658 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION H. 
Are we then to say that because architecture has received 
so much study in past ages, that nothing original now 
remains to be accomplished; that no opening exists for 
genius, that a modern architect must necessarily be a mere 
copyist ? 
Nothing could be further from the truth, and I would 
like to direct your attention to the condition of the average 
church buildings in the rural districts of this and the 
adjoining States, as evidence that the design and construc- 
tion of these erections is as yet very far from perfection. 
When the first colonists settled on these Southern shores, 
they found no indigenous architecture in these lands, on 
which to graft their ideas; consequently—tlike their 
domestic animals and cultivated plants—they brought with 
them just so much of the science and arts of Murope as 
would serve their needs. 
These early colonists were not art-loving men; moreover, 
art was not a necessity to their existence. Their yearnings 
for the beautiful in architecture were not exacting, and so 
we need not be surprised that many of our earliest church 
buildings—even of pretentious dimensions—are scarcely 
capable of bearing serious art criticism. 
It is only fair to bear in mind that at the time of the first 
European settlement in these States, not only architecture, 
but most of its allied arts, were undergoing one of these 
periods of stagnation or retrogression to which I have al- 
ready referred. ; 
As the early settlers came from England, it was only 
natural that they should select that style of church build- 
ing with which they were familiar. In this they did well, 
for England not only contains better examples of rural 
church architecture than any other country, but there was 
the further advantage, that continuity of form and 
association were secured as nearly as was possible under 
existing conditions. 
The unfortunate part of the matter 1s, that the change 
took place when art was at such a low ebb, and that very 
bad copies of debased buildings were made by untrained 
and incompetent men. 
The evil effects of unfortunate conditions under which 
church architecture was introduced into these States, is not 
easily obliterated. . The earlier generations of colonists grew 
up under the influence of the worst examples, and when 
general taste improved, they had not the advantage of those 
historic buildings in their midst, which spoke to the 
people of older lands, of an art which was better and more 
elevating than the associations of their every-day life. 
