Oldal 357 [357]
OCR
ed —- —— ome His-TrORIC: GARDENS OF ( VERGINTA — —— a ama mt Mr. Baker, coming to this country in 1827 and visiting Mount Airy, speaks of the large conservatory with orange and lemon trees put upon the grass.’’ And in the biography of Thomas Dabney, of Gloucester, one reads of a famous dinner given to the Marquis de LaFayette. He says, ‘It was in the month of October, and there was a small dish of red Antwerp raspberries, sent by Mrs. Tayloe, of Mount Airy. They came from her hot-house, and were set before General LaFayette.” The present owners of Mount Airy use the three sides of the bowling green for flowers and, also, below the terraces on either side to the brink of the hill. Ihe borders of the bowling green are a glowing mass of jonquils, narcissi, cowslips, iris in the spring. In summer these are followed by peonies, pansies, roses, poppies, hollyhocks, snapdragon, larkspur, phlox, sweet william, canterbury bells, ragged robin, and madonna lilies. Asters and chrysanthemums usher in the fall, making it possible to have flowers following each other in endless succession, the house always filled with them. One could never forget the great central hall, so high pitched, so softly colored, and so restful, with over twenty vases of flowers, a strangely sweet and Oriental perfume coming from the sofapillows, filled with dried, wild sweet clover. In this hall are many fine pieces of old furniture. Everything at Mount Airy has grown old beautifully, through the care of and association with gentle, refined people, to whom living was an art. Here is the large and gaily-decorated music box, where a hundred tunes can still be played. How often have the belles and beaux of long ago in knee-breeches and patches trod a stately measure to its music; for Mount Airy was as famous for its lavish hospitality as for its ardent patriotism. The faces of these ancestral folk still look down upon one: Colonial Governors, Burgesses, Officers of His Mayesty’s Army, and beautiful ladies are there. One English visitor to this country said that the portrait gallery at Mount Airy was the finest private one he had seen in this country. One of the sweetest faces is that [224 |
