THE COUNTRY HOME [CHAPTER 
tints, so popular fifty years ago, have the advantage 
of making the house inconspicuous — as it should 
be. But what we want is to have all our associations 
suggestive of our needs and emotions — that is, the 
house should suggest our living ideas and cares. 
Green and red are two colors that nature seldom 
tires of using; and it is much the same with warm 
yellow. Blue is used much more cautiously and 
delicately. A dark-red house, trimmed with dark 
green, very generally fits into the surroundings 
which nature offers in the country. 
Outbuildings should never be allowed to mar 
the symmetry and the unity of the home buildings. 
They should not break up or break into the idea 
that the place is intended to express. Greenhouses 
are a part of the idea of a florist’s home, but they 
are not a natural part of an ordinary home. An 
observatory is generally a ludicrous pretence, unless 
you have a telescope, and study astronomy. Of all 
absurdities nothing can be more disagreeable than 
water-closets and cesspools in full view near a house 
—even though they be behind it. Infact, we should 
not so build and arrange our lawns that there shall 
be any part of the grounds which can be said to be 
back of the house. ‘True homes front all ways, not 
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