s of salvia and
gladiolus, towards the house--a square, solid structure, white,
and with broad verandas running across its front.

At its northern side, sloping towards the wall, was visible what
looked like an ordinary terrace, rather low, and ornamented with
small shrubs and grotto-work; but which, on nearer approach,
proved to be a veritable village in miniature, constructed with a
verisimilitude of design, and a fidelity to detail, which was at
once in the highest degree amazing and amusing. As Nannette had
been assured, no one appeared to interfere with us in any way,
and full of a curious wonder at such a manifestation of eccentric
ingenuity, we seated ourselves upon a wooden box, evidently kept
more for the purpose of protecting the odd out-of-door plaything
in bad weather, and proceeded to give it the minute inspection
which it merited; the result of which I chronicle here for the
benefit of the like curious minded.

The terrace, which forms the site of this doll-baby city, is low
and semi-circular in shape, and separated from the graveled drive
by a close border of box. Within this protecting hedge the
ground is laid out in the most picturesque and fantastic manner
compatible with a scale of extreme minuteness. Winding roads,
shady bye-paths ending in rustic stiles, willow-bordered ponds,
streams with fairy bridges, rocky ravines and sunny meadows,
ferny dells, and steep hills clambered over with a wilderness
of tangled vines, and strewn with lichen-covered stones--all are
there, and all reproduced with the most conscientious fidelity
to nature, and with Lilliputian diminutiveness. Regular streets,
"macadamized" with a gray cement which gives very much the effect
of asphaltum, separate one demesne from another; and each meadow,
lawn, field, and barn-yard has its own proper fence or wall,
constructed in the most workmanlike manner. The streets are
bordered by trees, principally evergreens, which, though rigidly
kept down to the height of mere shrubs, appear stately by the
side of the miniature mansions they overlook; and, in every
dooryard, or more pretentious greensward, tiny larches, pines yet
in their babyhood, and dwarfed cedars, cast a mimic shade, and
bestow an air of dignity and venerableness to the place.

The first object upon which the eye is apt to rest on approaching
this modern Lilliput is the squire's house, the residence of the
landed proprietor. This is a handsome edifice of some eight by
t