' A'ApTW 
A SUMMER WINDOW-BOX. 
THE BALCONY AND WINDOW GARDEN. 
See, light darts down from heaven, 
And enters where it may ; 
The eyes of all the people 
Are cheered with one bright day. 
And let the mind’s true sunshine 
Be spread o’er earth as free, 
And fill the souls of men 
As the waters fill the sea. 
From the German. 
CHAPTER I. 
TOWN BALCONIES. 
H OMELY recreations, in common with all other pleasures, are capable 
of abuse, and it may be well, now we are to consider about the 
embellishment of windows, to offer a kindly warning to all who read this 
book. The cultivation of the aquarium, the fern-case, and the formation of 
a window garden, may jointly and severally operate to the ruin of a house¬ 
hold by excluding from it the light of heaven and the common atmosphere 
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