VOICE OF time that it preserves its privacy and aristoc- 



THE GARDEN . . , , 



racy, showing man above and supreme over 



nature. 



If the garden be too formal it makes the 

 home too separate from the larger life, too con- 

 ventional, "unnatural." If it be too natural, 

 and careless, and artless, it fails to mark that 

 rising above mere nature by culture and cul- 

 tivation which art symbolizes, and which 

 civilized home ought to mean. 



It is this evidence of intelligent human con- 

 trol of nature that gives to the formal in art its 

 severe and stately beauty. It imparts to the 

 garden a dignity which it could not otherwise 

 have, and for that air of repose which every 

 garden should have there must be an impres- 

 sion of dignity. But if the beauty be lacking 

 in the grace and charm which greater freedom 

 gives to plant and flower we do not find in it 

 that refreshment of mind and heart which we 

 seek in communion with nature. 



It would seem, therefore, that the most com- 

 pletely satisfying style is what one has aptly 



[40! 



