Litchfield enquirer., 1858-07-08
PEEPS FROM A CITY WINDOW.

People may talk as much as they please ot continental tours, extended travels, and sys
 tematic sight seeing, but he who can't find something to busy his eyes and occupy his thoughts even in the circunscribed space yisl-
 ble from a city back window, must be essen tially deficient in the organ of Human Nature.
 ! ou can read a mans character twice as we'll from glimpse into lis backyard as from a front view" The street aspect of most | houses presents m0notoBOus decorum-a per petual company polish" but in the rear, this restraint is pretty generally thrown of. Thith- CT comes the proprietor to smoke his cigar or
 lounge on the piazza, if idle to peruzs book or newspaper, if studiously inclined, or to frol- ic with the children, if lie happened to possess 1 the responsibilities of pater .famI es.
 My window commands cosy view of half dozen of those tiny square plots of ground which the New Workers dgnify with the title of gardens" Gardens indeed ! wish the benighted sons of Gotham could only take peep into some Of the glorions country gardens ege have seen-delicious wiltlernessess of bloom ing shrubs, purple tlickets of nodding lilaces, | and hedges of blossomng roses, to say nothing of the fragrant strawberry beds white with starry promise aud the pink apple blossoms
 
 cry breath of warm wind IXese are gardens that deserve the name | Yet the dwellings to which these tiny sec l tons of mother earth belong are stately and spacious, oycraowing with luxury and crowd ed with costly furniture, but ill bright green sod, daisy buds, and leaf-music, the neaaest country farmhouse has the advantage over them. Mostly they are neglected and forlorn, the grass tall and rank, and the walks made the receptacle for the chiIdren's broken toys, 1 bits of straw, and broken china.
 i One, however, stands forth with separate and distinct indlvidHali y from it's fellows, and presents all example of what enterprise and strong will can accomplish, even ill city back yard The grass is kept closely mown, and is green and bright as emerald velvet, and under few panes of glass i'll the center of the plot is starting up a little tangle of cucumber vines. A border of bright tulips nod their curtains of gold and crimson at one end, and hyacinths, starfy-mountain daisies, scarlet verbenas, and glowing petunias filled the tiny beds on either side. It is perfect little picture of vivid col or and beauty in the midst of our dull cit% monotony; every time glance from the window, the eye experiences cweet sense of pleasure and relief, and my heart involuntar;ly returns thanks to the fancy that first conceived the beautiful idea. ~ Thther, every morning, while the devils yet sparkling Oil the grass, comes pleasant little family group-a young man about eigh- teen and his two pretty sisters-witil troweiS, garden-forks, and miniature hoes, to transplant, weed, prune and dig. A hive of bees was never buscr And in the evening, from sun until dark, they resume their pleasant labor, working until every blade of grass sticks up the right way, aud every particle of fresh brown earth occupies its proper place. Not a green tendr shoots from the mimic cucumber bed but they know it--not daiSy closes it's little life but the ever-ready garden scissors clips it from the stalk, to make room for the next one They work with most hearty, gen ial ioyousness, as though they loved every leaf aud flower in all their tiny kingdom, and each other most of all =
 Now, isn't this pleasant and prftable way of spending leisure time Isu't it better enl- ployinent for any young man than to be bump ing billiard balls against one another, CT puff ing vile smoke from some fetid weed! Isn't 1t better than to waste ones energies in dalclng, imbibing indigestible ices and salads, and per spring in comfortable draughts all the evening, and then lying in bed, groaning with the head ache until the sun is eight hours high tie next morning And this latter elegant system of existence is what young men term seeing the | world" What a world to see! full of rank distemper, morbid disease, and foul deformity. Fie on such term ! If you want to see Gods worId--fresh and bright as he made it, go out among the flowers, and leaves, and grass, and read its glorious hieroglyphicS I there !.
 Girls, if you want the rosy dimplcd shadows of perfect health on your ehet ks, don't go to the rouge-pot or carmne saucer for artificial ] blooms--seek a color in the. fresh open air 1 City damsels are to apt to think that because 1 they are not possessed of ten acre lot, they are totally shut out from all healthful oceupa- tion. No such thing. If your yard is. only three feet square, tha. no reason fotsturuing away from it in despair nobody knows, who hasn't tried the experiment, what glorious variety of blossoms and shrubs may grow and flourish in three feet square
 1 Buy paper of flower seeds-it will cost you only five cents-invest twenty-five cents for garden trowel- purchase rose-busll. or two or three yerbenas, and you have all the materials for garden which will yield you as much pleasure as Miss Lane's conservatory does hef-and more, probably.
 H.you have brothers, enlist them in your enterprise can tell the amount of temp
 tation from which it may guard them, or the kindly home interest which it may establish l No matter how limited your space, a. flower.
 garden and smiling sister are great deal
 better associations for any young man living
 than cigar shop or a billiard saloon, with
 their elegant hahitaes
 1 And mind you, girls. it isn't fower-seed' F alone that you are planting you are sowing as well the rerms of lnxnriant health anf