10 FARM HOMES, IN-DOORS AND OUT-DOORS. 



announces pretty clearly, in farming regions, the differ- 

 ence between the man and the sluggard between the 

 genuine and worthy "lord of the soil" and the slack- 

 souled pauper who makes no honorable return to the 

 acres that feed him. 



It is a great thing to build the house that is to be one's 

 home. There are few pleasures so unalloyed as that of 

 selecting the ground, laying the foundation, and watch- 

 ing day by day the growth of wall and roof that go to 

 form one's own secure kingdom through the years to 

 come. And it is a pleasure that cannot be entered upon 

 too seriously. If there are to be but three rooms, they 

 will constitute the home, and the opportunity exists to 

 make them either charmingly cozy and cheerful, or de- 

 pressingly ugly. Therefore, even a small house-plan 

 should be well considered. A house-plan is easily torn 

 down and remodelled ; it costs nothing to add a paper 

 window here, or to remove a paper partition there ; a 

 pencil line changes a staircase or enlarges the dining- 

 room ; a few moments of inexpensive reflection lets the 

 morning sunlight into a cheerless kitchen, builds a 

 clothes-press, and remodels the pantry ; or, if something 

 better is thought of, the whole establishment can be 

 easily tossed aside, and not even the shadow of the house- 

 mover's bill presents itself. But, having put a plan into 

 solid timber and mortar, and then coming to find how 

 greatly the house might be improved ah, woe the day ! 

 It is no idle thing to meddle with the stair-cases and 

 partitions, and the gloomily-lighted kitchen. 



THE SITE. 



The building site is, of course, the first thing to be con- 

 sidered. One's first resolution regarding it should be to 

 avoid all anxiety to jump into the road. A house crowding 

 upon the highway loses all dignity and home-like repose, 

 and gains nothing but dust. Such choice of location may 



