VINES AND CLIMBING PLANTS. 
299 
inappropriate here to remark how much may be done in the 
country, and indeed even in town, by using vines and 
creepers to decorate buildings. The cottage in this coun- 
try, too rarely conveys the idea of comfort and happiness 
which we wish to attach to such a habitation, and chiefly 
because so often it stands bleak, solitary, and exposed to every 
ray of our summer sun, with a scanty robe of foliage to 
shelter it. How different such edifices, however humble, 
become when the porch is overhung with climbing plants, — • 
when the blushing rose-buds peep in at the window sill, or 
the ripe purple clusters of the grape hang down about the 
eaves, those who have seen the better cottages of England, 
well know. Yery little care and very trifling expense, will 
procure all the additional beauty ; and it is truly wonderful 
how much so little once done, adds to the happiness of the 
inmates. Every man feels prouder of his home, when it is 
a pleasant spot for the eye to rest upon, than when it is situ- 
ated in a desert, or overgrown with weeds. Besides this, 
tasteful embellishment has a tendency to refine the feelings 
of every member of the family; and every leisure hour 
spent in rendering more lovely and agreeable even the hum- 
blest cottage, is infinitely better employed than in lounging 
about in idle and useless dissipation. 
