316 STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



the rules of taste. An intelligent man of great pecu 

 niary resources would reject these meretricious decora 

 tions, as the mere sham substitute for something better 

 which he would adopt, because he could afford it. The 

 false taste which is censured is mere architectural hy 

 pocrisy. My object is to analyze certain of our emo 

 tions and sentiments, and to prove thereby that the 

 man who builds a showy house, not only offends against 

 good taste, but also essentially mars his own happiness. 

 Why do we contemplate with the purest delight a sim 

 ple cottage in a half rude, half cultivated field, except 

 that it gives indications of something adapted to confer 

 happiness upon its inmates? The rustic well, with a 

 long pole fastened to a lever, by which the bucket is 

 raised ; the neat stonewall or iron-gray fence that marks 

 the boundary of the yard ; the old standard apple-trees 

 dotted about irregularly, all over the grounds ; the 

 never-failing brook following its native circuitous course 

 through the meadow ; all these objects present to the 

 eye a scene that is strongly suggestive of domestic 

 comfort and happiness. 



Let us not, in our zeal for rearing something beauti 

 ful, overlook the effect of these venerable relics of the 

 more simple mode of life that prevailed fifty years since. 

 Let us not mistake mere glitter for beauty, nor the 

 promptings of vanity for those of taste. Let us be 

 ware, lest in our passion for improvement, without a 

 rational aim, we banish simplicity from the old farm, 

 and allow fashion to usurp the throne of nature in her 

 own groves. Far distant be the time when the less fa 

 miliar birds of our forest are compelled to retire beyond 

 the confines of our villages, and when the red-thrush is 

 heard only in a few solitary places, mourning over that 

 barbarous art which has destroyed every green thicket 



