SIDE SHOWS 



157 



household, how they loved this miniature bower where they 

 could play at ' keeping house ' to their hearts' content." 1 



Crossing the water, we get, if possible, more glowing pic- 

 tures still. Everybody who has had the luck to peep at English 

 gardens, not the stately ones adjoining great manor houses, 

 but those snug gardens belonging to cottage life, must 

 have a longing to 

 adapt some of these 

 ideas to the Ameri- 

 can yard. The idea 

 would be more far- 

 reaching than merely 

 the production of a 

 tangled mass of green- 

 ery, which at its best 

 harbors a swarm of 

 insects, although such 

 a thicket in the land- 

 scape is doubtless a 

 step in advance of 

 mere barren wastes. 

 But our English cous- 

 ins have developed 

 by long training a 

 rare perception for 

 exactly the elements that produce cosiness and comfort. 

 Many secrets in the art of home making they can teach a 

 willing learner. Not the least of these is the effective use of 

 the back yard. In their skillful hands the back yard becomes 

 the outdoor living room, a real withdrawing room. It consti- 

 tutes the very pivot of restful life, giving charm to reading, 

 sewing, and the lighter meals of the day. 



1 Loring Undenvood, The Garden and its Accessories. 



HER OWN CRIMSON RAMBLER 



