Art Out-of-Doors 
comfort on the lawns of England or the un- 
covered terraces of France, or in the arbors, 
placed at some distance from the house, 
which are so characteristic of German villas. 
We must have a wide and open yet covered 
space, closely connected with our living- 
rooms, where we can pass our hours of rest 
and many of our hours of occupation too. 
How necessary it is we read in the fact that, 
when well arranged, the piazza always be- 
comes the very focus of domestic life and 
social intercourse — as central a feature in 
summer as the parlor-fireside is in winter. 
But it is hardly needful to-day to affirm 
that an American country house without a 
piazza is in every sense a mistake and a 
failure — that it palpably lacks fitness, and 
therefore must lack true beauty in the eyes 
of intelligent observers. It is more needful 
to protest against the excessive use of piazzas 
than to urge their erection. When their 
value was first fully appreciated, it was, not 
unnaturally, overappreciated. Architect and 
owner alike believed that they could not 
get too much of them. A house of any im- 
portance most often had three if not all of its 
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