HOUSE AND GARDEN 
May, 1912 
contrived gem of 
some sort, hidden 
away entirely and 
come upon as a 
surprise. Coming 
towards this spot 
from the opposite 
direction the other 
arch on the farther 
side leads in with 
the same sense of 
ceremonial 
approach — and I 
do not believe that 
anyone, stroll¬ 
ing through this 
garden onto this 
walk, from any¬ 
where, could fail 
to feel a thrill of 
pleasant curiosity 
and real anticipa¬ 
tion at sight of 
either structure. 
Don’t you wish 
you could see now 
what is off to the 
right, behind the 
trim spruce hedge? 
But even the hol¬ 
lyhocks are railed out and may only stretch up their heads as 
high as ever they can and peep over its tantalizing demureness. 
Are you not certain it is something lovely — some secluded bit too 
precious to be revealed without due preparation? Expectancy 
is keyed to its tip-toes by such an arrangement and a shrine of 
rare beauty must lie at hand to satisfy it. If this is not the case, 
if the trip up the steps and through under the arch to the opening- 
in the middle of the hedge, does not bring an exclamation of de¬ 
light and surprise, then the whole arrangement is a failure! 
Worse than that, it is an aggravation and an offence. 
Of course the approach to this particular spot would be dis¬ 
tinctive even if 
the arches 
were omitted, 
and a certain 
expectan¬ 
cy would hov¬ 
er about the 
steps and the 
general plant- 
i n g arrange¬ 
ment — but the 
structures dig¬ 
nify it all, and 
one passes be¬ 
neath their 
span with a 
certain sense 
o f definitely 
entering a pre¬ 
cinct set apart. 
In other 
words, there is 
a psychological 
effect in an 
arch — indeed, 
what is there 
in which there is 
’lot ? 
Although it al¬ 
ways seems hard 
to condemn any¬ 
thing from an old 
New England gar¬ 
den, we must see 
that the arch 
shown in the lower 
left-hand corner of 
this page well il¬ 
lustrates the nega¬ 
tive side of this 
proposition, so far 
as one may judge 
fro m a picture. 
And in this in¬ 
stance we m a y 
judge perfectly 
from the picture, 
for it shows plain¬ 
ly the very thing 
that we shall see 
condemns it. This 
arch does not af¬ 
ford a transition 
from anytliing to 
anything else. The 
scheme demands 
something to complete it. Perhaps in the old days when the 
arch was built, it did not lack — perhaps it is time that has robbed 
it of this completeness, even while it has mellowed it and added 
charm to its surroundings. However that may be, there is a 
fault in the sameness of the treatment before and beyond the 
arch. The boxwood border and the flowers are carried right 
along, and there is no difference after the arch is passed. This 
border and the flowers should stop — should end- at the arch 
either on one side of it or on the other, and a different treatment 
of the walk margin be substituted. The arch itself, spanning 
such a walk, which gives a rising and narrowing jDrospect through 
it from below, 
i s delightful, 
but the walk 
a p proach- 
ing from the 
foreground 
with exactly 
the same bor¬ 
der treatment, 
robs the thing 
of all snap — 
of any force or 
climax. 
Cover the 
lower part of 
the picture up 
to the foot of 
the structure 
itself, if you 
do not believe 
it. and see how 
much more ef¬ 
fective it is. as 
a picture. Im- 
(Contiiiued on 
page 49) 
There is too much sameness in the border on both 
sides of this arch to make it really effective 
These spruce poles with hop-vines over them would 
form effective arches if properly situated 
