VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT. 149 
an invisible line, whose whereabouts can be determined from a hitching -post 
beyond the walk and centre-post in the lattice which divides the front yard from 
the regions that lie beyond. No fence is in any sense an ornament. It may be 
utilized to hide things more objectionable than itself. The stores and shops 
should conform measureably at least to such rules of comeliness as not to mar 
the effect of neatness, which well kept front areas would leave upon the eye. 
The blacksmith may insist on having a front view from his forge that does not 
include all the crippled agricultural implements of the neighborhood and a walk 
that is not the receptacle of old iron. The store would lose none of its attractions 
if a fountain played in front, and its drainage gave a drinking place to thirsty 
horses on the outer edge of the walk, instead of the present array of broken boxes 
and old barrels. 
These are easy lines that lie open for the improvement of our present village. 
I The planning of a village, laying it out and building it out of hand has come 
to be one of the duties of the modern architect. The suburbs of our great cities 
afford illustrations of their success. An account of one in London some time 
ago appeared in one of the monthlies, and reference is hereby made to the beau- 
tifully illustrated articles in the monthlies for ideas and thoughts on the subject of 
beautiful gardening applicable to all sorts of life that are represented in our ordi- 
nary villages and towns. 
Now, what applies to the village, applies to the town in a larger way and requires 
that greater care should be exercised ; for then questions of convenience, health, 
taste, and wider utility come into consideration. So that towns of from 3000 to 5000 
inhabitants would be gainers by having a new laying out of the town plat under the 
direction of some one competent to the task, in order to make suitable provision 
for a supply of wholesome water, and proper drainage, and if, as in many places 
they are now doing, we include the lighting and heating of residences, we would, 
I believe, have all the things provided for that the town builders expect to do. 
The Goldmaker's Village, of Chamber's Miscellany, is a great ways behind the 
the time, and out of place as well, I think, in having all the household work done 
in common over the same cooking stove and possibly in the same wash-tub. The 
communistic ideas of Fourier are in a just discredit, while a timely thrift and co:ne. 
liness may be greatly advanced in these lesser details, by a steady cooperation. 
And they may chance to have a commercial value, that will make them worthy 
of the attention of those who scoff at everything above the servilely useful, as 
unworthy of their regard. As witness the advance in real estate in Stockbridge 
Mass, brought about largely through the added charms of that village, wrought out 
by the Laurel Hill Association. 
If beautiful adornings had no reflex influence, this whole subject might well 
be relegated to the limbo of the useless and the worthless ; but the better surround- 
ings both indicate and bring about a better inner life; like the author's book that 
was made more orderly and greatly improved by a revision that was made upon a 
table of contents gotten up by the author's friend. We all know that neither a 
table of contents nor a bill of fare will satisfy either thought or appetite ; but they 
