HOMES NEAR TO NATURE 



83 



for many years the Mecca for 

 automobilists and camerists who would 

 study nature. The views of distant 

 Long Island Sound, from the larger 

 hills and from "the village" are not ex- 

 celled by any in southern Connecticut. 



Aeons ago glaciers and other forces 

 combined to locate in this valley varia- 

 tions of nature's best. The majestic 

 hills, the gracefully sloping hills, the 

 domes, the ravines, the winding roads, 

 the wide brook and the lake afford 

 beauty at every point of the compass, 

 wherever the artist or camerist stands. 

 Up this valley, even in the warmest 

 days, there is always a cool breeze from 

 the Sound. 



I doubt whether in all the world 

 there can be found a more comfortable 

 and health giving location. The moist 

 breeze from the Sound is so tempered 

 and stimulated by this valley and its 

 lake that it is perfectly fitted to give 

 life and health. 



Dr. Givens has had the rare good 

 sense of knowing where to apply art 

 and science and where to let nature 

 work out her own problems. A most 

 excellent example of this is in a pic- 



turesque "old country road" that leads 

 from the cultivated and well cared for 

 grounds to the lake. It prepares one's 

 thoughts to best appreciate the natural, 

 simple grandeur of the lake. I was es- 

 pecially pleased with one of the many 

 summer houses in an extensive field of 

 daisies. The setting is ideal, a poem 

 of rest, just aside from the long path 

 with a sfood view of the hazy hills and 

 picturesque lake. 



But there are some things, some oi 

 the best things, that plate and pencil 

 cannot portray. And these best things 

 are found in the greatest profusion at 

 this village of rest and quiet and sooth- 

 ing influences. They are peace, se- 

 renity, calmness ; they are the sweep 

 of the horizon, the haze on the hills, 

 the cool shade of the trees; the dome 

 of the sky as viewed from the top of 

 the hill white with summer daisies, it 

 is the path of peace from the highway 

 of life, the cordiality, the love of hu- 

 manity 



And the greatest of these is love — 

 untiring, faithful, devoted, prolonged, 

 hopeful, effective love, for one's calling 

 in life. 



A COOL AND INVITING WALK BY THE LAKE. 



