14 



RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 



planted in every man's lieart — (vague and 

 rudimentary though they appear in some,) 

 will as inevitably lead him to this latter 

 result. 



Certainly there is nothing that more 

 powerfully aflects the taste and habits of a 

 family — especially the younger members of 

 it — than the house in which it lives. An 

 uncouth, squalid habitation, is little likely 

 to awaken that attachment to home, that 

 love of good order, and that sense of pro- 

 priety and elegance in social deportment, 

 which are so much promoted, so much de- 

 veloped, by that home where a certain pro- 

 portion, a certain fitness, and a sense of 

 beauty, are every where visible. 



It is not necessary to these conditions, 

 that wealth should always be present ; a 

 log hut may, in its way, be made as taste- 

 ful as a palace. Onhj is it needful that the 

 mind should be alive to the superiority of a 

 good form over a bad one — that we should 

 feel the mental pleasure of fitness, and the 

 mental pain of clumsiness — in short, that 

 we should be susceptible of the enjoyment 

 of beauty, whether in the rainbow, the sun- 

 shine, smiling fields, or rural cottages and 

 gardens, at least as constantly and strongly 

 as we feel the mere animal pleasures of eat- 

 ing and drinking, sleeping and walking. 



It will therefore be part of our duty in 

 this journal, to explore further, from time to 

 time, this field of progress, in the taste of 

 rural dwellings, in which Ave have already 

 labored. 



It is not every man's fortune who lives in 

 the country, to build a tasteful house for 

 himself. Some care nothing for the form 

 and appearance, fo that there are rooms to 

 live in, and a roof to cover them. Others 

 have had no models to study, no works or 

 architects to consult, and no capacity to de- 

 sign an agreeable dwelling. 



There is a still larger class — those who 



have bought or inherited a house which is 

 too good to be sacrificed, and yet so devoid 

 of every thing pleasing, that it does not 

 satisfy a mind the least cultivated. 



Such a house may be altered. Its whole 

 character may be changed ; and this fre- 

 quently at a small cost, compared with that 

 of building a new one. As we find the 

 owners of the great numbers of houses of 

 this class, are desirous of having suggest- 

 ions for such alterations and improvements, 

 we shall occasionally introduce examples of 

 this kind, as well as those of a more distinct 

 and original character. 



In figure 2, (see frontispiece,) is seen a 

 building that our readers will recognize at 

 a glance, as the portrait of a plain country 

 house, common in almost every neighbor- 

 hood. Whilst there is perhaps nothing 

 mean in the expression of this house, neither 

 is there any thing in the least tasteful, or 

 above the character of coinvion-place. It 

 belongs to the large class of dwellings 

 whose presiding architectural genius is that 

 of the "Z»a7-e and hald.^'' 



In figure 3, is seen our proposed altera- 

 tion and improvement of this house. 



In the first place, to give spirit and cha- 

 racter to it, we have boldly projected the 

 roof, and ornamented the eaves. To give 

 expression to the tame line of roof, we have 

 added a small gable in front. The window 

 pierced in-this gable, will serve to light and 

 render useful an additional room in the 

 garret. For the meagre and insufficient 

 porch, we have substituted a veranda ten 

 feet wide, along the whole front ; the shude 

 and comfort of which in summer, makes it 

 at least equal in value to any room in the 

 house. 



A part of the roof of this veranda, viz : 

 that portion under the shadow of the gable, 

 is finished with a tight sealed floor, so as !■' 

 form an agreeable balcony to the central 



