HOMES NEAR TO WATURE 



165 



down-the-expenses. Mr. Borglum at 

 once shows in his actions and his con- 

 versation that there could be found no 

 better example than he to influence 

 others to seek a nearness to nature and 

 to guide them to the right point of 

 view. One thing Mr. Borglum has not 

 done ; he has not cut and slashed and 

 cleared away the beauties of the road- 

 sides ; he has not felled the trees and 

 "reclaimed" the land, bnt he has tried 

 in every possible way to develop the 

 natural beauties of the four hundred 

 acres that he has collectivelv named 

 "Borgland." 



1 will show you the treasure. He ad- 

 vanced a little way into the resources 

 of the woods and there paused as if in 

 the presence of the marvelous and 

 commented. "J think I know' right 

 where it is." lie raised a little clump 

 df shrubbery and very carefully and 

 lovingly lifted some branches and 

 ferns. "You see," he remarked, "I 

 have to hide it: it is so near the path 

 and so many people pass this way that 

 might pull it up by the roots. You 

 will be surprised to learn," he con- 

 tinued, "what trouble I have to make 

 even my best friends understand. We 



"VERY CAREFULLY AND LOVINGLY LIFTED SOME BRANCHES AND FERNS.' 



I found him on the roof of a new 

 studio, instructing the men as to the 

 proper placing of the timbers which 

 are of new and original design. After 

 cordially greeting me, instead of saying, 

 "Come and see what I have done," he 

 said, "Let me show you something in- 

 teresting. I want you to see my 

 purple orcJiis." \Ye passed into a 

 narrow, thicket bordered path, by the 

 side of a picturesque brook ; we cross- 

 ed a rustic bridge, then he said, "Now 



do not pick even a flower from all our 

 four hundred acres, but we gather 

 souvenirs of them. When we return 

 to the house I will show you how we 

 do it." 



"Here, hold on a minute," I exclaim- 

 ed, just as he was again covering the 

 rare orchid, "I want a souvenir of the 

 rarest of all the specimens that I have 

 discovered, that I purpose to reveal to 

 other nature lovers as a notable ex- 

 am pie of the manner in which a way- 



