RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 
381 
order of time ranks, of course, the log-cabin, such as are stil] 
seen to-day in the hills, or on the skirts of the woods : low, sub- 
stantial, and rustic ; when well put together, and inhabited by 
neat and thrifty people, they look very snug and comfortable, and 
decidedly picturesque, also. Not long since, we passed one a 
few miles from the village, which had as pleasant a cottage look 
as possible ; it was in excellent order, in a neat little yard, with 
flower-borders under the windows, a couple of very fine balsam- 
firs before the door, and a row of half a dozen luxuriant hop-vines 
just within the fence. Another, near the Red Brook, attracted our 
attention more than once, during our summer walks : everything 
about it was so snug ; the little windows looked bright and clean, 
as though they belonged to a Dutch palace ; the rose-bushes 
standing in the grassy yard were flourishing and luxuriant ; a row 
of tin milk-pans were usually glittering in the sun, and a scythe 
hung for several weeks beside the door ; it would have made a 
pretty sketch. One dark cloudy afternoon, we also passed an- 
other of these log- cottages, of the very smallest size ; it was old, 
and much out of repair, and stood directly by the road -side, with- 
out any yard at all ; but everything about it was veiy neat : a 
tub and pails were piled under a little shed at the door, the small 
window was bright and well washed, and a clean white curtain 
within was half drawn to let in the light upon a table on which 
lay a large open Bible, and a pair of spectacles ; twice, toward 
evening, we chanced to see that little curtain half drawn, to let in 
the light upon the Holy Book ; doubtless some aged Cl^iristian 
lived there. The building is now turned into a shed ; we did not 
know who lived there, but we never pass it without remembering 
the little table and the Bible. Unhappily, all log-cabins have not 
