PHASES OF FARM LIFE. 247 



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The old Dutch farm-Rouses, too, were always pleas- 

 ing to look upon. They were low, often made of 

 stone, with deep window jambs and gre_at family fire- 

 places. The outside door, like that of the barn, was 

 always divided into upper and lower halves. When 

 the weather permitted the upper half could stand 

 open, giving light and air without the cold draught 

 over the floor where the children were playing, that 

 our wide-swung doors admit. This feature of the 

 Dutch house and barn certainly merits preservation 

 in our modern buildings. 



>, (\\WAA The large, unpainted timber barns that succeeded 

 the first Yankee settlers' log stables were also pictur- 

 esque, especially when a lean-to for the cow-stable 

 was added and the roof carried down with a long 

 sweep over it ; or when the barn was flanked by an 

 open shed with a hay-loft above it, where the hens 

 cackled and hid their nests, and frpm the open win- 

 dow of which the hay was always hanging. i~*t^s**++ 



Then the great timbers of these barns and the 

 Dutch barn, hewn from maple or birch or oak trees 

 from the primitive woods, and put in place by the 

 combined strength of all the brawny arms in the 

 neighborhood, when the barn was raised, timbers 

 strong enough and heavy enough for docks and 

 quays, and that have absorbed the odors of the hay 

 and grain until they look ripe and mellow and full of 

 the pleasing sentiment of the great, sturdy, bountiful 

 interior ! The " big beam " has become smooth and 

 polished from the TiayT;hat has been pitched over it 



