning on Our Terrace, and our bamboo friends may
jog on their way.

Now resounds from a distance the cry of 'All a-growin' an'
a-blowin'--all a-blowin', a-blowin' here!' and in a few minutes the
travelling florist makes his appearance, driving before him a
broad-surfaced handcart, loaded in profusion with exquisite flowers of
all hues, in full bloom, and, to all appearance, thriving famously. It
may happen, however, as it has happened to us, that the blossoms now
so vigorous and blooming, may all drop off on the second or third day;
and the naked plant, after making a sprawling and almost successful
attempt to reach the ceiling for a week or so, shall become suddenly
sapless and withered, the emblem of a broken-down and emaciated
sot--and, what is more, ruined from the self-same cause, an overdose
of stimulating fluid. It may happen, on the other hand, that the plant
shall have suffered no trick of the gardener's trade, and shall bloom
fairly to the end of its natural term. The commerce in blossoming
flowers is one of the most uncertain and dangerous speculations in
which the small street-traders of London can engage. When carried on
under favourable circumstances, it is one of the most profitable, the
demand for flowers being constant and increasing; but the whole
stock-in-trade of a small perambulating capitalist may be ruined by a
shower of rain, which will spoil their appearance for the market, and
prevent his selling them before they are overblown. Further, as few of
these dealers have any means of housing this kind of stock safely
during the night, they are