AN OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN 29 



AN OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN 1 



AN old-fashioned garden ? Yes, my dear, 

 No doubt it is. I was thinking here 

 Only to-day, as I sat in the sun, 

 How fair was the scene I looked upon ; 

 Yet wondered still, with a vague surpi-ise, 

 How it might look to other eyes. 



So quiet it is, so cool and still, 



In the green retreat of the shady hill! 



And you scarce can tell as you look within, 



Where the garden ends, and the woods begin. 



But here, where we stand, what a blaze of light, 



What a wealth of colour, makes glad the sight ! 



Red roses burn in the morning glow ; 

 White roses proffer their cups of snow ; 

 In scarlet and crimson and cloth-of-gold 

 The zinnias flaunt, and the marigold ; 

 And stately and tall the lilies stand, 

 Like vestal virgins, on either hand. 



Here gay sweet peas, like butterflies, 

 Flutter and dance under summer skies ; 

 Blue violets here in the shade are set, 

 With a border of fragrant mignonette ; 

 And here are pansies and columbine, 

 And the burning stars of the cypress vine. 



1 From Poems by Julia C. R. Dorr ; copyright, 1879, 1885, 

 1892, by Charles Scribner's Sons. 



