fourteen] cultivation 



at it. I guess, Powell, you are right; there is 

 money in the beautiful. How is a fellow to get at 

 it ?" I told him I thought that people in the coun- 

 try did not have the right sort of reading, and in the 

 second place they did not hear or see what was 

 about them. "Write us a book," he said; "make 

 it plain, practical, straightforward, and helpful. 

 I'll read it." 



^ I have kept this idea of the beautiful in view in all 

 my chapters. It must never be lost sight of in 

 making a true country home. In selecting location, 

 m building, in planting, and in all other ways, we 

 seek the trinity of Plato — "The Beautiful, the 

 True, and the Good." One thing about this work 

 is that it is very catching. One man, working out 

 an ideal, sets his neighbors at it. The influence 

 spreads, and the example will constantly be im- 

 proved upon. A recent writer says, "I know a 

 city that was called by Sir Edwin Arnold the Venice 

 of America because of its beauty. There is one 

 street in that city more beautiful than any other; 

 there is one block on that street the most beautiful 

 of all. In that block stands the residence of a 

 United States Senator, and in front of his residence 

 the walks turn about two or three maple trees, that 



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