44 NATURE IN A CITY YARD 



They ask perpetuation, these melting glo- 

 ries, and his is the art to keep or convert 

 them. Architecture appeals to more than 

 the eye alone. It satisfies the sense for 

 substance, greatness, permanence, such as 

 snow hints in shining shadow. In that 

 the builder's art is like nature. But for 

 this solidity, the stage palace of canvas 

 would serve our minds as well as Durham 

 Cathedral or the Chicago Fair. 



One advantage in our yard is that it 

 gives access to the shrillest, coldest winds 

 of winter. And though it is a mournful 

 music, it is likewise of a brave, romantic 

 kind. True comfort of indoors is com- 

 plete only with a gale brattling at the win- 

 dows. Draw the curtains, stir the fire, see 

 the family bestowed for the night; let there 

 be no burning of garish and vulgar gas, 

 no dusty, choking furnaces, no thrice- 

 abominable cracking, clinking, smelling, 

 and roasting of steam radiators; have at 

 your elbow a mug of something cold and 

 bubbling, or hot and fragrant, as your 

 taste directs ; if there are no women at 

 home, or if this is your den, have a cigar 



