PHASES OF FARM LIFE 223 



jecting over them, and the doors themselves were 

 divided horizontally into upper and lower halves; 

 the upper halves very frequently being left open, 

 through which you caught a glimpse of the mows 

 of hay, or the twinkle of flails when the grain was 

 being threshed. 



The old Dutch farmhouses, too, were always 

 pleasing to look upon. They were low, often made 

 of stone, with deep window- jambs and great family 

 fireplaces. The outside door, like that of the barn, 

 was always divided into upper and lower halves. 

 When the weather permitted, the upper half could 

 stand open, giving light and air without the cold 

 draught over the floor where the children were play- 

 ing that our wide-swung doors admit. This fea- 

 ture of the Dutch house and barn certainly merits 

 preservation in our modern buildings. 



The large, unpainted timber barns that succeeded 

 the first Yankee settlers' log stables were also pic- 

 turesque, especially when a lean-to for the cow- 

 stable was added, and the roof carried down with a 

 long sweep over it; or when the barn was flanked 

 by an open shed with a hayloft above it, where 

 the hens cackled and hid their nests, and from the 

 open window of which the hay was always hanging. 



Then the great timbers of these barns and the 

 Dutch barn, hewn from maple or birch or oak trees 

 from the primitive woods, and put in place by the 

 combined strength of all the brawny arms in the 

 neighborhood when the barn was raised, — timbers 

 strong enough and heavy enough for docks and 



