CHAPTER XVI 



NEW BEAUTY IN PERGOLAS AND VERANDAHS 



ON those golden summer days when bird, bee and flower 

 seem possessed by a common passion for the joy of life 

 we like to turn our steps towards those spots in the 

 garden where the shadows live. Near the verandah they 

 lie all but still, reflective but not morose ; serious, but 

 not sombre. Around the pergola, where the branches of 

 the creepers swing sleepily, they have the gentle play of 

 white-banded nuns. 



These summer shadows give a spirit of peace and 

 repose to the garden. The flowers have a softened hue, 

 such as one sees in the Water-lilies that nestle, half 

 submerged, amid the shelter of cool reeds. The robin 

 loves to swell his ruddy throat in a vain attempt to match 

 the glow of the Roses that twine around the pillars. 

 The tits twirl and bounce in the twigs and thickets of the 

 pergola with as happy a freedom as they play in the 

 clumps of blackthorn along the slow waterways of the 

 marshland. 



Shall we not, in the gloomy days of winter, project our 

 thoughts to the summer and provide pergolas in gardens 

 which now do not know them ? Is not the very thought 

 inspiring ? It may be that the lethargy of damp and 

 heavy surroundings has settled upon us ; if so, the 

 spring to action in search of site, timber and plants will 

 send the spin of new life along our veins. 



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