292 OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES. 



graceful, climbing plants, it adds wonderfully to the 

 general effect. 



The outline and the tints of a country house, as 

 I have already urged, are the great things to be reck- 

 oned, when we rate landscape effects. It is quite pos- 

 sible that the finesse and precision of the city architect 

 will tell no story upon a brook side, or on such slope of 

 land as Mr. Urban has chosen for his site. Effective 

 building of a country house wants a picture-maker as 

 much as architect. First, and chiefest of all, every con- 

 venience must be supplied all sunny exposure made 

 available all juxta-positions reconciled all home- 

 like qualities guarded. Next, the mass of building 



must tally with the landscape, and illustrate it with 







a rich, good color of home. Outline must not be 

 monotonous or heavy, but varied and piquant : roofs 

 must gleam a welcome, porches promise hospitality, 

 and chimney-tops, showing pennants of smoke, 

 lift up standing invitations. 



Conclusion. 



HAVING thus presented as it were, by turn of 

 kaleidoscope and probably by wearisome re- 

 petition all the shades and outlines of the fifty-acre 

 purchase which my friend Urban has had in mind, I 

 cannot close without a summing up. 



