Oldal 128 [128]
OCR
RICHMOND AND VVEGTNETY which bore mute testimony to the love of the owner, for never have shrubs and flowers reached such perfection. Lilacs and snowballs, mock oranges, crepe myrtles, white and yellow jessamines, calycanthus bushes, winter honeysuckle—all blooming in profusion. Roses, a perfect riot of roses—tea roses, moss roses, Giant of Battle, York and Lancaster, Seven Sisters—roses everywhere, clambering over fences, up the old pear tree, anywhere, everywhere! Lhe hyacinths and daffodils, snowdrops and tulips, white and purple violets peeping through the snow. The tiny “‘lady iris,” with its faint elusive odor, which mammy said “nobody but ‘ristocrats could smell." Summer-houses, covered with roses and carpeted with periwinkle, were on either side of the moss-grown brick walk leading to the gate, while magnolia trees, with their wax-like flowers, were a delight to the eye. A large evergreen, called the "Iree of Heaven,” grew on one side of the porch near the greenhouse, its branches hanging gracefully down. On the other side was a most beautiful double-flowering crab-apple tree. I have seen old-time “hack drivers’’ point this out to tourists on their sight-seeing expeditions. Much of the beauty and charm of this garden was still there . when, in later years, my father was called to the rectorship of St. John’s Church, and this house was used as a rectory, and as the shadows lengthened around the old home, the laughter of children and the song of birds were once more heard in the evening air. PENELOPE WRIGHT WEDDELL ANDERSON. L77]
