BUILDING THE HOUSE 65 



right in the rear of a country house, where there are 

 slop holes and shiftlessness which spoil everything. 

 You ought to be able to walk around a house in the 

 country without distress, or catching a bad odor, and 

 there ought to be an equally cheerful welcome for you 

 with porches and balconies, on all sides. Around 

 the kitchen door particularly there should be neatness 

 and sweetness. 



Keep clean on all sides, and do not indulge your- 

 self in slovenliness out of sight of the street. This 

 is one reason for building back from the highway; it 

 puts you on your honor to be decent, and to develop 

 the beautiful. Besides this you will feel that your 

 home is not built for others to look at, but for your- 

 self to see, and to smell. Flower beds are preferable 

 to ash heaps and decaying refuse. 



Your house should be adjusted to all other build- 

 ings on your place. There is no reason under the 

 sun why a barn should be less beautiful or attractive 

 than a house. Often of an evening I sit in an easy- 

 chair at my barn door to enjoy the moonlight. . As 

 I have told you before, cows and horses like cleanli- 

 ness and they understand the beautiful. Cows will 

 generally lie down with their faces toward the har- 

 vest moon. For this reason humanize all the build- 

 ings where your animals are housed. 



My laboratory, of which I shall speak more very 

 soon, is an adjunct to the barn. I would make the 

 bee yard also a charming place, not a tight little in- 

 closure to be stung in. If the yard is large and 



