THE LURE OF THE GARDEN 
sentiment as the peas and beans and cabbage fed the 
body. 
There is something singularly touching to us of the 
present generation in these old gardens, as we find them 
now in the old towns, scarcely changed inside their 
high brick walls, and within whose circumscribed space 
so many frail and busy hands found joyful labor, so 
many patient eyes a calm delight. As the iron softened 
in the soul of the people and happiness and beauty 
were no longer regarded as sins, the utilitarian side of 
the garden was less insisted upon, fruits and vegetables 
were relegated to a place of their own, and the trium¬ 
phant flowers gaily overran the spaces left vacant. This 
was about the hour that our actual grandmothers came 
in at the gate, and inaugurated the most charming era 
of the American garden. On the stern foundation pre¬ 
pared by their mothers, they laid a softening touch, 
breathed a more glowing summons over slip and bulb 
and seed, and were franker of their love. 
In an ancient part of Salem, Massachusetts, two old 
maiden ladies occupy a commodious but simple frame¬ 
house that has altered little during the century and more 
of its existence. A strip of grass and shrubbery inter¬ 
pose between house and street, while to the left, over 
the palings, one can see the path curving round invit¬ 
ingly and plunging into the green depths beyond. 
Follow this path, and a charming old garden reveals 
itself. Cherry-trees and wistaria overarch it, disputing 
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