278 ROOF-TREE. 



as no other part does, and to belittle it, or conceal 

 it, or in any way take from the honest and direct 

 purport of it as the shield, the main matter after 

 all, is not to be allowed. In the city we see only 

 the fronts, the f^ades of the houses, and the flat and 

 Mansard are less offensive. But in the country, the 

 house is individualized, stands defined, and every 

 vital and necessary part is to be boldly and strongly 

 treated. The Mansard gives to the country house a 

 smart, dapper appearance, and the effect of being 

 perched up, and looking about for compliments ; such 

 houses seem to be ready to make the military salute 

 as you pass them. Whereas the steep, high roof 

 gives the house a settled, brooding, introverted look. 

 It also furnishes a sort of foil to the rest of the build- 

 ing. 



What constitutes the charm to the eye of the old- 

 fashioned country barn but its immense roof a slope 

 of gray shingle exposed to the weather like the side 

 of a hill, and by its amplitude suggesting a bounty 

 that warms the heart ? Many of the old farm-houses, 

 too, were modeled on the same generous scale, and 

 at a distance little was visible but their great sloping 

 roofs. They covered their inmates as a hen covereth 

 her brood, and are touching pictures of the domestic 

 spirit in its simpler forms. 



What is a man's house but his nest, and why should 

 it not be nest-like both outside and in coarse, strong, 

 negative in tone externally, and snug and well-feath- 

 ered and modeled by the heart within ? Why should 



