Richmond and Vicinity 



which bore mute testimony to the love of the owner, for never 

 have shrubs and flowers reached such perfection. Lilacs and snow- 

 balls, mock oranges, crepe myrtles, white and yellow jessamines, 

 calycanthus bushes, winter honeysuckle — all blooming in profusion. 

 Roses, a perfect riot of roses — tea roses, moss roses. Giant of Bat- 

 tle, York and Lancaster, Seven Sisters — roses everywhere, clamber- 

 ing over fences, up the old pear tree, anywhere, everywhere! The 

 hyacinths and daffodils, snowdrops and tulips, white and purple 

 violets peeping through the snow. The tiny "lady iris," with its 

 faint elusive odor, which mammy said "nobody but 'ristocrats 

 could smell." Summer-houses, covered with roses and carpeted 

 with periwinkle, were on either side of the moss-grown brick walk 

 leading to the gate, while magnolia trees, with their wax-like 

 flowers, were a delight to the eye. 



A large evergreen, called the "Tree of Heaven," grew on one 

 side of the porch near the greenhouse, its branches hanging grace- 

 fully down. On the other side was a most beautiful double-flower- 

 ing crab-apple tree. I have seen old-time "hack drivers" point this 

 out to tourists on their sight-seeing expeditions. 



Much of the beauty and charm of this garden was still there 

 when, in later years, my father was called to the rectorship of St. 

 John's Church, and this house was used as a rectory, and as the 

 shadows lengthened around the old home, the laughter of children 

 and the song of birds were once more heard in the evening air. 



Penelope Wright Weddell Anderson. 



[77] 



