16 SUBURBAN GARDENS 
is possible, out under the blue in the fragrant 
sweetness of a true garden. 
Yet in the street there is the same cool shade 
that there has always been, from trees along 
the curb; the same refreshing strips of emerald 
turf beneath them; a flicker of light and 
shadow in the vines growing on garden walls 
and house facades; gleams of color from 
blossoms in window boxes; and glimpses beyond 
into delightful garden retreats — glimpses that 
are infinitely more alluring than the endless bits 
of lawn that stretch monotonously back from 
the sidewalk to the inevitable clotheslines of 
present day back yards. And finally there is 
restful unity of purpose taking the place of 
what is to-day, at best, lack of harmony and 
uncertainty — an uncertainty that is inevitable 
when the appearance and general effect of each 
place from the ground up is so dependent upon 
the general effect of its neighbors, and of all the 
others in its block, standing as they do in the 
open and all together. 
I am inclined to think that we have departed 
so far from the sensible, reasonable arrange- 
ment practiced by older peoples — by our own 
ancestors here, indeed, in early times, as old 
villages in many parts of the country still bear 
witness — through a fundamental misconception 
