Revieios. — Colmcm^s Address. Ill 



ers, vines, are every where to be had for the mere trouble of getting, in 

 some of those half-days or half-hours which occur in the busiest condi- 

 tions of life, and which are so carelessly squandered by men who forget 

 that the largest sum is composed of units, as atoms make up the moun- 

 tain, and drops form the ocean. 



I would have them study the principles of refined taste in the construc- 

 tion of their farm buildings, and observe the rules of architectnra.1 pro- 

 portion and architectural beauty in all their erections, whether it be a 

 wigwam, a log-cabin, a stable, or even a pig-stye. But why should we 

 do this ? Because these proportions are not matters of arbitrary determi- 

 nation, but tliey are fixed in nature. The violation of them is always of- 

 fensive ; the observance of them always gives pleasure. Such erections 

 cost no more than buildings constructed with an entire disregard to them. 



I would have the windows of the farm-house adorned with flowers, not 

 in rusty tin measures and old black-glazed tea-pots, and glass bottles 

 witli the necks broken off, but in whole and handsome flower-pots, or 

 neatly painted wooden boxes, for they really cost nothing. I would have 

 the piazzas or porches trellised with vines, even with scarlet runners, if 

 nothing better can be had. I would have the door-yard filled with flow- 

 ers and shrubbery, and the road-side lined with trees ; here a clump and 

 there a single line, mingling the varieties as nature mingles them, culti- 

 vating them for fruit, and cultivating them for mere ornament and beauty. 

 But this is all, you will tell me, for appearance' sake. Well, is appear- 

 ance nothing ? Did you think nothing of appearance when you chose 

 your wives ; and nothing of your own appearance when you wished them 

 to confirm the election ? But why should the pleasures of sight be so 

 lightly esteemed ? Why should they be spoken of in the language of 

 disdain or indifference ? Are they not as rational, as respectable, as val- 

 uable, as abundant, as innocent, as the pleasures of the other senses ? 

 Are they not, indeed, the very elements of some of the most refined pleas- 

 lu-es of the mind and lieart ? Has God given us the sense of sight, so 

 wonderful, so capacious, so infinitely varied in its resources and objects, 

 for no purpose ? Is appearance nothing ? What is more studied through- 

 out the Creator's works ? 



Our first object should be to make our dwellings as convenient and 

 comfortable as art can make them ; our second object should be to render 

 them to an equal extent tasteful and elegant. Do what we can, and all 

 we can, we shall fall far short of rivalling even the simplest forms and 

 combinations of nature. 



We should do this on the ground of self-interest. Separate from the 

 pleasures which we ourselves derive from it, it essentially increases the 

 value of our estates. The beauty of a place, the ornamental trees and 

 shrubs, even the garden flowers which embellish it, are always objects of 

 attraction to a purchaser. We should do this from considerations of be- 

 nevolence. Buildings erected in good taste and proportions, and exhibit- 

 ing a refined judgment and skill, and grounds highly cultivated and em- 

 bellished, charm the eye of the traveller or passer-by, and allow us to im- 

 part most bountifully without diminishing our own stores." 



Here is a lesson which every farmer should study. Why, 

 indeed, should he, with an abundance of land, not enjoy 



