308 On architectural, rural, domestic, and other Improvements. 



Such an association branching itself out, and engaging the attention 

 of numerous individuals, might exert a most salutary and effective 

 influence, directly upon the subjects to be treated of, and through 

 them on the health and enjoyments, and indeed on all the personal 

 and social interests of man. That influence would be important in 

 its connection with our moral and political economy, would essential- 

 ly aid other reformations, would augment the resources of domestic 

 interest and recreation, promote a taste for rural scenery and a love 

 of excellence in every thing, add to the cheerfulness and beauty of 

 dwellings, and prompt to the cultivation of the minds and hearts of 

 their inmates. The bearing of such an influence on the subject of 

 temperance, in very numerous instances of dwellings placed in un- 

 healthy situations, is sufficiently obvious; and likewise its tendency to 

 prevent indolence, pauperism and vice, and consequently, to dimin- 

 ish the hazards and burdens which one portion of every community 

 imposes on another and better portion. He who is neat and tasteful 

 in and around his dwelling, will be likely to cultivate those qualities of 

 mind and heart, which such a state of things implies and requires ; 

 and will promote the same associations and habits in his family, and 

 extend them, to the literary, moral and social education and conduct 

 of his children. A portion of such families, in each small commu- 

 nity, would by their sentiments and example raise the general stand- 

 ard of opinion and taste, and exalt these arrangements of elegance 

 and comfort into rules of social observance, and requirements of de- 

 cent propriety. 



No such reformation however, of the opinions, tastes and habits 

 of mankind, is to be hoped from individual or insulated effort. Rea- 

 son and argument in such a case will be ineffectual, unless combined 

 with personal and local influence. The threefold cord of associa- 

 tion is the indispensable and only adequate instrument of success in 

 an undertaking of this nature ; and for the same reasons, even this 

 instrument must be present and locally operative in every vicinage 

 and community where its beneficial results are to be expected. 



Nor is the design capable of being so easily or speedily accom- 

 plished, in any way, as to render unnecessary an extensive organi- 

 zation. Though many of the most important suggestions to be made 

 require no very labored investigation, and among those who compre- 

 hend them, scarcely admit of two opinions ; yet there are questions 

 to be resolved respecting the location and structure of dwellings al- 

 most as numerous as the varieties in the surface of the earth and the 



