Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-06-01
FARM AND FIRESIDE.



trim and well-kept door-yard is the
pleasantest possible introduction 10 any
kind OF house. 1t is to the house what
hat or bonnet is TO lady or gentleman.
Sometimes we may find well-kept house
back OF an ill-kept yard, just as we do &C.
casioually find refinement and cultivation
under an unkempt bead, but all The chances
are in the opposite direction.
In village and suburban places very
much more attention is paid 10 the imme-
diate surroundings of house than in re-
mote rural districts and yet it is not easy
to picture a family anywhere really loving
order and beauty, yet permitting cart
wheels aud broken down farm wagons and
old logs and miscellaneous debris to disfg-
uTe the entire premises on which they live.
But such Is the force OF habit that great
many people, accustomed TO see ruinous
fences and rough highways and scattered
remnants of tools everywhere about them,
become quite indifferent to their presence,
and are not in the least annoyed by them.
Yet these same people could not walk
through some farm neighborhoods we
know of, through some quiet villages we
have been in, without being impressed and
delighted with the universal neatness and
attraetiveness of both.
ave are very proud of our street," said
a farmer living in an inland rural neigh
borhood quite distance from any village.
And ample reason be had TO be proud of it..
For miles the country road running past
his house was uniformly and neatly fenced,
all rocks and weeds removed, the grass en-
couraged to grow on either side Of the road,
no cattle permitted TO run at large, and
such was the force of public opinion in that
locality that each owner felt bound in the
common interest to keep his part of the
highway in perfect order. The grass cut
from the sides of the road by each owner,
on land that without the attention bestow-
cd on it would have been comparatively
worthless, almost repaid the expense of
keeping il in order, and there was beside
the large balance of pride and satisfaction
each owner and the entire community had
in their street.
OF course it takes time and it takes some
money 10 make beautiful door-yard, but
the outlay of either need not be very great.
Trees grow readily everywhere, and the
transplanting of young trees is no difficult
or laborious matter. There is nothing so
beautiful as a green velvet carpet on a front
door-yard. There may very properly be
beds OF flowers here and there, TO give col
or and variety, but in the home of Long
fellow there is nothing to be seen in the
premises around the house but trees and
grass. These with little care will grow for
everybody, and be daily sources of delight
to all who enjoy shade at noontide and 6
soft carpet TO rest ones eyes and ones feel
upon.
There are great many hard working
farmers and farmers wives who are sc
anxious to pay off the mortgages on tbeii
homesteads, 10 lay up little for a rainy
day, or to add TO their acres, that they think
they cannot afford to enjoy anything nor
by-sDd-by they will take the comfort, bu
the habit OF saving, of going without, o
getting along without any outlay, grow
stronger every year, and when the tim,
comes that they can well afford TO live il
tasteful ease their desire for it has failed
and their children inherit no ancestra
trees, no vines that their father planted
Ii one cannot afford 10 buy oil The norlsi
there are plenty of shrubs and Ornamental
climbers that may be found in the wood
to beautify the unpretending cottage. Bit
ter-sweet bears transplanting easily, s.
does the Virginia creeper, and few vine
are more TO Re desired than these. Tn
sweet wild rose will lovingly repay tn
tending of fair hands, and bloom more gra
ciously under the window than in its ma
tive wids. Bnt with cuttings of all sorts t
be had sent by mail for triae, with an.
amount and variety Of flower seeds fur
nished at five cents paper, there is no ex
cuse for barren, unsightly door-yards
Children, accustomed to having flower
around them, soon learn how to take car
OF them, and delight in their culture, and
home adorned within and without wit
flowers is almost certain TO be happy one
N. Y. Tribune.