FLIGHT OF THE WOOD-NYMPHS. 325 



mind. The ladies gave up their impulses in favor of 

 the cold rules of professional taste. The stonewall was 

 removed; the wild rose and the eglantine were de- 

 stroyed ; the flowering shrubs that formed, on each side 

 of it, a glistening row of bloom and verdure, were 

 rooted up; a neat paling fence was erected as a tem- 

 porary boundary, and a hedge of buckthorn was planted 

 all around the old pasture ! 



The lawn in front of the mansion was inclosed by 

 an ornamental fence, and the narrow footpath that led 

 up to the rude door step of the cottage, meeting in its 

 course an occasional tuft of spiraea and low laurel, 

 gave place to a neatly gravelled walk, four feet six 

 inches wide, and shaped into a graceful serpentine 

 curve. The inclosure was filled with exotic shrubbery ; 

 and silver maples, silver poplars, and silver firs stood at 

 proper distances, like sentinels to guard the portals of 

 this temple. The grounds were likewise embellished 

 with statuary, and large marble vases, holding some 

 flaunting exotic, stood in their assigned positions. 



Two years had not elapsed before the design of the 

 improver was completed, and the whole aspect of the 

 place was changed, as if by enchantment. The rustic 

 cart paths that led over the hills, and through the woods 

 and valleys, were widened and covered with a neat 

 spread of gravel, and all their crooked outlines were 

 trimmed into a graceful shape. An air of neatness 

 was apparent in every direction. The undergrowth of 

 the wood was removed, certain misshapen trees were 

 cut down, and all rubbish was taken away that could 

 afford a harbor to noxious insects or mischievous quad- 

 rupeds. The lake that was embroidered with alders, 

 swamp roses, button bushes, the fragrant clethra and 

 the drooping andromeda, was improved by the removal 



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