The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-03-24

ssths hus Of Maruli,s soul" This wa
the hour OF the latter's triumph. Th,
primes praised him, loaded him with gift,
and appointed him head gardener Of hi
country seat
He then asked how the flower had beer
produced. As he heard the question, somt
demon must have prompted the florist, OF
he unblushing,y answered that part Of the
secret he had learned himself and part he
had purchased from Matsuda and Nomori
for 500 pieces Of silver to be used az
O-San's wedding portion.
o
The story was plausible, and the daimio
was enraged. He dismissed Maruki and
sent for his two florists. They came, and,
of course, protested their innocence. But
their pleas were Of no avail. The prince
was 80 incensed that he decreed them ia
be thrown Into jail, to be taken out every
morning by a guard, allowed to work in
the garden and returned in the evening,
and that II they did not produce red
chrysanthemum within year both should
be beheaded.
When the evil news reached O-San, tho
poor girl tainted and did not regain her
strength until the next day Then she
went out into the garden and tried to talk
with her father and her lover. At first the
guards repulsed her, but soldiers have
usually kind hearts beneath rough exte.
riors, and after many entreaties they per.
mitted her to do as she desired.
The conversation was not reassuring.
Neither Matsuda nor Nomori had the least
conception of how the flower had been
produced or even Of any way In which to
begin experimenting in the matter. The
day passed in this manner, and at evening
O-San went home much dispirited.
The next morning she started early and
called upon all the florists in the neighbor.
hood and asked them If they knew Not
one of them did. Not one had ever dreamed
of anything like it. She continued her
quest day after day with no success, al.
ways arriving home in time to say some
thing encouraging to her father and lover.
When two months had slipped by, poor
O-San found that she had seen every hori-
culturist In that part of the country ex-
cepting the malevolent Maruki.
Still undaunted, she again started out to
see the astrologers, geomancers and sages.
Some Of them were kind and generous,
who, when they heard her piteous story,
would take nothingfrom her. Others were
greedy and scheming, who would say moth
ing until they had received a large fee and
then said nothing.
In this way her little money went, then
her jewelry and then her wedding pres
ents. BY the time she had consulted all
the wise men she was as poor as beggar
and was almost broken hearted. Three
months had passed in this way, and she
was almost desperate, when she heard of q
great foreign sage in a neighboring city.
1t was her last hope, and there she went.
She found the sage, benevolent, white
haired man, who had mastered all tho
learning Of the world.
When she related her task, he looked
distressed and said: II am sorry, my
daughter. I taught Maruki tho trick,
which consists in feeding the chrysanthe-
mum each evening at dusk with three
drops of fresh blood. The finer and purer
the blood the finer the red of the flower
Your blood would do better than mine;
mine better than that Of wicked man
and his better than that Of an animal.
Maruki used that of doves"
O.San cried for joy at learning the
strange secret.
She was home In time to see her loved
ones, but said nothing of her discovery.
That evening she selected several chrysan-
themums and put them in the most favor
able place near the house. Then, cutting
her arm with her lovers knife, she fed
each bush with three drops of blood.
The days passed slowly. The plants
prospered amazingly, thanks to her care,
which never faltered In stormy weather
she put umbrellas over them and boxes
around them. In chilly nights she would
wrap them loosely In warm cloths. In dry
weather she sprayed water over the leaves,
and at all times she gave the plants the
fertilizing fluids her father had taught her
to prepare,
She allowed no moth or butterfly to
alight on them and no caterpillar or snail
to climb up the pots.
And every evening each had the three
drops of blood When the buds appeared,
the bushes were models of beauty and ele-
gance. Then came the period of intense
excitement. Surprising she had made an
errorp Surprising the sage had been
wrongS Surprising another variety of
flower ought to have been chosenP
All these fears filled her with dismay.
Who shall describe her feelings when
first one bud, then another and then a
dozen showed flashes of red petals beneath
the green Govern Who shall depict her Joy
at last one morning on finding her plants
lblazo in rich, royal scarlet? How she
laughed and sobbed when she got ready to
carry them to the palace How the guards,
as well as her father and lover, carried on
when she showed them the flaming glory,
md how the prince and the court behaved !
Then rich blossoms shot scarlet splendor
through the palace halls is for other pens
han mine!
But when she stood up and falteringly |
old her story, and when she drew back
he sleeve of her iknono and showed tho
beautiful arm marred by white and pink
nd red scars, the daimio rose and pros
rated himself before her.
He ennobled her, her father and her low
r and said that the wonderful flower
hould thereafter DO known as O-San's
love, and O.Sans Love it Is even unto
his day.-Margherita Arlina Hamm in
lpw York Mnil and EyDrers