GARDENS NEAR THE SEA 



together, while the peonies in the bud await their 

 opportunity. 



This terraced garden, while different in arrange- 

 ment, exhales somewhat the same gentle power as 

 the one shown in plate Ixxi., also a garden of Salem, 

 one well planned and tended. It holds no rare or 

 unusual plants, but again are seen the fruit trees, 

 box edgings, vine-covered walls and arches, faithful 

 ferns, and garden plants. 



Most of the old Salem gardens are well secluded 

 from the surrounding traffic of humanity. They 

 lie usually at the back of the houses, many of them 

 being terraced down to the edge of the water. Often 

 no hint of their existence is gained when the front door 

 of the home is entered. By means of large trees, 

 surrounding fences, and hedges, they are held as com- 

 pletely in privacy as if they were far away from build- 

 ings, street cars, and the varied activities of trade. 

 To the inhabitants of these homes the gardens have 

 been a great solace; the love of them is evident in the 

 tender care they receive, and in their owners' loyalty 

 to their individualities. For as years come and go, 

 these gardens change slightly. The noises of steam 

 cars, factory bells, and the like cannot be excluded, 

 but they are rendered less poignant by the swish of 

 the wind in the trees, the hum of the bees about the 

 flowers, and the songs of the birds making nests. \ 



Gardens of less regularity than many of those of 

 Salem can hardly be pictured. Flowers have simply 

 been planted where ground was owned and available. 

 Yet it is hardly in this occasional freedom from sym- 



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