MR. URBAN AND A CO UNTR Y HO USE. 265 



build a house which is in sound and saleable condi- 

 tion forty or fifty years hence, what more is needed r 



But even under this short-sighted view, is the house 

 of wood more economical than the house of stone ? 

 If, as I have hinted, the projector aims at a finical 

 nicety of exterior surface, there can be no question 

 that economy is largely in favor of the use of wood ; 

 but if a man will have the courage to violate conven- 

 tional tastes in this respect, and be content, nay, be 

 boastful of a rural residence if it offer only agreea- 

 ble outline and afford ample security for all comfort 

 and elegance within, there is a large doubt if stone, 

 if readily accessible, be not the more economic 

 material. A large allowance in its favor is to be 

 made in view of the fact that the painters' bills must 

 needs be modest, and that repairs for an indefinite 

 series of years will be almost infinitesimal. And yet 

 whatever may be a man's plottings in favor of rude 

 material, and a resolute indifference to other beauty 

 of exterior than the natural faces of the scattered 

 boulders in his fields, it is quite possible that the city 

 masons, if consulted, will swell their estimates to the 

 same aggregate that belongs to the nice finish of the 

 town houses. Every experiment, even in the direc- 

 tion of economy, is taxed somewhat by reason of its 

 quality of experiment. 



To avoid this tax it would be well to seek out 

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