THE USES OF WOOD 



507 



exterior work of a house attracts more attention or is 

 worthy of more, than porches. It does not matter how 

 pretentious a house may be, a well planned porch will add 

 much; and at the same time it is equally true that no 

 dwelling is so small but that a porch will improve its ap- 

 pearance. The salient features of a porch are its posts 

 or columns, its balustrades, and its cornice, and in these 

 are found the highest uses of exterior finish made of 

 wood. Take away the porch columns from the venerable 

 edifices which have come down from former generations, 

 and a void is 

 felt which 

 nothing else 

 can fill ; and 

 the absence of 

 such columns 

 from the im- 

 posing houses 

 of the present 

 impresses the 

 beholder as be- 

 ing akin to in- 

 excusable stin- 

 giness. Strip 

 the pine col- 

 umns from the 

 front of the 

 W a s h i ngton 

 home at Mount 

 Vernon, and 

 s o m ething of 

 the reverence 

 which one feels 

 for that classic 

 place would 

 vanish. The 

 Greeks knew 

 what porch col- 

 li mns were 

 worth, or they 

 would not have 

 lavished so 

 much time, sci- 

 ence, and labor 

 on them. 



The extra 

 fine touches be- 

 stowed on the 

 outside of a 

 house are pri- 

 marily for the 

 purpose of 

 making a favorable impression upon passers-by and oth- 

 ers who may never enter the doors ; but the inside finish 

 is meant for a restricted and select class of observers 

 the occupants. A few choice woods serve as outside irim, 

 but there is no practical limit to the number of those 

 which hold places of honor within. The artistic taste of 



A SPLENDID CORNER IN OAK 



The quarter sawing is brought out nicely and the figures harmonize with the moderate sizes of the panels. 

 Therein lies one of the advantages of using oak for interior trim. It can be made to match nearly any 

 kind of tasty surroundings and the architect finds it an easy wood to work into combinations. 



woods and what quantities shall appear in ceilings, panels, 

 wainscot, and stair. The cottage and the cabin may not 

 have many or costly woods, and the workmanship may be 

 mediocre; but even there it may be taken for granted 

 that if the builder has not used the best he could afford 

 and used it to the best advantage within his means, it is 

 because his tastes are uncultivated or his sense of beauty 

 defective. 



The improvement in architectural instincts or educa- 

 tion, and the development of ideas, are seen in few things 



to better ad- 

 vantage than 

 in the changes 

 that have tak- 

 en place in 

 stair building 

 in the homes 

 of the common 

 people during 

 the last century 

 or so. A study 

 of the interior 

 arrangement of 

 old houses 

 which have 

 survived the 

 grandchildr e n 

 of the original 

 owners, usual- 

 ly reveals the 

 stair as a plain 

 and rather 

 meanly - plann- 

 ed contrivance 

 for r e a c hing 

 upper floors 

 and descending 

 from them. 

 Too often it is 

 apparent that 

 no glimmer of 

 a sense of 

 beauty was in 

 the mind of the 

 builder. H i s 

 stair was for 

 use and for ab- 

 solutely noth- 

 ing else. It was 

 frequently 

 planked in and 

 concealed from 

 sight, and the only visible sign of its presence was a door 

 leading to it, and the door was kept religiously shut when 

 the stair was not in actual use. That explains why so 

 little is generally said on the subject of stairways by 

 persons who preserve or describe old buildings. The 

 less attention called to such stair, in many instances, the 



the builder, and the fatness of his purse, decide what better, because in the old buildings they too often suggest 



