FARM ARCHITECTURE. 131 



Evening Session. 



At the evening session Mr. Bowditch occupied the 

 chair, and the following lecture was delivered by Mr. E. C. 

 Gardner of Springfield : — 



FARM ARCHITECTURE : HOUSES AISTD BARNS. 



The subject assigned to me tliis evening — " Farm Archi 

 tecture : Houses and Barns " — contains an implied architec 

 tural heresy. 



It is as if one should say, " integrity suitable for farmers,' 

 "virtue adapted to farmers' wives," "modesty and good 

 manners appropriate for farmers' children." 



Farm architecture in its essentials is precisely identical 

 with all other domestic architecture the world over, from 

 London to Kamtschatka, from the Aleutian Islands to Pata- 

 gonia. 



It is building the shell that encloses and protects thft 

 family. It is a matter of common sense, of evolution if you 

 please. Where gregariousness is the domestic habit, and 

 protection from the elements the chief aim, a single cell cov- 

 ered by rocks, turf, logs, or reeds, suffices. Different condi- 

 tions and tastes lead to different results ; but, wherever a 

 human habitation is built in the most simple and natural 

 fashion to supply the real needs of the family, there is good 

 domestic architecture, — an architecture that is safe, com- 

 fortable, useful, beautiful, and in thoroughly good style, 

 which to many people is more than comfort or safety. And 

 this is true, wdiether the architecture is for farmers, princes, 

 or presidents, cattle or sheep. It is a question of common 

 sense. 



Horace Greeley remarked that people should not be asked 

 to exercise their common sense who have none ; and for a 

 similar reason it is not always expedient to insist upon a 

 declaration of first principles. It may be better, at times, to 

 act blindly than not to act. 



But when we find ourselves going astray like lost sheep, 

 plunging one after another into sloughs of despond, or beat- 

 ing against the rugged barriers of hard times, hard work, 

 and a weary lot in life ; when we see thorny pastures where 



