OCTOBF.R. 219 



coat of paint, ^vhicll the house got once in ten years, nothing was 

 ever clone to give the phice the least appearance of taste. An old 

 half-decayed Ash-tree stood near the south door, and a few decrepit 

 and worn out Apple-trees behind the house. Jjut there was not a 

 Lilac-bush, nor a Syringa, not a Rose-b,ush, nor a Honeysuckle, about 

 the whole premises. You would never suppose that a spark of affec- 

 tion for nature, or a gleam of feeling for grace or beauty, in any 

 shape, ever dawned within or around that house. 



Well, five years ago the place was put up for sale. There were 

 some things to recommend it. There w'as a " good well of water;" 

 the house was in excellent repair ; and the location was not a bad 

 one. But though many went to see it, and " liked the place toler- 

 ably well," yet there seem.ed to be a want of heart about it, that 

 made it unattractive, and prevented people from buying it. 



It was a good while in the market ; but at last it fell into the 

 hands of the Widow^ Winning and her two daughters. Tliey bought 

 it at a bargain, and must have foreseen its capabilities. 



What that house and place is now, it would do your hearts good 

 to see. A porch of rustic trellis-work was built over the front door- 

 way, simple and pretty hoods upon brackets over the windows, the 

 door-yard was all laid out afresh, the worn-out Apple-trees were du£^ 

 up, a nice bit of lawn made around the house, and pleasant groups 

 of shrubbery (mixed with two or three graceful Elms), planted about 

 it. But, most of all, what fixes the attention, is the lovely profusion 

 of flowering Vines (creepers) that enrich the old house, and trans- 

 form what was a soulless habitation, into a home that captivates all 

 eyes. Even the old and almost leafless Ash-tree is quite overrun 

 •with a creeper, which is stuck full of gay trumpets all summer, that 

 seem to blow many a strain of gladness to the passers by. How 

 many sorts of Honeysuckle, Clematises, Roses, &c. there are on wall 

 or trellis about that cottage, is more than we can tell. Certain it 

 is, however, that half the village walks past that house of a summer 

 right, and inwardly thanks the fair inmates for the fragrance that 

 steals through the air in its neighbourhood ; and no less certain is 

 it that this house is now the " admired of all admirers," and that 

 the Widow Winning has twice refused double the sum it went beg- 

 ging at when it was only the plain and meagre home of Tim Steady. 



Many of you in the country, as we well know, are compelled by 

 circumstances to live in houses which some one else built, or which 

 have, by ill-luck, an ugly expression in every board or block of stone, 

 from the sill of the door to the peak of the roof. Paint wont hide 

 it, nor cleanliness disguise it, however goodly and agreeable things 

 they are. But Vines (creepers) will do both ; or, what is better, they 

 will, with their lovely graceful shapes, and rich foliage and flowers, 

 give a new character to the whole exterior. However ugly the wall, 

 however bald the architecture, only give it this fair drapery of leaf 

 and blossom, and nature will touch it at once with something of 

 grace and beauty. 



" What are our favourite Vines (creepers) ?" 'I'his is what you 

 would ask, and this is what we are most anxious to tell you. 



