252 SIGNS AND SEASONS 



to give a look of protection. The roof of a build- 

 ing allies it to the open air, and carries the sugges- 

 tion of shelter as no other part does; and to belittle 

 it, or conceal it, or in any way take from the honest 

 and direct purport of it as the shield, the main 

 matter after all, is not to be allowed. In the city 

 we see only the fronts, the fagades of the houses, 

 and the flat and Mansard are less offensive. But 

 in the country the house is individualized, stands 

 defined, and every vital and necessary part is to be 

 boldly and strongly treated. The Mansard gives to 

 the country house a smart, dapper appearance, and 

 the effect of being perked up and looking about 

 for compliments; such houses seem to be ready 

 to make the military salute as you pass them. 

 Whereas the steep, high roof gives the house a set- 

 tled, brooding, introverted look. It also furnishes 

 a sort of foil to the rest of the building. 



What constitutes the charm to the eye of the old- 

 fashioned country barn but its immense roof, — a 

 slope of gray shingle exposed to the weather like 

 the side of a hill, and by its amplitude suggesting 

 a bounty that warms the heart ? Many of the old 

 farmhouses, too, were modeled on the same generous 

 scale, and at a distance little was visible but their 

 great sloping roofs. They covered their inmates as 

 a hen covereth her brood, and are touching pictures 

 of the domestic spirit in its simpler forms. 



What is a man's house but his nest, and why 

 should it not be nest-like both outside and in, — 

 coarse, strong, negative in tone externally, and snug 



