November, 1912 
larged, is the study and 
workroom of a woman 
author for whose use the 
little structure was built 
many years ago. i\ young 
artist has made a studio of 
the playhouse of his boy- 
hood days, and before reach- 
ing its present stage as a 
studio it had been used for 
numerous other purposes as 
life’s horizon widéned and 
new possibilities were pre- 
sented. In many cases a 
playhouse built for a child 
is useful long after the pass- 
ing of the period for which 
it was constructed. 
If it be possible to give 
the children a little play- 
house do so by all means 
whether it be the work of 
a great architect or the sim- 
plest little cabin made of a 
few packing boxes. The ef- 
fort will be well worth while, 
and both effort and cost will 
be repaid one hundred-fold 
in the value of the lessons in 
self-reliance and independ- 
ence which its possession will 
bring to its little owners. 
Then there is also the great 
pleasure of having it, and who would begrudge the simple 
little sources of happiness which mean so much to children 
and which make childhood a time of happy days to be held 
in everlasting remembrance? 
definite rules about the building of playhouses and no one 
PALATES dlbaligos 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
* 
Where the children, rested as Indians, live the life of Aborigines 
There are, of course, no 
Li ANS lie ea FA EAS: CURES 
389 
has yet invented a style of 
architecture which can be 
said to be particularly 
adapted for such little build- 
ings. Children are natur- 
ally imitators of their elders, 
and their tendency would be 
to arrange their playhouse 
as a small model of their 
own home or some other 
home which seemed to them 
particularly interesting. Per- 
haps the same ease with 
which they imitate leads 
them to make playhouse life 
a small copy of life in real- 
ity; and to imitate the actual 
makeshifts which real ex- 
perience brings such as 
might be expected in an Ind- 
lan’s tent or the log cabin 
home of a hardy pioneer. A 
children’s playhouse is some- 
times made a decorative fea- 
ture of a country place, and 
very often the playhouse is 
a model upon a small scale 
of the home itself. One of 
the pictures shows an inter- 
esting application of this 
idea, for upon a large coun- 
try estate at Lake Forest, 
Illinois, a playhouse for the 
children has been built in a style somewhat similar to 
the home itself and close by is a doll’s playhouse which 
is a copy of the children’s house. 
imitate their elders, so the dolls may be said to be imi- 
(Continued on page 408) 
Thus as the children 
The little owners of this playhouse may imagine themselves brave and sturdy pioneers 
