Rose Cottage

“ Above a hundred houses, certainly, have sprung up around it in all directions, and a regular street runs now in front of its little park. When I first came to Rose Cottage it stood in the country, now it lies in the very middle of the city. It is a good thing that there is yet a deal of space, and many trees around the house to preserve free breathing-room. ”

“ Luckily for the girls, the next few days were so crowded with preparations for the trip to Wild Rose Lodge that they had not much time to dwell on the poor old professor and his misfortunes.
Only at night would they sometimes dream queer dreams in which wild-eyed men went around smashing everything in sight and a little cottage stood lonely and desolate and ghostlike amid a silent forest of trees. ”

“ Therefore, it is quite in keeping that beautiful flowers and beautiful shrubs border one's way right up to the entrance door; nor does Nature end there, for over all the outer walls are trained lovely and fragrant climbers—Clematis, Rose, and Honeysuckle—which give the idea that the cottage does indeed "nestle" in the garden. ”

“ As regarded our domestic establishment, I had not as yet thought as much about it as one of our favorite bards, who, before he married, provided himself with a cask of flour, a coffee-pot, and a frying-pan. I thought only of "a cottage and a heart." I saw around my cottage multitudes of roses, and within it, my Rose and myself. As for every thing else, all would be provided for by my excellent father.
As soon as I arrived at Greendale, I found there two other gentlemen quite as much in love, and quite as much enchanted by the fascinating young lady, as I was. ”

“ A nearer view showed the cottage to be the fag-end of a small hamlet lying snugly in the protecting hollow of the hills.
When I actually entered the village, there were so many pretty dwellings, and they all looked equally inviting, that I was undecided where to open an attack. However, I settled on one that had a couple of hollyhocks, some late pinks, and a black-currant bush growing out of the top of the garden wall, while a free-and-easy grape-vine, a tall monthly rose, and some clematis [211] waved arms of welcome to me from the front of the cottage. ”

“ I'm glad to see Rose Cottage inhabited, anyway. I think an unoccupied house looks so depressing. What else can I do for you, miss?"
"That's all I want to-day, thank you, Mrs. Mugford; good afternoon."
With a nod and a smile, Miss Morris stepped into the street again, just as the door of Rose Cottage opened, and a pale-faced woman came out with a baby in her arms, and a little girl of about eight years old at her side. The woman looked weary, but as she glanced at the vicar's daughter, an expression of interest crossed her face. Acting on the impulse of the moment, Marian went across the road. ”

“ But I think that most people, when they think of cottage gardens, picture to themselves those little wayside plots attached to the homes of working folks which cheer the passer-by nearly as much as they cheer their owners. One thinks of Rose and Clematis climbing over the doorway, of Sweet-Williams, Pæonies, Hollyhocks, Sunflowers and Pansies flowering in bed or border. Old-fashioned herbaceous plants are those which one associates with these cottage gardens, and nearly the year through one expects to find something of interest and of beauty. ”

“ It seemed that because Molly had the one thing needful, a firm trust in her Saviour, she wanted nothing else.
And now we must take leave of the family at Rose Cottage. Mr. Talbot speaks of pensioning old Burt, because he's getting old, and of putting James Lethbridge in his place. Evidently, he can trust him now!
Mrs. Mugford, too, feels that she is getting up in years. She is saying that by the time Jim is ready to leave school, she will be wanting help in the shop, and that he will be the very boy for her assistant.
Molly still keeps her picture of the Good Shepherd in the same place. ”

“ As you saunter up the garden, back to the house, crushing the sweet-odoured black peppermint in the grass underfoot, the stars seem very near. The cottage looks like a toy, with the light shining from each little window. And as you cross the threshold into the living-room, the log fire flashes and gleams (a fire is acceptable up here after sundown, even in the summer) , and everything smiles with such a cosy welcome, till brass candlesticks and cups and jugs and the homely willow patterns on the dresser, all seem to say, “We are so glad you’ve come.” ”

“ The Hostess House at Camp Liberty having burnt down, the chums found themselves forced to take a much-needed, although not entirely welcome, vacation and had decided to spend it at a romantic spot near the ocean called Bluff Point. The cottage on the bluff had been loaned to the girls by Grace’s patriotic Aunt Mary, who declared that she owed something to the chums for having worked so hard for the good old Stars and Stripes. Mrs. Ford, worn out with war work, had gone with the girls to chaperon them. ”

“ My wife was young, my wife was pretty, my wife was gay. She filled the house with music, and the house loved her. Come, I will show you her room, the lovely room that looks out on the water-garden—it is only a pond now, but it was a water-garden then. I'll show you the little boudoir she had done in saffron and rose, like the inside of a shell. I had them put the most pestilential pauper of all in that room!"
Obediently the young people followed the halting steps. Something of the enchantment of the Ancient Mariner held them attentive and breathless. ”

“ The ugly village had moved away from its old site to a hillside half a mile off, and picturesque cottages now line a broad avenue, in the centre of which is a fountain with a tall pillar surmounted by an angel. Schools for boys and girls have sprung up, a school for washing, adult schools, a grand bridge of three tall arches over the dens: it is quite magical.
"The cottage is radiant—gorgeous beds of flowers, smoothly shaven miniature lawns, and large majolica vases, while raised stands of scarlet geraniums look in at the windows. ”

“ But it is a wonderful landscape that, on every side of the little house which skaters on this part of the marshes use as their headquarters, lies glistening in the sunshine. A few old alder trees and storm-beaten Scotch firs shelter the cottage a little from the wind. And its all too scanty stacks and its picturesque sheds and outbuildings, whose [Pg 190] roof of tiles are weathered to every imaginable shade of red and brown, help to give an air of warmth and comfort. A primitive place. ”

“ The rustic cottage, its garden-door open, and open its old-fashioned lattice casements. You can see how neat and cleanly, how eloquent of healthful poverty, how remote from squalid penury, the whitewashed walls, the homely furniture within. Creepers lately trained around the doorway; Christmas holly, with berries red against the window-panes; the bee-hive yonder; a starling, too, outside the threshold, in its wicker cage; in the background (all the rest of the neighbouring hamlet out of sight) , the church spire tapering away into the clear blue wintry sky. All has an air of repose, of safety. ”

“ Solitary and lifeless, summer and winter, it looks silently down like a wall-eyed ghost over the waste of rocks and sea.
Below the house and close down by the seashore, is a low, thatched cottage, built against the rock, which forms its back wall, and on to which the rough granite blocks of which the cottage is constructed are rudely cemented with earth and clay; the floor also consists of the living rock, not levelled, but just as the foot of the wanderer had trodden it under the winds of heaven for ages before the cottage was built. ”

“ It is for this reason that the cottage is one of the embellishments of natural scenery which deserve attentive consideration. It is beautiful always, and everywhere; whether looking out of the woody dingle with its eye-like window, and sending up the motion of azure smoke between the silver trunks of aged trees; or grouped among the bright corn-fields of the fruitful plain; or forming grey clusters along the slope of the mountain side, the cottage always gives the idea of a thing to be beloved: a quiet life-giving voice, that is as peaceful as silence itself. ”

“ Standing alone half-way up the hill, and surrounded by trees, was an old-world thatched cottage, half-timbered, with high, red-brick chimneys, quaint gables and tiny dormer windows—a delightful old Elizabethan house with a comfortable, homely look. Behind it a well-kept flower garden, with a tree-fringed meadow beyond, while the well-rolled gravelled walks, the rustic fencing, and the pretty curtains at the casements betrayed the fact that the rustic homestead was not the residence of a villager. ”

“ Even the children one meets playing in the road are flowers. They are to the pretty cottages what the sweetbriar is to the hedges; and no background could be daintier for the little human blossoms than those same thatched cottages with open, welcoming doors.
Ellaline, fascinated by glimpses through open doors— (old oak dressers set with blue and white china; ancient clocks with peering moon-faces; high-backed chairs; bright flowers in gilt vases on gate-legged tables, all obscurely seen through rich brown shadows) —says she would like to live in such a cottage with somebody she loved. ”

“ Feeling fatigued, however, I was mad enough to risk this great and imminent danger, thinking a good night’s rest would refresh me for the scrutiny. I accordingly went to bed at once, slept soundly till the morning, and then examined my cottage with a minuteness I will not describe here. Suffice it to say, it consisted of four small rooms, all neatly furnished and in an excellent state of repair. The scenery of the place was bold and striking. A noisy brook on one hand, the sea, like a thread of silver, in the remote distance, blue hills in every direction, fields and meadows. ”

“ In the exterior finishing of summer cottages nature generally needs very little assistance. No colours harmonize so well with the gray rocks, sere fields and marshes, and the evergreen trees by the seashore, as the weathered grays of the shingled cottage. The window frames, door frames and facings, painted to preserve them, may be of the same colour or in dull green or brown, plainly marking the outlines of the house but without unpleasant contrasts. ”

“ Ross really must be out, or Shot’s frenzied barking from the pines would surely bring her to the door. Just a little grey, unpainted cottage, as you see; with four rooms in it, and an attic overhead, that runs the whole length and breadth of the house. The cold South room is the dairy and apple-store; it is always fragrant with fruit, and bright with wide tin milk-pans brimmed with cream. These two front rooms that take the morning sun are the bedroom and the little sitting-room; the kitchen, at the back, gets the sunset. ”

“ The interior of the cottage is exquisitely clean; it has that bright pleasant appearance which is only possible when the housewife feels a pride in her duties, and goes about them with a cheerful heart. Not a speck of dust can be seen upon the furniture, amongst which is a large old-fashioned sofa: the window panes are clear and transparent—a certain sign of loving care expended on the place, as on the other hand dirty windows are an indication of neglect, so much so that the character of the cottager may almost be guessed from a glance at her glass. ”

“ The contrast between the new and the old is indeed deplorable. The old cottage is a thing of beauty. Its odd, irregular form and various harmonious colouring, the effects of weather, time, and accident, environed with smiling verdure and sweet old-fashioned garden flowers, its thatched roof, high gabled front, inviting porch overgrown with creepers, and casement windows, all combine to form a fair and beautiful home. And then look at the modern cottage with its glaring brick walls, slate roof, ungainly stunted chimney, and note the difference. ”

“ The sun is setting above the tree-tops of the little deep, dark dell beneath the church: it is night before parents and children are well installed in the black and white cottage that stands in the midst of open meadows, having maize fields around it, and a fence about its modest garden. The family has come by an afternoon train for the cool’s sake, and it is time to go to bed before the well has even been visited hard by, or any of the familiar nooks ”

“ No one lives in the cottage now. It is looked after by a gardener and his wife. Mrs. Gregory, who owns it still, has had it, at her son's request, rebuilt and kept in perfect order, but she lives herself in the fine house, built, as all the neighbourhood knows, after her son's design, on the high ground above the river. Folks say that she likes the cottage better than the mansion. Often, in the evening, when the weather is soft and mild, she comes down to the little place to see if her orders are being carried out. ”

“ It is not difficult to imagine that one who was accustomed to metropolitan comforts would be dissatisfied with the open hearth common to country cottages of that poet's time, and have it enclosed in the manner in which we now see it. Outside the garden is brilliant with old-fashioned flowers, such as the poet loved. A stone scutcheon may be seen peeping through the shrubbery which covers the front of the cottage, but the arms which it displays are those of the Fleetwoods, one time owners of these tenements. Between the years 1709 and 1807 the house was used as an inn. ”

“ We passed out of the wood by some broken palings on to Bishopsgate Heath, and after no long walk arrived at her habitation. It was a solitary, dreary-looking cottage; the palings were in disrepair, the garden waste, the lattices unadorned by flowers or creepers; within, all was neat, but sombre, and even mean. The diminutiveness of a cottage requires an appearance of cheerfulness and elegance to make it pleasing; the bare floor,—clean, it is true,—the rush chairs, deal table, checked curtains of this cot, were beneath even a peasant’s rusticity ”