HOMESTEAD LANDSCAPES. 153 



homes of all classes is not only permissible, but presents itself as 

 a duty owed to the individual, to the family, and to the com- 

 munity. And surely no section of our broad land offers better 

 opportunities and facilities for refining and elevating homes than 

 our own loved New England. 



The rude homesteads of New England, peopled by a sturdy race, 

 have exerted, and are this day exerting a perceptible influence 

 upon our national prosperity and character, but under the inevit- 

 able law of change, and the universal tendency to variations, they 

 have gradually been modified in style and character. The humble 

 cabin, built of logs and picturesque in its simplicity, in time gave 

 place to the more commodious though still humble cottage, which 

 in its turn succumbed to the square two story structure with its 

 ell ; a type so dominant in the architecture of the Eastern States, in 

 times comparatively recent, that it ma}' be said to be character- 

 istic of those times. Fashion ruled in our fathers' days as well as 

 in our own ; but she is a fickle goddess, changing every day, incon- 

 stant as the wind, and the shapes she but lately considered as 

 Ideally perfect in regard to style and convenience are today looked 

 upon as antiquated and uncomfortable. The surrounding lands 

 changed their aspect with the dwelling, as the actor changes his 

 dress to correspond with the character. Fields freshly hewn out 

 from the forest, stump-decorated, harmonized well with the log- 

 built cabin. The cottage, built later in the subdued clearing, and 

 surrounded by well walled fields, told of the prolonged toil that 

 had been bestowed upon the land, fitting it for tillage by the simple 

 implements of those early days ; and showed the prosperity of its 

 inmates. The subsequent square farm house, with long-sloped 

 rear roof and extensive ell, and several small buildings around, 

 was likewise in keeping with the time of its construction, and the 

 enlarged labors and productions of the farm. Thus the dwellings 

 and the land have ever been characteristic indications of each 

 other's prosperit}', and are so toda}- . But at the present time we 

 observe contrasts more marked than at former periods, chiefiy due 

 , to the concentration of population in towns and villages, which 

 has succeeded the more scattered distribution of an earlier day ; 

 also to the consequent change in the choice of crops for cultiva- 

 tion ; to the increased wealth and prosperity of the' people ; and to 

 the exodus of city dwellers to the country during the summer 

 months. 



