-^zt 



HOME OF A. J. D0W':N'ING. 



TIITW IN THE GROUNDS. 



grounds. The desire to possess as many new and rare trees as possible, induces one 

 to plant year after year, even after the grounds are already filled. 



To an intimate friend of Mr. Downing we are indebted for the following article, 

 whose pen, so beautifully said, has been "guided by love." 



A VISIT TO THE HOUSE AND GAEDEX OF THE LATE A. J. DOWXIXG. 



To describe a dwelling and a garden like 

 Mr. Downing's, is like analyzing a poem 

 whose beauty has long ministered to our 

 daily happiness, and whose melody has 

 for many years sung unquestioned to our 

 hearts. Hence, in many ways, the task 

 is not one that we should seek, nor can 

 we hope that we shall perform it to the 

 satisfaction of all those who knew and 

 loved the place ; but where love guides 

 the pen, we can not wholly foil, and the 

 artist's pencil will aid us where words are 

 weak and insufficient. 

 The library is a cheerful and delightful room opening from the hall, and havin"- 

 doors leading on one side to the parlor, and on the other to the dining room. On 

 the west side is a large bay window, and in front of it stands the spacious table at 

 which Mr. Downing wrote. In the winter the family forsook the fine south room, 

 which on account of its size was not easily warmed, and lived in the library, which, 

 with its cheerful fire and books and busts, became the gathering point of the house- 

 hold, and the chosen seat of the winter's evening mirth and daily study. 



For some time Mr. Downing's office was the upper south chamber in his house, 

 but increasing business and the frequency of calls made it necessary to construct a 

 room which could be entered from without. For this 

 purpose the office was built — an addition to the house 

 entered from the garden by a porch, and from the library 

 by one of the book-cases, which, set into the wall, was 

 made into a door, and when shut could not be distin- 

 guished from the others in the room. The office is 

 divided by a partition into two rooms; one was Mr. 

 Downing's private study, the other the place where the 

 architectural business was carried on. No place could 

 be more delightful than this room to work in. On one 

 side the southern windows let in the warm and cheerful 

 sunlight, on another the rows of books give a grace and 

 charm to the apartment, and opposite them the bright 

 wood fire warms body and soul with its crackling flames, 

 room is no merely whitewashed parallelogram, but. 



