Irises had little weighted clamps, like this, 
put on their feet, which enabled them to stand up like lead soldiers, in a shallow, pale green dish; and then these shoes of theirs were hidden with clean white pebbles, and the tiniest of gold-fish were set to swim about in the clear water with which they were covered.
Narcissus Tazetti, in the winter, is used in the same way (without shoes, however), and in this decoration the Chinese are nearly as clever as their one-time pupils, the Japanese. As in China, too, this is a favourite decoration at the New Year, and is one always obtainable, as the bulbs are so easily forced. One cannot wonder that Narcissus died of love for himself, these flowers of his are so beautiful, reflected in the mirror of clear water.
Another time, from out of a crystal bowl sprang a few stalks of arrow-shaped leaves, and in and out among the pale amber roots, as richly decorative as any part of the scheme, darted those glittering butterflies of the water, the gold-fish.
This recalls an incident which happened about that time, when Young America took to gardening. Some pretty little geishas, who had met the child on the street, brought him a globe of gold-fish as a present. We had been planting Morning Glory seed in blue and white pots in the veranda that day, and had dilated at length on the beauties that were in store for us when
