OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES 



the real homishness of a country place. I 

 know there are very good and Christian peo- 

 ple who never allow a dog about their premises, 

 or a duck, or a dove, or a stray dandelion upon 

 their lawn, and who buy statuary and rustic 

 iron work (always in pairs) for their grounds, 

 and who keep the front blinds closed, and who 

 manage to give to their sunniest porch the 

 look of a church door upon week-days; but 

 why such people should come into the country 

 or live in the country I could never under- 

 stand. It puzzles me prodigiously. 



I like hugely that good old English word — 

 homeliness. It ought to have again its first 

 meaning. Pretty-faced women have corrupted 

 it. It describes all that is best about a country 

 house. I have advocated the use of homely 

 material and of homely methods, believing 

 these are best fitted, judiciously used, to lend 

 real homeliness to a house in the country. 



MR. URBAN'S PURCHASE 



Mr. Urban has at last positively succeeded 

 in making purchase of his farm of fifty acres, 

 or thereabout. It has its undulations, its 



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