H. K. OLIVER'S ADDRESS. 577 



graceful and awkward " palace of pine boards, grown venera- 

 bly black with time, — but so rickety, flimsy, that every blast 

 of wind gives it a fit of the ague,"* — and shall give way to a 

 structure, which, with its symmetrical proportions, its thorough 

 workmanship, and its beautiful home-expression and harmony 

 with the rural objects that surround it, shall combine all that 

 is useful, convenient and comfortable for its inmates. The 

 smallest house can be so made. You will find that the beau- 

 tiful in architecture, though distinct from the useful, is in har- 

 mony with it, and that they each aid and adorn the other. I 

 do not say that every farmer nuist go to work and demolish 

 his old house, and put up a new and elegant one. That might 

 be a pleasant thing to the lumbermen, the masons, and the 

 carpenters ; but might not be so well for the farmer's pocket. 

 " Fun for one, but death" to the other, as said the frogs in the 

 fable, might apply to such case. But I do say that when he 

 does build one, or when he alters, or adds to the old one, he 

 need not persevere in perpetuating all that is homely and 

 tasteless. Many farmers, I know, take the "old homestead." 

 Well, that "old homestead" hath many delightful associations 

 connected with it, from "the old oaken bucket that hung in 

 the well," and the row of old beehives that murmured beyond 

 the wall, to the pleasant faces that clustered round the family 

 hearth. But the "old homesteads," when repaired, as they 

 must occasionally be, may be repaired by the eye and hand of 

 good sense and good taste. Its associations shall be all the 

 more pleasant for the embellishments you may add to it, all in 

 the rural way. A grape vine, a climbing rose, the " Queen of 

 the Prairies" or the "Baltimore Belle" may be thrown against 

 its walls, or be made to twine above the door or window. In 

 front, some shade trees, our beautiful maples, or ashes or limes 

 or double-flowering cherries and apples, may keep ofi' the in- 

 tenser sun of summer. Within the front enclosure a neat 

 flower garden, yes, a flower garden, with perpetual roses, and 

 iris, and gladiolus, and asters, and dahlias, may be arrano-ed 

 with the least amount of labor required, and the good wife 

 and the children may take the care of it, and with you enjoy 

 the comfort of it. I say the good wife and children, — for these 

 every farmer must have, or home is no home. A wifeless 



* Washington Irving. 



73 



