20 



"Nor farm house with its maple shade, 



Or rigid poplar colonnade, 



But lies distinct and full in sight, 



Beneath this gush of sunset light." 

 The builders of these houses were brothers to the 

 regicides across the sea. They were Commonwealth 

 men. They were the advanced liberals of the age- 

 They at home had dreamed of establishing beyond the 

 ocean a greater England, freed from feudalism, prelacy 

 and kingcraft. While they were setting up their Puri- 

 tan theocracy, growing attached to the new homes, the 

 experiment of the Commonwealth was tried in England 

 and was lost when the great Cromwell died. 



The profligate reign of Charles the 2nd and the bigoted 

 reign of James the 2nd were followed by the great Revo- 

 lution of 1689, which brought in the Dutch William. 

 And then came the day of the intriguing and venal place 

 hunters of the reign of Anne. 



The Protestant Revolution of 1689 did well enough for 

 conservative England, but the more radical Bay Colony 

 had learned to walk alone. It wanted no Queen Anne 

 houses with chimneys on the outside. These were adapted 

 to negro quarters in the sunny South, but not for our 

 north country. An American architecture had been 

 evolved. American thought had been created, and from 

 then on, our fathers planned for emancipation from the 

 political yoke. 



Let us not learn from strangers to appreciate the historic 

 value nor the substantial use of the stout houses that are 

 gems set in the grassy lanes of old Essex, but let us so 

 care for them as to make them still more attractive to the 

 wanderer who returns to the home of his people. 



