226 PLANS OF BESIDENCES 



vases, and the management of the vines and plants in the grape- 

 houses, all have a tendency to beget a craving for more room ; for 

 similar pleasures and more beautiful creations on a larger scale. 

 Mr. Smith, the owner of the stores and the double-house, has been 

 obliged to buy the lot back of the alley (loo x 185 feet) to get 

 room for his stable, vehicle, and man-servant. Not being in a 

 street where property is used for business, or popular for residences, 

 he buys it for a small part of what lots on the east street are worth ; 

 and the lot is first used for a horse and cow pasture, or run-ground, 

 in connection with the stable. Now let us suppose Mr. Smith is 

 one of those good specimens of business-men whose refined tastes 

 develop as their means increase, and that he longs, and that his 

 good family seconds the longing, for those lovely stretches of lawn 

 flecked with shadows of trees, margined with shrubberies, and 

 sparkling with flowers, that some friend's acre has enabled him to 

 display ; that the family envy the possession of fine croquet grounds 

 where children, youth, and old people are alike merry in the open 

 summer air with the excitement of the battles of the balls ; that 

 they desire some better place than the street to air the little chil- 

 dren, and to stroll with family familiarity on fair summer days, and 

 evenings, and sociable Sundays. 



To obtain all these pleasant features of a home without going 

 into the country, or exchanging the home in the heart of the village 

 for a new one farther off, or giving up the convenient proximity to 

 his business which Mr. Smith has always enjoyed, we propose to 

 tunnel the alley, and to convert the cow-pasture-lot into a little 

 pleasure-ground, as shown on the plan. This project, however, pre- 

 supposes that the soil is naturally so gravelly as to be self-draining, 

 so that water might never rest in the tunnel, or else that drainage 

 for the bottom of the tunnel can be effected by a sewer in the alley 

 beneath it, or not far off. 



It may be asked — "why tunnel rather than bridge the alley?" 

 The reasons are conclusive in favor of the tunnel. A bridge over 

 the alley must be high enough to allow a load of hay to pass under. 

 The great height would make it a laborious ascent and descent. 

 In going from one piece of embellished ground to the other it is 

 precisely to avoid the sight of the alley that we want bridge or 



