RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 
357 
gardener or farmer and his family. In this point of view, 
arrangements for the comfort and convenience of the 
inmates should be regarded as more important than the 
fanciful decoration of the exterior — as no exterior, howevei 
charming, can, to a reflective and well regulated mind, 
apologize for contracted apartments, and imperfect light 
and ventilation, in human habitations. 
Among the numerous entrance lodges which we remember 
to have seen in the United States, we scarcely recall a single 
example where the means, or rather the facility, of opening 
and shutting the gate itself, has been sufficiently considered. 
Most generally the lodge is at too great a distance from the 
gate, consuming too much time in attendance, and exposing 
the persons attending, generally women or children, to the 
inclemencies of the weather. Besides this, service of this 
land is less cheerfully performed in this country than in 
Europe, from the very simple reason of the greater equality 
of conditions here, and therefore everything which tends 
to lessen labor, is worthy of being taken into account. 
For these reasons we would place the gate very near the 
lodge ; it would be preferable if it were part of the same 
architectural composition : and if possible adopt the con- 
trivance now in use at some places abroad, by which the 
gate, being hung nearest the building, may be opened by 
the occupant without the latter being seen, or being 
scarcely obliged to leave his or her employment.* This 
* In Fig. 56, is shown the section of a gate arranged upon this plan. Al 
the bottom of the hanging post of the gate, is a bevelled iron pinion, that works 
into another pinion, b, at the end of the horizontal shaft, a, which shaft is fixed 
in a square box or tunnel under the road. The part to the right of the partition 
line, /, is the interior of the gate-keeper’s house ; and by turning the winch, e, 
the upright shaft, c, is put in motion, which moves by means of the bevelled 
pinions, g, d, the shaft a, and therefore, through d, the back post of the gate. 
