Your choice is bad when you intrust Your happiness where moth and rust, In time, turn all your wealth to dust. From a paper-bag the Fairy pours a small amount of dust over the kneeling girl, and hangs the dust-pan around her neck. The next person who has drawn a prize is then brought forward and the performance is repeated, only altering the Fairy’s speech. For “_Honor_,” she will say: Your honor crowds shall loud declare, But in your heart, no crowd is there, You’ll find, like _Falstaff_, “honor’s air.” The present here is a pair of bellows, from which the Fairy blows a blast on the bowed head before her as she utters the word _air_. The bellows, like the dust-pan, are hung by a ribbon around the recipient’s neck. For “_Fame_,” the Fairy gives a wreath of roses, and says, as she adjusts the crown: When Fame doth weave a laurel-wreath, He weaves this subtle charm beneath; “For every evil thought that’s born The laurel grows a prickly thorn; But where pure thought and love reposes, The laurel-wreath’s a wreath of roses.” [Illustration] [Illustration: Buckeye Portière.] FOOTNOTE: [C] Dishes. CHAPTER XVIII. NATURE’S FALL DECORATIONS, AND HOW TO USE THEM. THESE beautiful decorations are free to all who care to possess them. Every autumn comes to us laden with ornaments which no skilled workman can rival. The graceful golden-rod, so rich in color, sways and bends over the low stone walls, and in the fields wild flowers of all kinds grow in great profusion. White, spreading wild carrot, yellow and white daisies, light and dark purple asters, and sumach, with its varied hues, give color to the landscape on our bright fall days. There are also the queer-shaped pods and feathery, silky seeds peculiar to some wild plants; among others the poor “vagabond thistle,” which has donned its robe of glistening white, although some of its tribe still wear their faded purple gowns. The latter may be gathered for thistle-puffs, and all the objects mentioned can be used in home decorations. We cannot pass by unnoticed the brown milk-weed pods, for within the shells, full well we know, are hidden the silvery, downy seeds which make such pretty milk-weed balls. Here, too, we notice the rich coloring of bark as well as foliage, the bright scarlet berries contrasting with the brown, yellow, and green leaves. The vine, once a fresh green, is now changed to deep crimson; even the tiny leaves of the wild strawberry and some grasses have touches of red on their edges. How the rich coloring of autumn differs from the delicate tints of spring, when the promise was made in bud and leaf, which is now realized in the bountiful harvests! Having such a wealth to glean from, we scarcely know what to take first; but for decorations to last only a few hours it would be difficult to imagine anything more brilliantly appropriate than =Fresh Autumn Wild Flowers=