RURAL ARCHITECTURZ 
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low-ornate, dating perhaps forty years back, appears the plain, 
straightforward style, with its square outline, its broader founda- 
tions, respectable from a pervading character of honest comfort, 
although capable of many improvements. Sometimes houses of 
this kind have a wing, sometimes two, but more frequently the 
addition is put up with an eye to convenience rather than sym- 
metry, and a long, low building, containing the kitchen, wood-shed, 
<fec., &c., projects from the rear, forming with it, at right angles 
with the house, two sides of a yard. These dwellings are seen 
in every direction, rather more common, perhaps, than any other, 
and where things are in good order about them, they have a 
pleasant, cheerful look. This plain, straightforward style has, 
however, received a certain development within the last ten years 
which, when not carried to extremes, is a progress for the better : 
the foundation is broader, the elevation of the building lower, the 
roof projects farther, the cornices and all parts of the frame-work 
are more substantial, the porch or verandah is in better proportiofns, 
and the whole has a look of more finished workmanship. A farm- 
house of this homely, substantial kind, standing beside one of tlie 
common shallow, or a starved Grecian edifice of the shallow-ornate 
style, appears to great advantage, and speaks encouragingly for 
the growth of common sense and good taste in the community. 
Still more recently, however, this substantial school has been 
somewhat abused. You see here and there new wooden cottages, 
which, in the anxiety of the architect to escape the shallow, err 
in the opposite extreme, and look oppressively heavy, as though 
the roof must weigh upon the spirits of those it covers. The cor- 
nices and door-frames of these small cottages would often suit 
