172 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



distance. There is no elaborate carriage 

 porch nor porte cochere. So far can you 

 go and no farther. Then you get out and 

 walk and you have the choice of grass or 

 of the top of a rock. 



Going to this home from the ravine, if 

 one takes the direct path or what would 

 naturally be supposed to be the path, the 

 visitor must push aside clumps of rhodo- 

 dendrons or climb around a circuitous 

 path over irregular rocky steps. Perhaps 

 this is a goat-like initiation to a lodge to 

 make the visitor get an initiatioui into 

 wildness. 



But with all the wildness that has been 

 assimilated, and I know of no better word 

 because the wildness of it has become a 

 part of the home, a bit of the heavens 

 also has been, brought in. The decoration 

 in one of the rooms is composed of the 

 signs of the zodiac impressively worked 

 out. With their own hands, Air. and 

 Mrs. Nichols have given loving touches, 

 or prevented others from giving destruc- 

 tive touches to wild nature, that have re- 

 sulted in just the right combination. 

 Original ideas have been exemplified in a 

 manner that shows the owner's aoprecia- 

 tioHi of nature as it is, that it does not 

 need to be cut and carved and straight- 



laced to bring out its beauty. It is a de- 

 light to go back to the entrance for a 

 moment to note that the goldenrod is 

 permitted to grovv^ close to the electric 

 trolley line, and why shouldn't it? The 

 public does not own the goldenrod nor 

 the tangled wild flowers within the road 

 proper, and these are as pleasing a decora- 

 tion for the roadside as a bit of mowed 

 grass would be. These grounds exhibit 

 the sign where every passer-by may see 

 and read, "Nature is beautiful in her- 

 self." You may perceive that in every 

 bit of shrubbery, in every tree, in, the pro- 

 fusion of wild flowers ; even in winter it 

 must be picturesque. Then it must pos- 

 sess the beauty of an old farm remote 

 from the village. I have seen many 

 homes set within natural surroundings 

 but I would award to this delectable spot 

 the first premium, as an exemplification 

 of the beauty of wild nature attained by 

 putting a home actuallv in a part of na- 

 ture, rather than near to it. Perhaps the 

 best of it all is the spirit in which Mr. 

 and Mrs. Nichols approach these wild 

 beauties and oilfer them lovin? apprecia- 

 tion. Nothing is done for efifect. The 

 spirit of appreciation is genuine. Here 

 one feels that the home is not insulted 



THE LAWN EXTENDS IT' TO THE DOOR^NO P.\TH. 



