THE COUNTRY YARD 



Arbors are to be viewed askant, unless at a 

 remove from the house. They contribute to a 

 crowded and top-heavy effect, unless there are 

 individual reasons for them, such as the outdoor 

 tea habit or a fondness for reading in the shade; 

 but it would suit with a Spanish mission walk if 

 the farther reach of it were roofed by a pergola, 

 slight and simple as possible in construction, and 

 covered with climbing roses and honeysuckle — 

 though the latter is so dense in its mode of 

 growth that it shuts off air and light, even in 

 winter, unless it is often trimmed — and opening 

 on the yard in little arches or square windows. 

 Such a walk w^ould be for lonely contemplation, 

 and would be for a poet, or an Englishman. 



And If an Englishman, and he really wishes 

 seclusion — otherwise he is an American — and he 

 IS the owner of the property, he can substitute for 

 the cheap, ugly, unlasting fence, which still sur- 

 vives in the village, a brick wall which will give 

 a support to his vines and a shield to all his gar- 

 den from the winds. They are not a lasting joy 

 to contemplate — bricks aren't — especially In sea- 

 sons when the leaves are off, but it Is possible to 

 mitigate the plainness of a wall of them by insets 

 II I 



