58 Constructing the Country Dwelling 



wherefrom there may proceed the weird and doleful 

 sound of the night owl and the whip-poor-will; herein 

 one may find many of the crude materials well suited 

 to give proper nourishment to the souls of the young. 

 But the things just named will not nearly always be 

 accessible. Throughout many of the commonwealths 

 there are vast stretches of level plateaus with 

 scarcely a hill or woodland in sight, and yet covered 

 with a rich, tillable soil. These places may for good 

 reasons be selected for the site of a dwelling. But 

 they demand more work and heavier expense of 

 money and time before the best material surroundings 

 of an ideal home for boys and girls may be realized. 

 Before the house is scarcely laid out in such a place, 

 the shade and ornamental trees should be planted, 

 selecting for part of the planting a quick-growing 

 species that may be removed later after more per- 

 manent and more valuable trees have reached a 

 suitable height. Of course, a stream of water can- 

 not always be diverted so as to make it pass the 

 place, but a fair substitute may be had by the con- 

 struction of a pond. And this thing should be ac- 

 complished at the earliest possible moment. If 

 there be a small dry ravine, dam it up with concrete 

 and catch it full of surplus water during a rainy 

 season. It is a positive injustice to boys and not a 

 little unfair to girls to require them to grow up with- 

 out any access to open water of some kind. And it is 

 almost a matter of criminal neglect to require chil- 



