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THB 









JOURNAL OF RURAL ART AND RURAL TASTE. 



Vol. V. 



JULY, 1850. 



No 1. 



No ONE pretencJs that we have as yet either 

 a national architecture or national music in 

 America ; unless our Yankee clap-board house 

 be taken as a specimen of tlie first, and " old 

 Susannah" of the second, fine art. But there 

 is, on the other hand, perhaps, no country 

 where there is more building or more " mu- 

 sicianing," such as they are, at the present 

 moment. And as a perfect taste in the 

 arts is no more to be expected in a young 

 nation, mainly occupied with the practical 

 wants of life, than a knowledge of geometry 

 is in an infant school, we are content with the 

 large promise that we find in ilie present, and 

 confidently look forward for fulfilment to the 

 future. 



In almost every other country, a few land- 

 lords own the land, which a great many 

 tenants live upon and cultivate. Hence the 

 general interest in building is confined to a 

 comparatively small class, improvements are 

 made in a solid and substantial way, and but 

 little change takes place from one generation 

 to another in the style of the dwelling and 

 the manner of living. 



But in this country we are, comparativel}^ 

 all landlords. In the country, especially, a 

 large part of the rural population own the 

 land they cultivate, and build their own hou- 

 ses. Hence it is a matter of no little mo- 



VOL. V. 1 



ment to them, to avail themselves of every 

 possible improvement in the manner of con- 

 structing their dwellings, so as to secure the 

 largest amount of comfort, convenience, and 

 beauty, for the moderate sum which an Ameri- 

 can landholder has to spend. While the rural 

 proprietors of the other continent are often 

 content to live in the same houses, and with 

 the same inconveniences as their forefathers, 

 no one in our time and country, who has any 

 of the national spirit of progress in him, i^ 

 satisfied unless, in building a new house, ho 

 has some of the " modern improvements" in it. 



This is a good sign of the times ; and when 

 we see it coupled vsdth another, viz., the great 

 desire to make the dwelling agreeable and 

 ornamental, as well as comfortable, we think 

 there is abundant reason to hope, so far as 

 the country is concerned, that something like 

 a national taste will come in due time. 



What the popular taste in building seems 

 to us to require, just now, is not so much 

 impulse as right direction. There are num- 

 berless persons who have determined, in 

 building their new home in the country, that 

 they " will have something pretty ;" but pre- 

 cisely what character it shall have, and whe- 

 ther there is any character, beyond that of a 

 " pretty cottage" or a " splendid house," is 

 ' not perhaps very clear to their miud.s. 



