Elinor Wyllys, vol 1 | Page 5

the
highway. One piazza was shaded by noble willows, while another was
faced by a row of cherry trees, flanked by peach and pear. Fruit trees,
although so common and so lavish of their blessings in this climate, are
often gathered about American country-houses, instead of being
confined to gardens devoted to the purpose, as in Europe; a habit which
pleasantly reminds us that civilization has made a recent conquest over
the wilderness in this new world, and that our forefathers, only a few
generations back, preferred the trees of the orchard to those of the
forest, even for ornament. Fruit trees are indeed beautiful objects when
gay with the blossoms of spring, or rich with the offerings of summer,
and, mingled with others, are always desirable about a dwelling as
simple and unpretending in its character as Wyllys-Roof. Beneath the
windows were roses and other flowering shrubs; and these, with a few
scattered natives of the soil--elm, hickory, sycamore, and tulip
trees--farther from the house, were the only attempts at embellishment
that had been made. The garden, surrounded by a white paling, was
thought an ornamental object, and lay within full view of the
drawing-room windows; and yet it was but a mixture of the useful and
the beautiful, in which the former largely predominated. As a
kitchen-garden it was certainly excellent; but the narrow flower-borders,
which surrounded the ample beds of melons and strawberries,
asparagus and cauliflowers, would have appeared meanly furnished in
the eyes of a flower-fancier of the present day. There was not a hybrid
among them, nor a single blossom but what bore a plain, honest name;
and although there were lilies and roses, pinks and violets in abundance,
they would probably have been all rooted out by your exclusive,

fashionable gardener of the last summer, for they were the commonest
varieties only. There were but two walks on the lawn; one of these was
gravelled, and led to the garden-gate; the other was a common
foot-path leading to the river, where the gentlemen of the family kept
their boats, and where the cattle, who often grazed on the lawn, went to
drink. The grounds were bounded on one side by a broad river, on the
other by a sufficiently well-travelled highway. What particular river
and highway these were, through what particular state and county they
ran, we do not think it incumbent on us to reveal. It may easily be
inferred, however, that Wyllys-Roof belonged to one of the older parts
of the country, at no great distance from the seaboard, for the trees that
shaded the house were of a growth that could not have been reached by
any new plantation in a western settlement.
{"particular state..." = Longbridge, we learn, has steamboat connections
to New York City, while steamboat connections to Philadelphia are
from nearby Upper Lewiston; in the course of the story, one of the first
railroads in America comes through town; this suggests, if anywhere,
New Jersey. Judicial matters take place in Philadelphia, which would
seem to place Longbridge in Pennsylvania. It is not clear, however, that
the author had any specific location in mind}
The interior arrangements of Wyllys-Roof corresponded very naturally
with the appearance of things outside. The ceilings were low, and the
apartments small and numerous; much room had been thrown into
broad, airy passages, while closets and cupboards abounded. The whole
of the lower floor had originally been wainscoted, but Miss Agnes
Wyllys was answerable for several innovations in the principal rooms.
When Mr. Wyllys decided to make his country-place a permanent
residence, his daughter, who was at the head of his establishment,
fancied that the furniture they had brought from their house in town
could not be advantageously disposed of, without cutting folding-doors
between the drawing-rooms. It was fortunate that a couple of adjoining
rooms admitted of this arrangement, for at that day, two drawing-rooms
of equal size, united by wide folding-doors, were considered a
necessary of life to all American families "on hospitable thought
intent." It seems to have been only very recently that any other

arrangement has been found possible, an important discovery, which,
like many others that have preceded it, was probably the happy effect
of necessity, that mother of invention. Mr. Wyllys having cut through
the partition, was next persuaded to take down the wainscoting, and put
up in its place a French paper, very pretty in its way, certainly, but we
fear that Miss Agnes had no better reason to give for these changes than
the fact that she was doing as her neighbours had done before her. Miss
Wyllys was, however, little influenced in general by mere fashion, and
on more important matters could think for herself; this little weakness
in favour of the folding-doors may therefore be forgiven, and justly