November, 1912 
home-making are forgotten 
in the increased experience 
which comes with each difh- 
culty met and overcome! 
And if men and women are 
only boys and girls grown 
tall, the same things which 
interest mature years may be 
quite as fascinating in a 
somewhat different manner 
and degree, in the years of 
childhood. Happy is the 
boy or girl who is given the 
opportunity of working out 
these delightful problems in 
his or her own way. 
Let no one suppose that 
cleverness and ingenuity in 
home-making belong only to 
adult men and women. The 
little playhouses here shown, 
built in widely different sec- 
tions of the country, are of : 
many types and styles, and may be supposed to indicate the 
tastes of the little men and women for whom they have been 
planned. The keen ingenuity of childhood has developed a 
few of these little houses from materials which are easily 
to be had, and no doubt the little wigwam or the nests 
placed literally among the boughs of trees mean quite as 
much to their young owners as the beautifully designed and 
faultlessly built little structures which have been placed in 
gardens or upon barns of extensive country estates. 
Several of the small buildings of which illustrations are 
given may be said to represent, upon a small scale, the en- 
tire history of American home-making. ‘The little birch 
bark tepee where the children may play, dressed as Indians, 
represents, of course, the earliest of American homes, the 
RIE NRE IE OIG 
A family gathering about the tea table 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 337 
IL LSE A STLEPODELLANIS EAR MED 
habitations of the Aborigi- 
nes. Next comes the little 
cabin built of logs where the 
children may imagine them- 
selves sturdy pioneers in the 
wilderness—the advance 
guard of civilization, disput- 
ing every inch of the way 
with the Indians. Other 
houses might be said to rep- 
resent later types of Amer- 
ican homes of greater beauty 
and refinement, and the very 
charming and complete play- 
house shown at the beginning 
of this article might be said 
to represent the present day 
home with its grace and lux- 
ury, for it is part of an ex- 
tensive country estate, and 
agrees in design and con- 
struction with the other 
buildings upon the place. 
The smaller picture on page 386 shows a ‘“‘sand house,”’ 
and is included in this series, because it represents one phase 
of the playhouse which is apt to be overlooked. Children 
love to play in the sand, and here a low wall confines it in 
place and the roof protects both the children and the sand 
from the sun and the rain. ‘The little treetop playhouses 
shown upon page 387 display the work of youthful archi- 
tects and represent what may be called the “naturalistic 
school” of playhouse architecture. 
Be the playhouse ever so simple, the children will use it to 
their enjoyment and enter with enthusiasm into its furnish- 
ing and arrangement. Such houses, in their simpler forms, 
are quite inexpensive and their cost is not to be regarded 
or compared with the enjoyment which their use will af- 
These little perches placed literally among the leaves may be said to represent the naturalistic school of playhouse building 
