Oldal 115 [115]
a a te
Historic’ GARDENS) (OROVIRIGINTA
—£
The Ampthill of today is very different from the Ampthill that
Archibald Cary knew. Its spacious rooms have been used as a
tavern, and it has been otherwise desecrated. The sweeping lawn,
which once led to the river, has been cut into fields, and time and
the hand of man have felled many of the aged trees which once
guarded the place like a corps of faithful sentinels. How sad to
think that it should have passed from the possession of the family
who made it famous! But that seems to be the fate of most old
homesteads. They are doomed to linger on in poverty and neglect
long after their original owners are sleeping. In poverty, because
they must starve in their old age for the sound of familiar and
much-loved voices; and in neglect, because new owners seldom seek
them with a feeling of pride in possession. [hey have nothing
left but their memories and traditions—a few bright flowers grown
among too many tears.
EpITH DABNEY TUNIS SALE.
[70]