In
any other city the neighborhood would have been intolerable
because of the noise of the rowdy children. But in Washington the
boarding house class cannot afford children; so, few indeed were
the small forms that paused before the big iron Severence gates to
gaze into the mysterious maze of green as far as might be--which
was not far, because the walk and the branching drives turn
abruptly soon after leaving the gates.
From earliest spring until almost Christmas that mass of green was
sweet with perfume and with the songs of appreciative colonies of
bright birds. In the midst of the grounds, and ingeniously shut in
on all sides from any view that could spoil the illusion of a
forest, stood the house, Colonial, creeper-clad, brightened in all
its verandas and lawns by gay flowers, pink and white
predominating. The rooms were large and lofty of ceiling, and not
too uncomfortable in winter, as the family was accustomed to
temperatures below the average American indoors. In spring and
summer and autumn the rooms were delightful, with their old-
fashioned solid furniture, their subdued colors and tints, their
elaborate arrangements for regulating the inpour of light.
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