fyfo^ OUT-OF-DOOR LIVING ROOMS 



that no one will confuse the arbor with the pergola. The 

 arbor is a more definite construction for the support of 

 vines, and may furnish rest and shelter but it cannot be said 

 to have the dignity of the pergola. The arbor is simpler, 

 and not destined to call upon the resources of the architect's 

 artistic and creative faculties, as does the construction of 

 the pergola. 



The pergola may be Italian, Persian, Indian or just 

 plain American; there is no greater opportunity for origi- 

 nality afforded the designer than in the construction of the 

 pergola. 



It is a very easy matter to spoil the artistic effect of the 

 garden in its relation to the house by introducing a summer- 

 house that does not conform to the general plan. I am 

 constantly struck with the thought that the American has not 

 yet learned the value of the summer-house, since where 

 they are timidly introduced, they have a foreign air, as if 

 they were to be with us only as an onlooker! 



The common use of rustic work that is extravagantly 

 artificial in character, the too often bizarre and unreal forms 

 that are used in the making of garden-houses in some way 

 seem to disturb the sense of harmony. And yet the garden- 

 house, the arbor and the pergola may all be made so sat- 

 isfying to family life — so important to American family life 

 — since they offer inducements toward a measure of relaxa- 

 tion almost foreign to our people without which we shall 

 continue to earn the title of the most nerve-worn nation of 

 the earth. 



[109] 



