shrubs and trees had been mo^ intelHgently cultivated for 

 years. It was a place of delightful color, of pine woods, fore^ 

 walks, and di^ant pi(5tures of the sea. The modest house was 

 set upon a terrace and the flower garden opened direcftly from 

 the hall toward the ocean. They knew more than I did about 

 the flowers but they were good enough to ask for some sug- 

 gestions to relieve the distances with ornaments, as one might 

 say, to add accents to the place. This has been done in such a 

 way that one is not conscious that it has been ornamented but 

 here and there, often hidden from immediate view, have been 

 placed modest but carefully thought out objects of intere^ 

 and beauty — which seem as though they ought to be where 

 they are, and unobtrusively give a real dignity and signifi- 

 cance to the whole e^ate, adding unexpecfled charm and com- 

 fortable elegance to a rarely thoughtful and harmonious whole. 



Although materials are less important than form in the 

 design of garden ornaments yet one feels, at lea^ in the North, 

 that the quiet tones of ^one are often preferable to the bril- 

 liancy of marbles, anyway of white marbles, and things that 

 would look lovely in the brilliant sun of Italy are oft mis- 

 placed in our grayer air. Then, too, that same element of time 

 has spread its softening influence over the gardens of the Old 

 World and touched with gray and brown the surfaces of 

 marbles that were once as new and white as ours. 



How often have I strolled down the long easy ^eps from 

 San Miniato and come out upon the Piazza Michael Angelo, 

 overlooking Florence through the spires of the old cypress 

 trees, and seen the beautiful city beyond with its silver ^em 

 of the Arno, its bridges and its graceful flowers. And how 

 deeply the sense of harmony impressed my youthful mind; 

 so much so that it did more for what little knowledge of gar- 

 den ornamentation I possess than all the technical schooling 



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