Evening star., 1901-05-18
A V / l. A G E T Al E
THE DECORATIVE VALUE OF VINES
AND FLOWERS
An Experience Full of Suggestions
for Town and Country
Dwellers.
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
The Village Improvement Society of
Blankville was a most enthusiastic body.
1t had stirred up the one public school of
the town to the celebration of Arbor day,
accompanied by gratifying setting jut Of
trees which in a few years it hoped
would transform the otherwise bare and
dingy-looking Main street into a veritable
Unter den Linden. The school children's
scraggly looking maple and oak trees were
the subject of such great solicitude TO the
dozen ladies who formed the society that
they personally called upon the merchants
and residents along the street, beseeching
them that they care for, watch and nurture
| the vegetation in their neighbOrhood, even
to attending delicate plants with watering
can and pruning knife. The trees -four
| ished and so did the flowers in the grass
| plot in the public square. HousehOlders
were most solicitous about the condition of
the sidewalks and street in front of their
homes, SO that Blankvile bade fair to be-
come an Immediately tidy town, in which
event the Village Improvement Society
| would be compelled to disban6 for lack of
occupation.
In spite of all this Miss Belinda Butter
thwaite, who had Travelled abroad (she had
spent two weeks or so in Europe on
personally conducted tour, was dssatis-
fed with progress. She said she found the
tout ensemble far from aesthetically sat
isfying. This statement, made at meeting
of the improvement society, plunged that
body into the greatest depression. The ma
jority of the ladies did not know what
tout ensemble meant, but they knew Be
linda did, for she had been at boarding
school and had experienced the elevating
influence of the Chautauqua course. Be
sides, there was that trip abroad
IF you would be a little more definite in
your objection, we should be greatly
obliged to you. Miss Butterthwaite,' the
president timdly suggested.
We are unpictureSque in Blank
viliey' walled Miss Butterthwaite. The
| architecture is SO depressing-angles, an
giles! Blankness, bare walls!'
A Travellers Opinion.
| The ladies of Blankville were oppressed
| with weight of misgivings. They had
up to the time believed that angles and
| walls We're ineradicable features of archi-
| lecture, but evidently the cultured Miss
! Butterthwaite had a more Illuminated wis
| dom. No woman, however, will openly
| admit that another has the distinction of
| greater enlightenment; so the ladies looked
| discreetly wise and said nothing, leaving it
to the president to make the objector elu-
| cidate her point.
"'Tis so different in England and in
| France, you know" On her foreign wan
derings Miss Butterthwaite had acquired
a fashionable accenO. There the veriest
peasant cottage Is a c0drmlnRlN DictuT
esque thing. 1t is the vines and the over
| shadowing trees"
'HumphT' CALCULATED Mrs Spinnegar,
wife of the local physician. Il should think
| it would be highly unhygienic. I've always
| heard that vines induced dampness. My
great aunt once lived in a house covered
with ivy vines, and her rheumatism was
| something appalingI"
"NonSense!' shifted Miss ButterthWaite
| Persons more robust than the French and
| English cottagers it would be impossible to
| imagine. Perhaps your great aunts house
was not properly severed or was without
a cellar
Il don't care if it wasr' snapped Mrs
| Spinnegar. Vines are unwholesome. and
l shall leave this society If it indorses any
thlng SO deleterlouS to the public health
Just then peace-loving lady moved that
the society adjourn, and until the next
meeting was held the matter was the sub
ject of earnest thought and discussion
among the members.
He Saw the Drift.
When the club again met the sentiments
Of Mrs Spinnegar had evidently changed.
Perhaps her husband, who was a thrifty
man, had suggested that the innov alton
might be good for his business. At any
rate, she no longer actively opposed Miss
Butterthwaite, who appeared armed with
long array of statistics and arguments to
prove that vines were not only esthetically
and hygienically desirable, but We're ethical
| ly improving. In a wave of enthusiasm
the society adopted her resolution to EN-
courage the improvement in appearance of
all dwellings and public buildings suitable
for vegetable decoration" A committee
was forthwith appointed to confer with the
neighborhood florists and nurserymen all
of whom expressed the greatest enthusi-
asm and promised to lend their strongest
influence On the strength of the boom in
this species of vegetation large orders for
morning glory seed honeysuckles, climbing
roses and sweet peas were prepared by
these gentlemen.
After mature deliberation the ladies made
up list of those vines which they felt
would be especially useful in covering the
architectural deficiencies of Blankville.
A Step Further.
Then some one brought in a series of
plans for beautifying porches and for build
ing quaint pagodas to be overhung with
Japanese hoops and for airy summer
houses, where the wild rose and the jas
mine and the convolvulus might run riot
Prettily devised archways for yards were
planned with the object of screening un-
slightly entrances. Latticed appliances and
arched windows Were devised over which
screening vines might Chamber and in sum-
mer provide pleasant refuge from the rays
of the sun.
An entertainment was given to raise
luhuS TO buy seeds, roots and slips for free
distribution, the ladies deciding that If vine
culture We're once taken up it would be so
appreciated that people would carry IT on
themselves. Among the varieties purchased
were the V1n1ng naSturtium, Virginia creep
er, madeira, perennial pea, maurandya ad-
mired for the delicate beauty of its flow
ers; hyacinth bean, Nina lobata balloon
vine, moon flower, wallfiowers, woodbine
passion flower, morning glory, ivy and Jas
mine.
And now You will not in all the Union
find more picturesque summer town than
Blankvlile EDITH LAWRENCE.