354 



ON THE DRAPERY OF COTTAGES AND GARDENS. 



doning you, (as that beggarly Greek, The- 

 seus, did the lovely Ariadne,) to the misery 

 of solitude on a desolate island. 



And what a difference a little of this 

 kind of rural drapery, tastefully arranged, 

 makes in the aspect of a cottage or farm- 

 house in the country ! At the end of the 

 village, for instance, is that old fashioned 

 stone house, w^hich was the homestead of 

 Tim Steady. First and last, that family 

 lived there two generations ; and every- 

 thing about them had a look of some com- 

 fort. But, with the exception of a coat of 

 paint, which the house got once in ten 

 years, nothing was ever done to give the 

 place the least appearance of taste. An 

 old half-decayed ash tree stood near the 

 south door, and a few decrepid and worn- 

 out apple trees behind the house. But 

 there was not a lilac bush, nor a sj^rin- 

 go, not a rose bush, nor a honeysuckle, about 

 the whole premises. You would never 

 suppose that a spark of affection 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 was a " good well 

 of water ;" the house was in excellent re- 

 pair ; and the location was not a bad one. 

 But, though many went to see it, and 

 " liked the place tolerably well," yet there 

 seemed 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. They 

 bought it at a bargain, and must have fore- 

 seen its capabilities. 



What that house and place is nov/, it 

 ■"/ould 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 dug up, a nice bit of lawn made 

 around the house, and pleasant groups of 

 shrubbery, (mixed with two or three grace- 

 ful elms,) planted about it. But, most of 

 all, what fixes the attention, is the lovely 

 profusion of flowering vines that enrich the 

 old house ; and transform what was a soul- 

 less habitation, into a home that captivates 

 all eyes. Even the old and almost leaf- 

 less ash tree is quite overrun with a creep- 

 er, 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, etc., 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 

 night, and inwardly thanks the fair in- 

 mates for the fragrance that steals through 

 the air in its neighborhood ; and no less 

 certain is it that this house is now the "ad- 

 mired of all admirers," and that the Widow 

 Winning has twice refused double the sum 

 it went begging 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 expres- 

 sion 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 will do both ; or, 

 what is better, they will, with their lovely 

 graceful shapes, and rich foliage and flow- 

 ers, give a new character to the w^hole ex- 

 terior. However ugly the wall, however 

 bald the architecture, only give it this fair 

 drapery of leaf and blossom, and nature 



