1892.] ESSAYS. 137 



premises. In Dickens's story of the haunted house, the ghosts 

 were found to have their home in the cesspool in the cellar, and 

 no doubt some modern houses are haunted in the same way. 

 Ghosts of this nature lurk in every filthy hole and hide in the 

 damp walls, until they get a chance to prey upon some unlucky 

 human occupant whose physical and mental condition is suitable 

 to appease their appetite, when they pounce upon him and revel 

 in his fevered brain and flesh. 



Perhaps I ought not to close this paper without saying some- 

 thing al)out the outside environs of our houses. Of course the 

 outside surroundino:s are not so essential as interior conveniences 

 and cleanliness, and proper drainage and ventilation ; but the 

 grounds around a dwelling, when beautified by a good lawn, 

 flowers, shrubbery and shade-trees, are always greatly improved 

 and made more attractive. The secret of good outside adorn- 

 ment, like inside decoration, is the absence of fuss and feathers 

 and the presence of naturalness and an air of solid comfort in 

 keeping with the house and outbuildings. Nothing should be 

 too set and formal. Untrodden walks with pine borders, artifi- 

 cial rockeries, grottoes and cast-iron dogs and deer, give to a 

 lawn an unnatural and fixed-up aspect, which impresses the be- 

 holder with the idea that the place is kept for show rather than 

 for use. A lawn too nice for children to play on or for grown-up 

 people to walk and lounge on, had better be kept under a glass 

 for the sole use of its prim and selfish owner, who is probably 

 dead to the joyous wantonness and vigor of nature and a slave 

 to all the repressing proprieties of life. Better far are the wild 

 tangles of brier and brush around a house on an abandoned farm 

 than excessive primness on an over-cared-for city lawn. As a 

 general thins^ we do not need the services of a high-toned land- 

 scape gardener and a brace of surveyors to lay out at great ex- 

 pense, our grounds on a dead level and with perfect regularity, 

 but we do need a little good taste and a sufficient love of nature 

 to brino- the iz^lories of the woods and fields around our doors. 



When our grounds are large enough a vegetable garden, 

 fruit-trees and berry bushes, properly located, are not out of 

 place, but rather aid in giving the premises a homelike ap- 

 pearance. A home is a place for health and comfort, shelter 



