HOMES. 137 



for comfort and good taste, not to exploit wealth. 

 Gardens, trees, hedges, orchards, buildings, say 

 plainly, not I am rich, but I am AT HOME. 



Perhaps I have said enough in the course of my 

 book to make it unnecessary to say here that nothing 

 of this sort can be accomplished in the way of making 

 a true home without sympathy with nature. A per- 

 son who understands a bush gets in love with it, and 

 knows what to do with it. ; and it must be understood 

 that every bush has a character of its own. You 

 may almost say that every tree has a moral character 

 of its own. It is good in one place, .and it is bad in 

 another. Horticulture consists first of all in estab- 

 lishing this intimate acquaintance. If it is not 

 established, you can do nothing in the way of wise 

 planting. A city girl visiting my place enjoyed it 

 immensely ; but, after running about, picking flowers, 

 and eating fruit for some hours, she sat down on the 

 steps of the house, and taking a survey of the whole, 

 said, "Well, it's immensely pretty, but it must be 

 awful lonely here." "To be sure," I said, "to you. 

 But don't you see, you don't know anybody here. 

 But to us all these trees and plants have souls. We 

 are all acquainted, and we all understand each other 

 out here. The bushes, and the hedges, and the trees 

 make a crowd of good company. Your friends all 

 put on golf suits; but mine grow golf suits." The 

 poor girl could not have possibly enjoyed the most 

 beautiful country life for over one day. Her char- 

 acter had never grown a bush; her soul had never 

 developed a rosebud. 



Now, dear readers, I hope there are many of 

 you Good-by! I shall leave you at this point, as I 



