1892.] ESSAYS. 131 



a wise customer inspects the cellar more carefully than any 

 other part of the structure. 



Every good house in this region is built either of wood, brick 

 or stone Limited means compel many people to build their 

 houses of material which is not their first choice. Probably the 

 ideal house for the majority of persons is one made of stone, 

 vine-clad and solid as the eternal hills. Stone is indeed a fit 

 and beautiful material for a dwelling or any other building. 

 Time mellows and improves its appearance. It courts the em- 

 brace of climbing vines and lovingly supports them as the 

 decorations of nature. It harmonizes with the verdure of the 

 woods and fields, and with the clouds and all the colors of the 

 sky. It will defy the tooth of time, and when put into the walls 

 of a house it will shelter its inmates for centuries. If laid in 

 good cement or mortar, it will call for little work or money to 

 keep it in order and no expenditure for paint. Luckily New 

 England has an unlimited supply of the best quarry and field 

 stones for building purposes, and as wood grows more scarce 

 and expensive stone will undoubtedly be used more commonly 

 in the construction of houses. 



There is some prejudice in the public mind against stone 

 houses on the ground that they are apt to be damp ; but when 

 properly constructed, with suitaljle air spaces, there is no good 

 reason why a stone house should not be dry and healthy. 



There is no popular opposition to brick houses on the ground 

 of dampness, but there is some objection on the ground of looks. 

 The objection is owing more to the way brick have heretofore 

 been used in this country than to bricks themselves. They 

 have generally been used in the construction of fiictories, dormi- 

 tories, street blocks and other buildings with plain, flat walls, 

 pierced by a few unartistic doors and windows. Such build- 

 ings, it nmst be admitted, do not make pleasing pictures, and 

 are unsatisfactory to the tasteful eye ; but when bricks are 

 artistically employed in the construction of buildings of proper 

 architectural proportions with stone trimmings or terra-cotta 

 ornamentations, like the new [)ublic library and some other 

 structures in this city that might he named, they make beautiful 

 buildings and are pleasant to look on. No one who has seen 



