XVI 

 THE SAGE SAG HARBOR HOME 



Mrs. Sage selected a home in Sag Harbor 

 because she had many relatives and associations 

 there. The old homestead she had lived in as a 

 child, and the entire town, recalled memories 

 of her youth. 



The house she finally bought had been, fifty 

 years ago, the domicile of an old whaling merchant, 

 and had the simplicity and dignity of the best 

 houses of that period. High Colonial columns set 

 off the front, extending two stories, as one often 

 sees in New England. Such a place, it was 

 thought, should be kept with as little change as 

 possible, so much only as was essential to fit 

 the necessities and comforts of modern days. 



A fence made of round, white pickets, quaint 

 and in keeping with the buildings, enclosed about 

 three acres of ground. The lawn in front of the 

 house was dignified by the presence of three or 

 four great arching elms, with trunks three feet 

 in diameter and about sixty feet high. Along 

 the side of the house was a border of box and a 

 little terrace across reaching a lower level. Old- 

 fashioned flowers peeped up in corners and nooks. 

 The entire grounds had a distinctly old-iime air. 



It was not easy to suggest a landscape treat- 



[65] 



