SOCIETY OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS. 275 



If you lire just building ;i home of your own, plant some of 

 these hardy climbers, that will live year after year and grow old with 

 the house. These are nature's drapery: they soften hard outlines 

 and clothe ])orch and balcony with living green. The \Voodl)ine is 

 particularly adapted to an eastern exposure. Plant the Chinese wis- 

 teria at the south porch; it will give large returns in the years to 

 come. At first this perfectly h.irdy climber is tender and should 

 have the ends of the growing branches nipped in Sej)tember, that 

 the wood may harden and enaljle it to resist the cold of its first 

 winter (mulch the roots with straw to keej) them warm). Plant 

 the honeysuckles, Japanese and Chinese, with fine, sweet-scented 

 flowers. Don't forget the clematis; they are the "aristocracy" 

 among climbers. Such delicate tints of coloring — delicate in tex- 

 ture, clinging so gracefully, blooming so profusely, they deserve the 

 best ])lace in the garden. 



Train them on a trellis, the fence, the porch, or balcony, or 

 where you will, they are lovely. There are many varieties. One 

 can hardly go astray in choosing with a good catalogue at hand. 

 The climbing roses, not forgetting the old-fashioned white one of our 

 childhood's days, with its creamy petals and crown of yellow 

 stamens, they all help to beautify and adorn the home. The old, 

 but ever new, morning-glory has been familiar to us from childhood. 

 What is there that blooms as constantly? What will bring a suc- 

 cession of delight to the children every morning perhaps the " grown 

 children," too, as a row of morning-glories running over the back 

 ])orchV The promise of flowers yesterday, which lay enwr:ip])ed in 

 twisted buds, have this morning become a reality; and cups of pink, 

 blue and white, gemmed with dewdrops, delicate enough for fairies to 

 drink from, are thickly scattered over the vines. 



The memory of my own childhood's home in New England 

 comes to me now; and methiuks I can see the rich, heavy mass of 

 woodbine as it overhangs the house over the well and falls in fes- 

 toons on either side. T se])arate the vines to draw up the old oaken 

 bucket as of yore; and I drink the cold, clear water, " nectar fit for 

 the gods." Oh, ''how dear to the heart are the scenes of our child- 

 hood!" 



If we desire to encourage cliildren to love rural life we must 

 make its lalxirs cheerful. What a child sees makes the most lasting 

 impres.sions. We may tell them of the pleasures and independence 

 of rural life; but if their daily intercourse with us shows it to be 

 tedious, irksome and laltorious, without any recreation of body or 

 mind, they will soon lose all interest in it and seek enjoyment else- 

 where. 



Copies of Old World pictures, copies of statuary, copies of fine 

 landscapes, should adorn the home, since these come within the 

 scope of all. It we indulge in a jjaintiug let it be one of merit.. 



A smoothly shaven lawn, dotted here and there with stately for- 

 est trees; a lawn covering so wide a space of ground that it might 



