"You get out!" he said. Whether she "got" or not is unrecorded.
At another time a woman came in, and greeted Mr. Whiting several times, but received no reply. Giving up her attempts, she came to the point of her visit.
"How are your Violets this morning, Mr. Whiting?" she asked.
Mr. Whiting raised his eyes, and looked at her.
"You ask him!" he said, pointing to his foreman, not with his finger, but his foot!
My last business transaction with Mr. Whiting was at the time when he gave me an order for two hundred and fifty "Fianceé." He gave me the order a year prior to the dissemination of the variety, stipulating that should God gather him unto Himself in the meantime, I should consider the order canceled.
Mr. Whiting received his "Fiancée" in May, instead of January, as promised; and a week later he joined the Great Majority. I question if Mr. Whiting ever saw the "Fiancée"—in fact, I know he didn't, for Mr. Peterson told me so.
E. Welch and A. Dallas, Connecticut Florists
The late Mr. E. Welch of Hartford, Conn., was another old friend, and his death a few months ago was a personal loss to me. In the early days of my career, when a kind word and an encouraging greeting meant so much to me, he was one to extend them. I shall always remember with gratitude his tokens of friendship to me. My business relations with him up to the time of his death will remain among the pleasantest memories of my business career.
And what I said about Mr. Welch holds equally true of Mr. A. Dallas, of Waterbury, Conn., except, I am glad to say, that he is still in the land of the living. Busy or not busy, Mr. Dallas always has a friendly word and a welcome for me. I have watched his business development during the past twenty-eight years, and it is no exaggeration when I say that he stands in the front rank among the successful growers of the country. Unlike many "old-timers" of a generation ago, Mr. Dallas is progressive in his ideas, and adopts innovations with a spirit of initiative that would do credit to a younger man. His present greenhouse range is an enlarged edition of his former establishment, and the stock grown is of a quality worthy of the place itself.
Worcester and Framingham Florist Acquaintances
As I said before, my travels through the New England States brought me in contact with many men, some no longer living, others still active in business. There are many young men in active business today who at the time of my first visit to New England were attending school. Many of them are now at the head. There are H. F. A. Lange's Sons, Albert and Carl, at Worcester, Mass. At the time of my first visit to Worcester, Albert and Carl were quite young, and took little interest in the growing business which their father had launched so successfully.
I vividly remember the late H. F. A. Lange, who died a number of years ago. Mr. Lange, if I remember rightly, was born and brought up in Hamburg, Germany, and came to Worcester a number of years prior to my connection with the florist business. When I first met him, he reminded me of the type of men I often met in Russia, calm, reserved, dignified, with faces denoting the nobility of their origin. It seemed to me that Mr. Lange must have dispensed with the prefix "von" to his name upon arrival in this democratic country. "Von Lange" would have suited him admirably. His Van Dyke beard lent a special distinction to his appearance. He was of medium height, stocky, with shoulders well back and head up; he looked one straight in the eyes, with a steadiness that bespoke firmness of
