ON FEMININE TASTE IN RURAL AFFAIRS. 47 



all the rooms open into each other ; or, at least, as many of the 

 largest as will produce a fine effect. In an English house, every 

 room is complete in itself. It may be very large, and very grand, 

 but it is all the worse for being connected with any other room ; for 

 that destroys the privacy which an Englishman so much loves. 



Does any one, familiar with the progress of building in the 

 United States for the last ten years, desire to be told which mode 

 we have followed ? And yet, there are very few who are aware 

 that our love of folding-doors, and suites of apartments, is essen- 

 tially French. 



Now our national taste in gardening and out-door employments, 

 is just in the process of formation. Honestly and ardently be- 

 lieving that the loveliest and best women in the world are those of 

 our own country, we cannot think of their losing so much of their 

 own and nature's bloom, as only to enjoy their gardens by the 

 results, like the French, rather than through the development, like 

 the English. We would gladly show them how much they lose. 

 We would convince them, that only to pluck the full-blown flower, 

 is like a first introduction to it, compared with the life-long friend- 

 ship of its mistress, who has nursed it from its first two leaves ; and 

 that the real zest of our enjoyment of nature, even in a garden, lies 

 in our looking at her, not like a spectator who admires, but like a 

 dear and intimate friend, to whom, after long intimacy, she reveals 

 sweets wholly hidden from those who only come to her in full drees, 

 and in the attitude of formal visitors. 



If any one wishes to know how completely and intensely Eng- 

 lish women enter into the spirit of gardening, he has only to watch 

 the wife of the most humble artisan who settles in any of our cities. 

 Sl^e not only has a pot of flowers her back-yard is a perfect curi- 

 osity-shop of botanical rarities. She is never done with training, 

 and watering, and caring for them. And truly, they reward her 

 well ; for who ever saw such large geraniums, such fresh daisies, 

 such ruddy roses ! Comparing them with the neglected and weak 

 specimens in the garden of her neighbor, one might be tempted to 

 believe that they had been magnetized by the charm of personal 

 fondness of their mistress, into a life and beauty not common to 

 other plants. 



