258 OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES. 



against the north, or such planting and arrangement 

 of outbuildings as shall presently secure shelter : not 

 upon low land either least of all near to any body 

 of fresh water which from artificial causes is subject 

 to great inequalities of level, or which in the heats 

 of September may show a broad margin of quagmire. 

 Lakes are very beautiful, and very healthful too, as 

 God made them ; but when the manufacturers or the 

 water companies tap them, as they will most persist- 

 ently in the seasons of least ram, all their charm and 

 glory go sounding down the sluices. 



One would say too that a model country house or 

 an enjoyable one should be placed upon such lift of 

 ground as to give a good honest out-look over mea- 

 dow and wood, and streaks of river (if such can be 

 compassed). The near sight of the roofs and towers 

 of a city, too, will give a good every-day feeling of 

 companionship with the world, without the world's 

 noises ; and I am not sure but that a spire or two 

 lifting above trees or among trees will breed a 

 healthful religious habit in a man shining always in 

 his eye trim, solid sermons not smirched with the 

 dust of groundling conflicts, and (unlike many written 

 sermons) always carrying a good point in them. 

 There should be also some glimpse, if nothing more, 

 of one of the world's great highways ; a near railway 

 is indeed terrific with its din, but if so far away 



