Nature on the Roof 



Once now and then there comes a snow-year, and 

 those who live in houses with flat surfaces anywhere 

 on the roof soon discover how inconvenient they are. 

 The snow is sure to find its way through, damaging 

 ceilings, and doing other mischief. Sometimes, in 

 fine summer weather, people remark how pleasant it 

 would be if the roof were flat, so that it could be used 

 as a terrace, as it is in warmer climates. But the 

 fact is, the English roof, although now merely copied 

 and repeated without a thought of the reason of its 

 shape, grew up from experience of severe winters. 

 Of old, great care and ingenuity what we should 

 now call artistic skill were employed in contracting 

 the roof. It was not only pleasant to the eye with 

 its gables, but the woodwork was wonderfully well 

 done. Such roofs may still be seen on ancient 

 mansions, having endured for centuries. They are 

 splendid pieces of workmanship, and seen from afar 

 among foliage, are admired by every one who has the 

 least taste. Draughtsmen and painters value them 

 highly. No matter whether reproduced on a large 

 canvas or in a little woodcut, their proportions please. 

 The roof is much neglected in modern houses; it is 

 either conventional, or it is full indeed of gables, but 

 gables that do not agree, as it were, with each other 

 that are obviously put there on purpose to look 

 artistic, and fail altogether. Now, the ancient roofs 

 were true works of art, consistent, and yet each varied 

 to its particular circumstances, and each impressed 

 with the individuality of the place and of the designer. 

 The finest old roofs were built of oak or chestnut; the 

 beams are black with age, and, in that condition, oak 

 is scarcely distinguishable from chestnut. 



So the roof has its natural history, its science, and 

 art; it has its seasons, its migrants and residents, of 



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