THE AMATEUR GARDEN 



path is sent on a plain business errand it should 

 never loaf. And yet those lines of a garden's 

 layout which are designed not for business but 

 for pleasure, should never behave as though they 

 were on business; they should loiter just enough 

 to make their guests feel at ease, while not 

 enough to waste time. How like a perfect lady, 

 or a perfect gentleman, is — however humble or 

 exalted its rank — a garden with courtly man- 

 ners! 



As to manners, our incipient American garden 

 has already developed one trait which dis- 

 tinguishes it from those beyond the Atlantic. 

 It is a habit which reminds one of what some- 

 body has lately said about Americans them- 

 selves: that, whoever they are and whatever 

 their manners may be, they have this to their 

 credit, that they unfailingly desire and propose 

 to be polite. The thing we are hinting at is our 

 American gardens' excessive openness. Our peo- 

 ple have, or until just now had, almost abolished 

 the fence and the hedge. A gard, yard, garth, 

 garden, used to mean an enclosure, a close, and 

 implied a privacy to its owner superior to any 



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