All in a garden fair; the simple story of three boys ... - University Library

ALL L\ A GARDEN FAIR. 18
plenty of feeble pictures by amateurs and
beginners ; among them, however, you will
discover one or two which have promise.
Claire, who could see that the verses wxre
stilted, wTak, and cold, but could not see the
promise in them, was bitterly disappointed.
Poor Allen ! was this the outcome of all liis
reading? Was it with this little bundle of
feeble couplets that he hoped to achieve immor-
tality? Not an original thought, not one novel
expression, not one happy phrase from beginning
to end. She could not lift her eyes. She would
have cried with vexation had she dared.
When the poet finished his reading he
stood pale, gloomy, almost despairing. For he
was self-convicted ; he felt now for the first
time how really bad his verses were. The
enthusiasm of his conception came not, as usual,
to conceal the feebleness of his execution. He
looked so miserable that Chiire would have
burst into tears, but for a most surprising thing.
Conceive her astonishment when, at this
painful moment, her father sprang to his feet