1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



413 



ornate houses, which have been erected within a 

 few years, that seem as if they might easily be 

 unroofed in a high wind. 



A house may be ridiculous, as well a"- ugly. It 

 is ridiculous, when it abounds in conspicuous or 

 naments that do not harmonize with its general 

 character ; as when Grecian columns support a 

 large porch attached to a mean house ; also when 

 a building manifests an attempt to imitate astjle 

 which cannot be attained ; as when a house, at 

 a cost of only two or three thousand dollars, is 

 made after the model of a baronial mansion. 

 There are many of these absurdities among those 

 houses in our land which were erected by men 

 who were ambitious to produce some extraordi- 

 nary work, and whose sense and judgment were 

 not equal to their ambition. 



We ought to adopt that style of building, 

 which is calculated to inspire the owner with 

 permanent satisfaction, and tends to promote a 

 fritgal liospitality, as distinguished from a nig- 

 gardly extravagance. A frugal hospitality dis- 

 tinguishes those families who indulge in no fash- 

 ionable expenses ; who buy no costly furniture 

 that is not needed, but who are always ready to 

 entertain a friend ; who pay those who work for 

 them justly and generously, and give freely to 

 rational purposes of charity and public improve- 

 ment, A niggardly extravagance marks those 

 v^ho furnish their houses with costly gewgaws, 

 dress themselves in finery, and pay largely for 

 fashionable amusements, while on the other hand, 

 they shut their doors against company, pay those 

 who labor for them the smallest pittance they 

 can force them to accept, and give nothing in 

 alms, except in such a way as to gain applause. 



Fine houses certainly encourage this sort of 

 selfish extravagance ; they foster a spirit of ri- 

 valry, and a love of show and "gentility," and 

 oblige a family to live meanly in many respects, 

 to enable them to support the expenses of their 

 ostentation. Our neighbor, for example, who is 

 a manufacturer, having crippled his fortune by 

 building a fine house, immediately cuts down the 

 wages of his operatives to save himself from em- 

 barrassment. His new and elegant stable re- 

 quires a pair of elegant horses ; this additional 

 expense obliges him to dismiss one of his need- 

 ful clerks, and his son, who was intended for col- 

 lege, is employed to fill the vacancy. The costly 

 furniture which was purchased to correspond 

 with the style of his new home, requires the cut- 

 ting down of some necessary expenses for com- 

 fort ; and although he is now supplied with more 

 ample accommodations for company, he is obliged 

 to diminish the amount of his former hospitali- 

 ties. In this way has many a family been forced 

 to perform private acts of meanness, in order to 

 pay for their affectation of munificence ! 



All the modern improvements for utility in 

 home-architecture, so far as they can be afforded, 

 should be adopted in the cheapest and humblest 

 dwellings, because they serve to promote health 

 and comfort, and to abridge labor ; but a suf- 

 ficient amount of decoration has been bestowed 

 upon a house, when its outside appearance is 

 made to correspond with its interior perfection. 

 The highest kind of beauty springs from the 

 manifest combination of neatness and conve- 

 nience; yet how often do we see dwelling-houses 

 tricked out with various ornaments, and neatly 



painted, while an ugly sink-spout discharges its 

 waters conspicuously upon a grassy bank, and 

 destroys all the beauty of the place ! If, in this 

 case, there is neatness within doors, the outside 

 is false to the character of the interior. 



There are other ways in which a house may be 

 false in its appearances, when, for example, it ap- 

 pears to be built for purposes of hospitality, 

 while the owner and his family live like misers, 

 and only to themselves. It is remsrkable to what 

 an extent this kind of ostentation in fine houses 

 is carried by the meanest and most miserly sort 

 of people. I believe it is only in this country, 

 that the sight is beheld, of an elegant and spa- 

 cious dwelling-house, with numerous large and 

 handsome rooms, provided with furniture as 

 costly as the house, — while the master and mis- 

 tress seldom entertain a party of friends, and 

 live with all their family in a back room or the 

 'kitchen. I would not find fault with such peo- 

 jple for occupying that part of the house which 

 their manners and habits are best suited to 

 adorn. I would simply inquire for what purpose 

 j seven or eight superfluous rooms were made, 

 I since the family neither occupies them, nor de- 

 i votes them to hospitality ! How much more sen- 

 ' sible their conduct, if the house had been planned 

 jto correspond both in size and appearance, with 

 their own habits and requirements ! Such a 

 ! home is designed neither for the proprietor nor 

 jfor his neighbors. It is built by a vain man for 

 I the idle gaze of a public, who are not allowed to 

 I soil it with a single footstep. In this case, the 

 j grandeur of the house serves to render the mean- 

 ness of the owner the more conspicuous. 



All this, however, is rather affectation than 

 hypocrisy, which is more commonly manifested 

 in our sepulchral monuments, and in the style of 

 our churches, than in our dwellings. When a 

 man who has led a wicked life, erects before his 

 death a solemn marble tombstone, with a cross 

 and other religious devices, and engraves upon 

 it certain impressive mottoes, the work is an act 

 of hypocrisy. But the affectation that marks the 

 builders of dwelling-houses is that of endeavor- 

 ing to seem wealthy, when they are poor ; gen- 

 tlemen of leisure, when they are devoted to la- 

 borious toil ; or princes, when they are only men 

 of wealth, and slaves in their own counting- 

 rooms. It is very common to see the house of 

 an illiterate adventurer furnished with its libra- 

 ry and study, while the humble parsonage, right 

 opposite, is so poorly supplied with rooms, that 

 the clergyman writes his sermons and pursues 

 his studies in the parlor or living-room. 



It is very customary for the press to ridicule 

 plain houses, because the cant of the times jin- 

 gles in praise of "the beautiful." But if any one 

 wiil take pains to study the effects in landscape 

 of the diff'erent styles of building, he will find 

 that homely houses, made for comfort and not 

 for show, are the most pleasing objects in rural 

 scenery. There are many who will bear witness 

 of instances I have often observed, in which the 

 beauty of a charming scene has been totally de- 

 stroyed, simply by removing a neat and plain 

 cottage, and putting up an ornamental one in its 

 stead. The reason why we are thus affected, is 

 that the one wears the expression of freedom and 

 comfort, the other that of vanity and restraint. 



If the ornate styles of buildings were favora- 



