COMMON SENSE GARDENS 



their fellow countrymen in the South who lived 

 in a land that literally flowed with milk and honey. 

 And at no period of his career did the New Eng- 

 lander of yore embrace the fashion of princely 

 living as it is called to-day, for it was a fashion 

 that was opposed to his teachings and against the 

 precepts that had been bred in his bone for genera- 

 tions. Even though unwonted prosperity came 

 eventually to dull his Puritan conscience he was 

 quite content to lay out a modest garden adjoin- 

 ing his house, which was generally in town. This 

 back yard, which in reality is what it was, he 

 enclosed with a high fence or wall and used as 

 the old Roman gardens or the gardens of the 

 Renaissance were used, as a secluded room of his 

 house in which to transact important business 

 with privacy; as a sanctuary from the thousand 

 and one worries of everyday life; as a retreat to 

 which to repair in the heat of the day, or in which 

 to recline beneath his own vine and fig tree when 

 the sun was sinking below the tree- tops. There 

 wine and cake were served to the guest upon 

 arrival, or to the casual visitor even if he came 

 within an hour of mealtime, as tea arid toast are 



