ON RURAL EMBELLISHMENT. 263 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



ON RURAL EMBELLISHMENT. 



There are few things better calculated to attach us to 

 our HOMES, — where the social virtues love to congre- 

 gate, and to dispense their blessings, than rural embel- 

 lishments. This is true whether we apply the term to 

 our neighborhood or individual abode. The public grounds 

 about the great cities of the old continent, some of which 

 comprise an area of five hundred acres, are the theme of 

 general admiration, the theatres of healthful exercise and 

 recreation, and the sources of high intellectual enjoyment. 

 The lesser towns and villages, even of our own country, 

 owe more of their charm and interest to the trees and 

 plants which embellish their squares, streets, and grounds, 

 in the eye of a man of taste, than to any ostentatious show 

 of brick and mortar — more to the beauties of Nature, 

 than to the works of man. Nay, the highest efforts of 

 the human intellect are in vain put in requisition to imitate 

 the handiworks of the Creator. And when we come 

 down to the suburban residence, and even to the unostenta- 

 tious abode of the farmer, how are their beauties height- 

 ened, and their value enhanced, by a screen of ornamen- 

 tal trees, and a well-kept garden. 



Loudon tells us, that in travelling from Strasburgh to 

 Munich, he passed through a continued avenue of forest 

 and fruit trees, planted on both sides of the highway, for 

 more than one hundred miles. Who that has passed 

 through New England, in summer, has not admired the 

 beautiful trees with which he is in a measure enshroud- 

 ed.'' The great objection to planting is, that one may 

 not live to enjoy the fruit or the shade of the trees which 

 he plants. Such an objection is unworthy of the age, 

 which should, if it does not, have regard to the interests 

 of the human family, and of posterity, — and is, besides, 

 affecting to hold a shorter tenure of life than all of us hope 

 22 XV. 



