Picturesque English Cottages and Their Doorway Gardens 
A COTTAGE AT NORTON 
with charming effect. There is a wealth of 
fair flowers on each side, and at the end 
come stone steps leading to a terrace, which 
probably was formerly attached to a more 
important habitation. 
Our great landowners have often ex¬ 
pended much thought and care upon the 
gate-houses at the entrances to their parks. 
Some of their efforts can scarcely be consid¬ 
ered successful, and follow the lines of the 
debased style of Gothic architecture or are 
imperfect copies of the Italian style of Pal¬ 
ladio with its pseudo-classicism and elaborate 
pretentiousness. Such cottages seem out of 
place in an English landscape ; they fail to 
harmonize with our scenery, and contrast in¬ 
differently with the native style of the Eng¬ 
lish rural home of which we possess so many 
beautiful and picturesque examples. Far 
better is it to follow our traditional mode of 
building, and to have at the entrance of our 
parks some such fair old English cottage as 
that shown in the accompanying view of 
Westover Lodge, near Calborne, in the Isle 
of Wight, with its thatched roof gracefully 
curved at the eaves, its lattice windows and 
its walls mantled with ivy and girt by the 
luxuriant foliage of trees. Such a cottage 
fits in well with its surroundings and does 
not obtrude itself or look out of place. 
Besides the beauties of our cottage gar¬ 
dens, they have their uses. The rural 
exodus is one of the most alarming features 
of our social and industrial life. Peasants 
leave the villages destitute 
and flock to our large towns, 
believing that London and 
other great centers are paved 
with gold. They soon dis¬ 
cover their mistake, and the 
loss of the garden with its 
crops of vegetables, enough 
to feed the family through¬ 
out the year, is one of the 
first steps in their rude awak¬ 
ening. The garden, too, is 
their medicine chest which 
affords cures for all kinds of 
simple maladies, especially 
when they are used in faith. 
It affords much happiness to 
him who cultivates it, and 
tells of the joy and cheerful¬ 
ness of life, and makes for the blessedness 
of sweet content. 
Trees and flowers, also, have their folk 
and fairy lore, and can work wonders for 
those who believe in their powers. The ash 
and the maple are wonder-working trees. 
They will give long life to children who are 
passed through their branches or through a 
hole cut in a youthful trunk. More than a 
hundred years ago maidens scattered hemp- 
seed in order to discover their future hus¬ 
bands, repeating the words : 
“ Hempseed I sow, hempseed I sow. 
And he that is my true love come after me and mow.” 
The stems of the bracken when cut disclose 
the initials of a lover, and the dandelion 
when its seeds are ripe will tell, when blown 
upon, how many years will elapse before the 
happy event will take place. Should a cow 
break into the garden, a death will shortly 
occur in the family. Plants foretell death 
with extraordinary exactitude. The yellow 
broom or a branch of yew brings death 
when brought into a house, and an apple- 
tree blooming twice in the year presages a 
decease. 
The ash-tree can work wonders. If you 
have a wart you must prick it with a pin, 
and then stick it into the bark of the tree 
and repeat the rhyme : 
“ Ashen-tree, ashen-tree. 
Pray buy these warts of me.” 
Cowslips will cure paralysis, and are some¬ 
times called in the country “ palsyworts.” 
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