Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-25
THE ENGLISH LANDSCAPE.
Animated by Birds and Distinguished
by Venerable Memories.

From the New York Mail.
An English landscape arrests the eye at
more levels than the landscapes of most
other countries. 1t shows three distinct
courses of foliage between the pale blue
sky and the emerald turf. The taller trees
ancestral elms,' most of them consti-
tute the first course, and these you shall
not see outside of private parks and in
closures. English woods consist for the
most part of sturdy trees of very moderate
height. Such are the beeoires of Epping
forest. which is supposed to have yielded
it's sylvan backgrounds to Shakespeares
LAS You Like tt
The second course of foliage is that of
rather scrubby trees, some of them dwarf
ish by nature, others topped by the art of
raan-pollard willows and popiars whose
clumpy masses give an intimate touch to
every rural prospect. The third course Is
that of the ground-clinging shruobery.
which Is singularly abundant and which
gives the turf expanses a relief for which
an American Landscape too often must
rely upon the weeds. What with all three
courses. in their various combinations, an
English scene carries the eye pleasantly
from point to point. There are grander
views than 1t presents. but none more en-
gagng.
These are seen through an atmosphere
of pervading softness, that hangs the haze
in every vista, obscures and meHows out
lines, imparts an indescribably restful feel
ing to natural objects. You get no daguer-
reotype pictures In England. But In the
foggy brood of the skies you do get the
constant suggestion of the gray, encircling
northern seas. You feel that these isles
have been reft from the ocean and that the
mists are It's messengers sent to inquire
II all goes well In its alienated domain.
The water courses of this lush land al
ways run full Constant rainfalIs keep
them high between their banks. There
are no summer droughts to shrink them
into rivulets and leave unsightIy bottoms
covered with sand and weeds. Farmers
cultivate the fields clear down to the wa
fer's edge. An English river has the brim-
ming and stafd appearance of a millra ce
or a canal. 1t plays more intimate part
in the life of the people than an American
river. The towns do not Danish 1t to their
outskirts. They build their houses on Its
margin and let 1t wind amid their walls and
walks and among their garden places
Every house has its skif or punt moored
at the garden gate, and the fondness of
English maidens for boating lends river life
the variety and charm of their own ma
lures.
landscape far less fair than the Eng
Msh would be redeemed by the creatures
that animate 1t. The national worship of
birds and beasts has filed the country
districts with cheerful sights and sounds.
Fat cattle Craze in the meadows. Sheep
add their rounded masses to the decorative
aspect of hfilsides. ooks are waddling in
cscfyt if<-ld anu III tlit evening CHECKING IN
every elm top Fheasants cross the lane
ahead of you and scarcely deign to hide
themselves In the hedges beyond. Behind
the carven gates OF an estate you see the
strut of peacocka. the mope of peiicxns.
From the thicket comes the grotesque pas-
sion of the cuckoo. The wild things OF
feathers and fur are tame 10 the Engifsfi-
man, who Is cousin-german to everything
that draws breath IN freedom as well as
sworn brother to the OK" PerpetuaIly his
praises and the gratitude OF fnartictaate
nature are sung by the skyfArk.