156 GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 
rather the coneern of the trained landscape architect than of 
the ambitious young fledgling, so that one would be rash 
indeed in these few pages to suggest changes. 
Permit us, however, to take a look at the back yard. This 
can seldom be called too civilized or too conventional. On 
the contrary, it remains in savagery. Its gods are apparently 
the washtub and the flapping clothesline. The services of 
A LITTLE BACK YARD 
a missionary are certainly required. So little are the possi- 
bilities of a back yard appreciated that a proposition to make 
it beautiful has many a time been greeted with derision. That 
the back yard is probably tiny is a foregone conclusion, but 
so was the old Salem garden whose summerhouse is thus 
described. " What a refreshing sense of comfort these vine- 
covered structures gave to the little back-yard gardens. Here 
the housewife would come to shell peas and pare apples, or 
to read awhile in the cool shade after a hot fight with the 
unwelcome weeds of the garden. And the children of the 
