ON THE COLOR OF COUKTEY HOUSES. 253 



"Now, genuine white lead (the color nominally used for most 

 exteriors) is one of the dearest of paints.* It is not, therefore, 

 economy which leads our countrymen into such a dazzling error. 

 Some mistaken notions, touching its good effect, in connection with 

 the country, is undoubtedly at the bottom of it; " Give me," says a re- 

 tired citizen, before whose eyes red brick and dusty streets have been 

 the only objects for years, ''give me a white house with bright green 

 blinds in the country." To him, white is at once the newest, clean- 

 est, smartest, and most conspicuous color which it is possible to 

 {jhoose for his cottage or villa. Its freshness and newness he prizes 

 as a clown does that of his Sunday suit,^ the more the first day after 

 it comes from the tailor, with all the unsullied gloss and glitter of 

 gilt buttons. To possess a house which has a (Juiet air, as though 

 it might have been Inhabited and well taken care of for years, is no 

 pleasure to him. He desires every one to know that he, Mr. Broad- 

 cloth, has come into the countiy and built a new house. Nothing 

 will give the stamp of newness so strongly as white paint. Besides 

 this, he does not wish his light to be hidden under a bushel. He 

 has no idea of leading an obscure life in the countay. Seclusion 

 and privacy are the only blue devils of his imagination. He wishes 

 every passer-by on the river, railroad, or highway, to see and know 

 that this is Mr. Broadcloth's villa. It must be conspicuous — there- 

 fore it is painted white. 



Any one who has watched the effect of example in a country 

 neighborhood, does not need to be told that all the small dwellings 

 that are built the next season after Mr. Broadcloth's new house, are 

 painted, if possible, a shade whiter, and the blinds a little more in- 

 tepsely v^erdant — what the painters triumphantly call '.'French 

 ^een." There is no resisting the fashion ; those who cannot afford 

 paint use whitewash; and whole "villages, to borrow Miss Miggs's 

 striking illustration, look like ", whitenin' and supel|ers." 



Our first objection to white, is, that it is too glaring and con- 



* We say genuine white lead, for it is notorious that fonr-fifths of the 

 white paint sold ijnder this name in the United States, is only an iraitatioi] 

 of it> composed largely of whitipg. Though the first cost of the latter is lit- 

 tle, yet as it soon rubs off and speedily repuiies renewal, it is one of the dear- 

 est colors in the end. 



