d that they agreed would be a calamity, but the older
ones bade them wait, for the time certainly would come. The old
Buttonwood tree that stood in the corner of the Garden, and who was said
to be the oldest inhabitant, grew very tiresome, for he counted up on
his branches the number of years that he had seen the Lilac blow, and
declared twenty times a day, as if he had not said it at all, that he
had never known the bush to be so tardy. But on the night before the
twentieth of May there was a plenteous shower; the next morning the sun
rose splendidly upon the fresh earth, and the Lilac sent its strong
perfume all over the Garden. It was unanimously agreed that New Year's
Day had come at last, and that there should be an unusual celebration of
it.

Now listen and you shall hear how the day was celebrated. It was divided
into two parts; the first part was the morning, and was occupied after
the manner of the inhabitants of the Garden in giving and receiving
calls.

Owing to the slowness of the Lilac, many of the fair ones were not so
elegantly dressed as they had hoped to be and were quite mortified; but
the shower in the night had freshened them and taken away much of their
faded appearance, so that none but the most fastidious of their visitors
could detect any failing. The Garden walks were quite lively with such
of the callers as were obliged to walk, while those that kept their
wings, and so could fly, were moving in the air in every direction. The
Bee, in his shining yellow coat, was rushing about making a great to do
and acting as if no one were of so much importance. He made his first
call upon the Rose, who was dressed in a charming robe of a
blush-colour, and who received a great deal of attention.

"The compliments of the Lilac to you, my dear Miss," said he, bustling
in. "I am a business character; have fifty calls to make and so have
commenced early, as you see. What a disgraceful thing it was for the
Lilac to be so unpunctual. Really I lost all patience with it. Prompt is
my word. 'Improve each shining hour,' you know, my dear Miss, as the
poet somewhere says, so I bid you good-morning," and the corpulent
fellow in his yellow coat buzzed graciously to the Rose and hurried off
to pay his respects to the next on his list.

As he went out, in came the Butterfly and the Moth, who made their calls
together. The Moth was clad in grey, and the Butterfly liked that,
because it set off his own brilliant colours