KOOF-TKEE. 279 



he set it on a hill, when he can command a nook un- 

 der the hill or on its side ? Why should it look like 

 an observatory, when it is a conservatory and dormi- 

 tory ? 



The domestic spirit is quiet, informal, unceremoni- 

 ous, loves ease, privacy, low tones ; loves the chimney- 

 corner, the old arm-chair, the undress garb, homely 

 cares, children, simple pleasures, etc. ; and why should 

 it, when it seeks to house itself from the weather, 

 aim at the formal, the showy, the architectural, the 

 external, the superfluous ? Let state edifices look 

 stately, but the private dwelling should express pri- 

 vacy and coziness. 



Every man's house is in some sort an effigy of 

 himself. It is not the snails and. shell-fish alone that 

 excrete their tenements, but man as well. When you 

 seriously build a house, you make public proclamation 

 of your taste and manners, or your want of these. If 

 the domestic instinct is strong in you, and if you have 

 humility and simplicity, they will show very plainly 

 in your dwelling ; if you have the opposite of these, 

 false pride or a petty ambition, or coldness and ex- 

 clusiveness, they will show also. A man seldom builds 

 better than he knows, when he assumes to know any- 

 thing about it. 



I think that, on examination, it will be found that 

 the main secret of the picturesqueness of more simple 

 structures, like fences, bridges, sheds, log huts, etc., is 

 that the motive, the principle of construction, is so 

 open and obvious. No doubt much might be done 



