Architecture in the United States. 265 



lieve, it has not played for several years. There may be others in 

 the country, but I have not heard of them. Abroad they are com- 

 mon in every city, producing beauty, health, cleanliness and comfort. 

 Why do we not have them ? Our water companies surely are not so 

 parsimonious that they will not give, or our city treasuries so scanty 

 that they cannot purchase for our poor so essential a beverage. Even 

 the Turks may here teach us a useful lesson. With private means not to 

 be compared with ours, and a revenue not half so well systematized or 

 productive, they have made fountains in their cities, in their meanest 

 villages, and even in their high ways, as common and free as the atmos- 

 phere itself. The Turkish fountain is always a pleasing object. The 

 whole structure consists of a wall five or six feet high, wide in pro- 

 portion, and a foot in thickness : it is curved above, and the edges 

 project a little, so as to form a border. In the face of this is a tube, 

 from which gushes the water : a stone basin below, often a huge 

 plane tree overshadowing it, and a rude bench by the side, are the 

 only accompaniments. In Constantinople the fountain is often in a 

 marble building, adjoining the street : the windows have gilded grat- 

 ings, and between the bars are polished brass cups, attached by a 

 chain. These are kept constantly filled with water, which all per- 

 sons are at liberty to take, and for which no compensation is offered 

 or received. Nothing strikes a visitor in Turkey so soon, or affects 

 him so favorably towards the nation, as this universal provision of the 

 rich for the wants of the poor. I wish I could see it in our own 

 country. The lowly in life would come to such spots for the needful 

 beverage, and feel that they were not neglected or forgotten : he, who 

 had thought that society was a constant effort of the wealthy to grind 

 and oppress the unfortunate, would leave such thoughts at the foun- 

 tain : the rich would feel there the pleasure of doing good ; and each 

 exclamation of pleasure from the poor or stranger, as he quaffed 

 the fluid, would rise to heaven to befriend his benefactor when gold 

 shall be a mean and worthless thing. I shall remark at another time 

 on the shape of fountains : at present I leave them, and pass to the 

 consideration of — 



Greens or public squares. — These are a beautiful ornament to a 

 town, while at the same time they contribute to its health by pro- 

 moting the free circulation of air. In the towns north of the Hud- 

 son, they are frequent, and are the first thing that strikes a traveller 

 in that region of our country : the church, the town house and the 

 academy are congregated there ; and the most solemn and cheerful 



Vol. XVIL— No. 2. 7 



