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BG EG OLD SALT o VELE NEVY
May’’) separating this lawn from the flower garden. To the east
were the rosebushes, with a famous old microphylla known far and
wide, the flowering shrubs, pyrus japonica, calycanthus, crepe
myrtle, bridal wreath and mock orange, lilac and snowball, then
the bowknots of flowers as they came in season—tulips, hyacinths,
lilies of the valley, pinks, heartsease (the name pansy was not the
name in those days for these old favorites), ageratum, verbenas,
geraniums, heliotrope, mignonette, etc.—flowers, old-fashioned,
simple, true, like everything else here.
In the centre of each knot, stood a stately evergreen, the box¬
edged grass walks radiating from it; each flower border, too, having
a narrow grass walk around it, bordered each side by the box.
The rare cactus, lemon trees, cape jessamine, Japonicas or
camelias of such waxen beauty, from the greenhouses, were massed
around the porches of the house in summer; but in the garden itself
there were no forced flowers or shrubs—none not indigenous to the
place, and consequently everything grew luxuriantly. Then another
hedge, six feet high, four feet wide—but this was of althea—often
said in old Virginia to be the "Rose of Sharon." Beyond this hedge
were the vegetable plots, grass walks running across, gravel walks
running lengthwise, bordered with currants, gooseberries and rasp¬
berries, with stately apple and damson trees marching along. To
the east wall of the garden grew the ravishing fig bushes—the
delight of all, young and old. As Main Street was neared, a part
of the garden was latticed off for the stable, yards, etc., while the
fruit trees and vegetables held sway on one side full to the street.
If to live in the memory of our friends is not to die, then the
gracious owners of this home live on—for their personality, their
delightful hospitality, the dignified simple luxury of their home
and garden, will never be forgotten by any who knew them.
Inter folias fructus.
Mary MASon ANDERSON WILLIAMS.
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