The ideal is to set a house back far enough to enjoy privacy and a view in front and side yards. House and grounds look better if they are not all visible from the street and the 
return view of lawn and shrubbery is better than any street view 
Planting for Privacy of the Home WILH Sl,!£i LLER 
THE CHANGED ATTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE TOWARD THE PURPOSE OF A GARDEN— HOW THE TRANSITION HAS 
COME ABOUT 
I T IS the automobile, I believe, that 
has done more than any other one 
thing to make privacy popular in 
America. Fifteen years ago the common 
idea of “solid comfort” was to sit in a rocking 
chair on the big front porch where one could 
see everyone who passed by. That was all 
very well in the days before electric street 
cars and asphalt streets, when an occasional 
buggy came by on the fragrant and silent cedar 
blocks and father looked up from his paper 
now and then to greet a friend on the 
sidewalk. But times have changed. 
City thoroughfares now roar with 
traffic, and even on the residential 
streets home-owners commonly com- 
plain that the passing show is too 
much of a good thing. People flock 
to the suburbs and the country to 
escape it, and the old-fashioned open 
front porch, built for dress parade, 
has given way to the retired side or 
back porch which is screened and 
often used as a summer dining room. 
It is too much to say that we as 
yet have a national passion for pri- 
vacy as the English have, but the 
change in public opinion amounts 
almost to a revolution. Middle-aged 
people can remember that when they 
were young “privacy” and “snob- 
bishness” were considered by most 
persons to be the same thing. High 
walls and hedges were thought to be 
“ exclusive” and “ unamerican.” Yet 
nowadays some of the most hospit- 
able and friendly people in the world 
earnestly assert that privacy and de- 
mocracy are entirely compatible, while some 
declare that in order to preserve decency, 
self respect, and the finer features of home life 
a certain amount of privacy out-of-doors is 
absolutely essential. 
Until the end of time, I dare say, people will 
differ honestly as to whether a seven-foot wall 
is exclusive or not. I must confess that I have 
seen some walls that say very plainly “I want 
people to keep out unless they are invited” 
or “My owner is a very rich man, as you can 
tell by the amount of money spent upon me!” 
But there are other seven-foot walls that seem 
to say “Those who live here are fond of peace 
and beauty, and they believe their friends will 
be doubly happy here because this garden spot 
is a bit retired from the world.” Such people 
always managed to put a touch of friendliness 
into bricks and mortar and there is a smile of 
welcome at the gate. I know a few persons 
who frankly say they do not care what the 
public thinks. But most people who can 
afford to build brick walls care very much in- 
deed what the public thinks. They do not 
wish to lose the good opinion of their 
town. And there is no reason why 
such a sacrifice need be made nowa- 
days. We have tasteful architects 
who can build the right kind of walls. 
Or if a wall seems questionable the 
shrubbery border is safer, because 
it rises gradually and the town has 
time to adjust itself to the change in 
the social atmosphere. 
The arguments for privacy seem to 
me all of one piece, but among the 
people who have actually enclosed 
their front yards there seem to be 
five worthy points of view, any one of 
which may be the original motive. 
Among these I do not include display 
or exclusiveness, as these seem less 
worthy. 
First, then, is the point of view of 
the people who are sensitive to un- 
sightly objects. They do not like 
to look out of parlor or living room 
and see poles, wires, vacant lots full 
of weeds or strewn with rubbish. 
They do not like to see the com- 
One of the commonest mistakes is made by amateurs who wish to screen their 
side yards. They put tall shrubbery at the back line of the house, instead of 
the front. That arrangement exposes the side yard to the public gaze, while 
this protects it 
109 
