The Seen and the Unseen 



Strange, isn't it, what a hold a little 

 old place like this can lay upon your 

 affections? No, not necessarily upon 

 yours, but mine. A lot of our ac- 

 quaintances wonder, I suppose, what 

 in the world I can see in it. Well, it is 

 often the unseen rather than the scene 

 itself that binds, and to the casual 

 visitor the real treasured growths en- 

 twined about these walls and doorways 

 are quite invisible. That Ampelopsis 

 clinging so tightly with its tiny little 

 tendrils apparently feels as I do about 

 it. It never had to be forced or 

 assisted or its attachment stimulated 

 or maintained by any outside help. 

 From the first day I had my foot upon 

 this particular bit of soil I began to 

 take root and try to make the place 

 my own, just as that ivy has spread 

 its green drapery thickly and closely 

 all about the spaces it has completely 

 and persistently invested. The wood- 

 bine that serves now so gracefully as 

 an outer curtain on the latticed win- 



[ii] 



