nth February, A. D. 1892. 



ESSAY 



BY 



BURTON W. POTTER, Esq., of Worcester. 



Theme: — Our Dioellings and their Environs. 



Our dwellings and their environs is a subject in which we are 

 all interested. Every dwelling should be a home, and the men- 

 tion of that good old Saxon word touches a chord in the memory 

 of every one w^ho has realized in the course of his career that 

 "there is no place like home." The influences of the home are 

 all-powerful in the formation of characters, and likewise deter- 

 mine in large measure the character of the orovernment of the 

 country in which they are situated. The multiplication of happy 

 and beautiful homes might well be the chief aim of every gov- 

 ernment, and time and thought spent in the consideration of 

 home improvement is not only permissable, but becomes the 

 duty of every person who desires to add his mite in the advanc- 

 ing civilization of his country and the world. 



During the past iifteen or twenty years there has been great 

 improvement in our domestic architecture, but there is still 

 opportunity for both internal and external improvement of our 

 homes. Our Colonial architecture was superior to the architecture 

 of the first seventy years of the present century. In the Colonial 

 period, many of the houses were well built and in excellent taste, 

 as is evidenced by some of them which still remain as witnesses 

 to the ability and honesty of the architects and builders of those 

 days. We need only call attention to the substantial and pictur- 

 esque Salisbury mansion in this city to verify this statement. 

 In the early part of this century when our high-pressure civiliza- 

 tion set in, the architects disappeared and the reign of the car- 



