Newspaper Page Text
TTEARST’S SUNDAY AMERICAN, ATLANTA, OA., SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 1913. 3 E
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Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Witham Have Turned a
The rustic summer house at “Bide-a-Wee,” built in the form of a bridge to span a ravine. Mrs. W. S. Witham is shown at the right on the lawn of her home with Inez
Derry, James Keene and Charles Derry, some youthful visitors.
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“Now-and-Then-House” Into a Palace of
Joy Among Gardens and Bowers Where
All Their Friends Find a Real Welcome.
T HE charm of country places around At
lanta is being widely heralded. Nature,
it seems, here supplements so eagerly
man’s art that the making of beautiful, lux
uriant estates becomes a pastime, and is never
a labor. The results attained are wonderful.
The current issue of Suburban Life, the
well-known magazine, contains an article de
scriptive of the country place of Mr. and Mrs.
W. S. Witham, of Atlanta. That the article
should be eloquent at the same time that it is
truthfully descriptive is but natural. “Blde-a-
Wee,” the Witham place, inspires eloquence.
The name itself is quaint and charming
enough. Somehow it strikes you as being with
out affectation. If there is anywhere a wel
coming, home-like home, it is the Witham
place. It invites you of Itself to “bide a wee.”
Its garden calls, its pergolas lure, its big cool
well-house tempts.
And with all the intimate tone of the place,
it is pretentious enough. The house is big,
and of the style of the English country lodge.
On one side is a formal garden of carefully
trimmed hedges, accurate terraces, and sweep-
has given them her undivided attention, and
has produced them almost without the aid of
trained gardeners, using, for the most part,
the easy-to-be-picked-up negro gardener, who
only knows how to dig, and who won’t do that
unless you watch him.
“Fortunately, the natural lay of the land,
was quite in accordance with Mrs. Witham’*
plans—or perhaps she adapted her plans to the
lay of the land—and the low gulch to the south
was easily developed into a sunken carden,
and surrounded by terraces. At the rear, a
series of marble steps, bordered with a hedge
of Rosa rugosa, descend from a path which
leads through the rose pergola from the patio
at the rear of the house. The sunken garden
was laid out in formal flower-beds, showing
gay foliage plants and bright borders, which
strike the eye of the beholder from afar with
pleasant "results.
“Few people realize how frequently this simi
larity of style in the designing of gardens re
sults in monotonous effects. Frequently, quite
by accident, a combination of the two kinds of
gardens is effected with pleasing and satisfac-
The Spanish Court, which is one of the charming spots of this quaint country residence.
ing driveways. At the rear is a Spanish court, tory results. -However, it is well to remember
a patio, flanked by the two wings of the build- that the so-called ‘natural’ or ‘wild’ garden
ing, stone paved and dotted with many shrubs is always softened and bettered by proximity
and plants in pots.
On the other side is a shady grove, primitive
In its thickness and luxuriance, giving to the
estate the atmosphere of the true country, away
from the city and the smoke and noise.
Tlie place is situated about eight miles out
Peachtree road. It was established six years
ago, as a country place, a “now-and-then
house,” as the magazine article called it.
“Bide-a-Wee” as a name seemed to lit the place
then. It was not for permanent residence.
The Wlthams have a townhouse, and they
would make of this estate on Peachtree road
a place to spend the summer and for occasional
trips during the cooler seasons.
But as it developed, the hearts of the With-
ams went into the building. Mrs. Witham her
self took charge of the garden planting and
planning. And the “bide-a-wee” place became
the Witham home naturally, the town house
being neglected.
At “Bide-a-Wee” charming hospitality is giv
en out. It is a home for entertaining, being
spacious, pleasant and “luxurious in the best
sense of the word,” as the writer in Suburban
Life characterized it.
Mrs. Corinne Horton, a friend of the With-
ams, wrote the story of the “now-and-then house
that became a home,” and wrote it as one
inspired. The charm of the Witham home im
pressed her deeply.
Of one of the most attractive features of the
place she wrote in Suburban Life:
“The glory of ’Bide-a-Wee* is its gardens,
and this is true of all suburban homes. The
house was soon finished. All houses are soon
finished, alas! and when finished the spell is
over, the enchantment of trying effects and
establishing an atmosphere is past. But the
gardens! They are different. They are more
like human beings growing, changing, develop
ing, full of never-to-be-exhausted possibilities;
and then, quite unlike human beings, they are
to be relied upon as unchanging sources of
pleasure.
“The success of the gardens at ‘Bide-a-Wee’
is entirely due to Mrs. Witham herself, who
to formal beds, while the formal garden is
strengthened by contrast with the unsymmetri-
cal natural garden.
“The sunken garden is splendidly seen from
the verandas of ‘Bide-a-Wee,’ and from the
street as well. Passers-by revel in it, believ
ing it to be the feature of the place. In this,
however, the public fatuously deceives itself.
Like a true mystic, ‘Blde-a-Wee’ hides its
greatest beauties for those who know and love
it Intimately.
“Take the long rose pergola—there are two
pergolas at “Bide-a-Wee;’ pass through if
early in June, if possible, and you will imagine
yourself in Paradise. I think roses never grew
as here. Such a mad luxury of beauty—such
a revel of pink and white, soft salmon, and
deepest crimson; great-hearted roses of a thou
sand petals, immense, odorous, heavy with
beauty and with scent, tender of stem and flow
er. such as are grown only in rich, well-tended
earth! The very perfection of rose-culture—
vine roses of course—is to be found here on
this erstwhile rough hillside in the red clay
soil in Georgia.
“Gold-hearted, plush-petal’d Marechal Niel
roses—
Almost upon your stem the scissors she closes;
Moon-color’d, moss-crested Nonpareil roses.
Nay! Thou’rt the day couch where Cynthia
reposes;
Virgin Immaculate, pale climbing roses—
There Mariposa dreamily dozes.
Passionate deep-center’d Jacqueminot roses—
No redder, no rarer, blossom uncloses.
***••***«•
Oh, the undreamable, undreampt delicious
ness, gathering roses.”
“Roses of twenty years ago, when this little
verse went the rounds, bore different names
from those featured in modern rose-gardens.
The climbing Testout, the climbing Marie Hen-
riette, the Maman Cochet in pink and white,
the Empress of China, the wonderful Frau
Karl Druschkl. the finest white rose that grows,
and of course the Paul Neyron that can not be
excelled—these and many others grow in mar
velous perfection at ‘Bide-a-j)Tee.’ The house
verandas are overgrown with wistaria and Em
press of China roses. These bloom at the same
time, and the pale lavender of the wistaria and
the exquisite pink of the Empress of China
form a combination delightful to the spirit.
The grounds about the house abound in lilacs,
dogwood, crabapple, sugar maples, which are
covered with pink blossoms late 1^ March, um
brella China, and ornamental trees of every
description. Besides these, there are the hardy
oak and all the sturdy forestry of Georgia.
“Back of the house is an old well under a
well-house, with home-grown gourds, having
handles a yard long, and longer, out of which
to drink the ‘best water in the world,’ which
is pumped through the house and gardens.
There is a park to the north and a rustic sum
mer house, and far in the back, skirting the
kitchen-garden, chicken runs for many famous
breeds of chickens, and heavy hot-leaved fig
bushes; and still farther over, peaches galore,
that delight April with their pink blossoms and
July with their luscious fruits.”
The Withams returned only a few weeks ago
from a European trip, on which they went with
the American commission to study conditions
on the Continent. Mrs. Witham confessed
that *he had spent hours in the Old World gar
dens of Sans Souci and Potsdam, and found in
spiration in them for additions and Innovations
In her own garden.
"The garden grew in Just that way,” she re
lated. “We planned it bit by bit, and built it
as we planned. It was modeled after nothing
except our own whims and desires.”
Surely there is nothing of affectation about
“Bide-a-Wee” or its gardens.
Strange enough, the Withams call their beau-
tlful place “the farm.” As proud as Mrs. With
am is of her garden and hedges and pergolas,
she and her husband are proud of their irri
gation system, and their alfalfa field
and "garden sass” plot back of the
house. Altogether there are twenty-six
acres in the place, about half of which is cul
tivated as farm land. The house is no bit like
a farmhouse. Here is how Mrs. Horton de
scribes it:
“The planning of the house, which was to be
of half-timl)er and rubble stone in the style of
the English country lodge, was left to Mrs.
Witham, and she wisely decided on an im
The house seen from the magnificent pergola
with a dining room at
mense reception hall
one end, a living room at the other, and the
staircase rising immediately in front of the en
trance. On entering, you are impressed with
the delightful spaciousness and country-lifeness
of the interior, which is luxurious in the best
sense of the word and enchautingly homelike,
most suggestive of the English country house,
too, where are seen usually a profusion of
books, pillows, photographs land growing flow
ers, producing a more filled-in effect than is
common with the most typical American coun
try houses, which seem to be a little cold in
feeling, due to underfurnishing.
“There are other apartments back of those
mentioned, of course, and they reveal them
selves to you as you know the house better; all
l>elng most satisfactory and well arranged,
opening out on all sides on spacious and ro
mantic vine-embowered verandas overlooking
the gardens and pergolas, which are not con
fined to any one locality but are outspread over
the place.
“A most charming and pleasure-giving fea
ture of the ‘Bide-a-Wee’ residence is the patio,
which occupies the open court Immediately back
of the staircase. The floor of the patio being
of cement, leaves openings, or cement tunnels,
which lead to solid ground Inflow. These are
filled with rich earth, and rose vines are plant
ed to clamber over the trellises that shade the
glass doors and windows of the morning room
on one side, and cut off the necessarily unpio-
turesque view of the kitchen and pantries on
the other—the house being shaped like a square
horseshoe, the patio occupying the often space
between the two extensions to the rear. Noth
ing could be more charming than these rose
vines—Dorothy Perkins in pink and white,
Gainsborough roses, the largest and loveliest
that grow—planted, apparently, right in the
cement floor, and preparing to clamber over
the sides of the surrounding trellis-work em
bowering this charming gathering-place. Tills
summer sitting room, in early morning—the
residence fronts east—is darkly shaded and
densely cool; and in the evening is fresh with
moist west wind, thick stars above—for the
full moon is also to the east.
“The second floor of ‘Bide-a-Wee’ is quite as
Interesting in its way as the first. The low-
cellinged, brick-manteled chambers are most
attractively furnished with old mahogany and
stray pieces of effective design, picked up here
and there, such pieces as are well used when
upholstered in chintz.”
The home that “Bide-a-Wee” is you see re
vealed in every corner. Friendly cats brush
against your legs. Little dogs waddle to your
feet and there lie on tlielr backs, Inviting you
to tickle their fat sides. And how can a for
mal garden tie formal with children around,
hiding behind hedges, making garlands of four-
o’-clocks. picking the roses in season.
Always there are children around, or grown
people who are lllre children under the spell
of “Bide-a-Wee.” The place invests the nwfaer
with the responsibility of hospitality, and the
owners are persons to enjoy and welcome that
responsibility.
“Come any time,” Mr. Witham tells his
friends. “Don’t telephone. Just come at night
and sleep out on the porches and in the big
rooms. We’ll put you in the Bishop’s Room—
or, anyhow, there’ll be room enough. Come on
out.”
Mrs. Horton supplements her description of
“Blde-a-Wee” with a comment;
"If all people—middle-aged people, say,
whose children are just married, who have
reached that crucial period when man and wife
are starting life over again together, just the
two of them—should start to build and plan
a suburban home somewhere, they would e*-
perience, to their surprise, an illumination
within, something so sweet and unexpected
that it would indeed he a 'new life beginning
for them in more ways than they had foreseen.
It is in essence the joy of the yet unfulfilled
that overtakes the suburban builder. Many
men and women in middle life see little in
the future to look forward to. and consequently
live from day to day; but whosoever plants a
hedge lives in the future—the future when that
hedge shall have grown high and the sum*
is true of trees and flowers, vines and -Shrub
beries.”