62 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



at their houses. Humanize everything about you, 

 and be yourself humanized in turn. 



Your house should, on general principles, be lo- 

 cated as near the center of your property as possi- 

 ble. Even if you have five or ten acres, you may 

 go well back into the land and select your site where 

 you can command the scenery most freely and reach 

 every part of your lot with the least waste of time 

 and travel. If it seems to be too remote from the 

 street, causing a good deal of travel when you go to 

 the village or to a neighbor, remember how much 

 travel is caused when you go to your fields from a 

 house built on one side of the land. I do not say get 

 exactly in the middle, but on some commanding posi- 

 tion well back from the street. 



This should be done, if for no other reason, to 

 avoid that conventionality which repeats what has 

 been done by our neighbors. But we would do it 

 also to escape the dust of the highway and the noise 

 of rattling teams. We are beginning to learn the 

 advantage of quiet for American nerves. It is not 

 necessary for us to see every Dick and Harry that 

 goes up and down the highway, nor to study fashions 

 from our parlor windows. It is very rare that con- 

 venience of drainage and commanding position would 

 set a house near the road. 



I do not fancy architectural beauty that ends in 

 itself. If you employ an architect, look out for a 

 man who is free from the crotchets of his profession. 

 He will be likely to plan for you an up-to-date com- 



