THE CITY YARD 



and so that the lines of composition tend toward 

 it, It will remain a focus, and the eye will seek It. 

 Or, for purposes of emphasis, a stout bush, a 

 group of showy flowers, a tree, an old trunk cov- 

 ered with vine, a mass of morning-glory clam- 

 bering up the pole of a bird-house: these will 

 serve. 



Now, It may be that the house Is rented, and 

 the owner will not permit liberties to be taken 

 with his real estate. You never can tell what 

 manner of man an owner Is going to be, when 

 you sign a lease. A certain tenant whom I know 

 had trained with care and affection a Boston ivy 

 to cover a house front. It was a wondrous re- 

 lief to a bleakly unimportant street. The vine 

 broke Into color early and kept of a polished 

 and healthful green for six months. Along 

 comes the landlord, looks at It, and remarks, 

 *'Well, when that stuff's all cut off, and a good 

 coat of paint's put over them bricks, that'll be a 

 good-lookin' house again." That Is the sort of 

 being who Is likely to object to spading and 

 planting, because they might interfere with the 

 setting out of clothes-poles. A popular kind of 

 yard, of his devising, is this: 

 49 



