THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



tints, SO popular fifty years ago, have the advantage 

 of making the house inconspicuous — as it should 

 be. But what we want is to have all our associations 

 suggestive of our needs and emotions — that is, the 

 house should suggest our living ideas and cares. 

 Green and red are two colors that nature seldom 

 tires of using; and it is much the same with warm 

 yellow. Blue is used much more cautiously and 

 delicately. A dark-red house, trimmed with dark 

 green, very generally fits into the surroundings 

 which nature offers in the country. 



Outbuildings should never be allowed to mar 

 the symmetry and the unity of the home buildings. 

 They should not break up or break into the idea 

 that the place is intended to express. Greenhouses 

 are a part of the idea of a florist's home, but they 

 are not a natural part of an ordinary home. An 

 observatory is generally a ludicrous pretence, unless 

 you have a telescope, and study astronomy. Of all 

 absurdities nothing can be more disagreeable than 

 water-closets and cesspools in full view near a house 

 — even though they be behind it. In fact, we should 

 not so build and arrange our lawns that there shall 

 be any part of the grounds which can be said to be 

 back of the house. True homes front all ways, not 



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