IMPROVEMENT SOCIETIES 



can be entirely avoided. This is the only way 

 in which general harmony of decorative plant- 

 ing can be secured in a block. So long as we 

 shut ourselves up within the lines which sepa- 

 rate us from our neighbors according to the 

 "metes and bounds" of the surveyor, and 

 work independently in the development of the 

 home grounds, so long will our villages bear 

 witness to lack pf unity, and convict us of self- 

 ish narrow r ness in refusing to consider the inter- 

 ests of the community as superior to the 

 interest of the individual. Let us work together 

 and lose sight of the boundary-line in antici- 

 pation of the beauty which may result there- 

 from. The abolition of the line fence between 

 village lots was a long step in the right direc- 

 tion. It should be followed by a union of 

 work and plan in making the space between 

 our homes so artistic in its effect that each 

 owner can take pride in it, and feel that his 

 interests are not confined wholly to his side of 

 the lot. Here is where the truth of the old 

 saying that in union there is strength can be 

 forcibly illustrated in every community where 

 houses stand near one another. Ask any land- 

 scape gardener what he thinks of this sugges- 

 tion, and I am quite sure that he will tell you 



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