SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR 
255 
j must need advice and models, such as this volume affords ' 
If and we consequently commend the successful efforts of 
i«i the author, and wish theljook a sale as extended as it de- 
I serves. 
I It is curious to see how, in architecture as in other mat- 
I ters, extremes meet. The cot of the humble laborer, in- 
I spired some faithfbl lover of the picture.sque to build a 
! home like the ideal of a cottage externally, but plentifully 
j provided within with all those etcetera that go to make 
I life comfortable and luxurious. Years ago, it was the 
fashion so to build; and all over Europe, at one time, the 
I fancy spread of seeking to exhibit, in the most whimsical 
manner, how, v/ith a semblance of cottage form, palace 
habits could be accommodated in a building. Wealthy j 
men vied with each otlier in building such little toy- i 
housesj to be pleasured in for one season, and then aban- 
doned to damp and spiders and rapid decay from the next. 
! At this time was the rage for fancy dairies, ornamental 
houses, and all the occupations of the farm were sought 
t to be sentimentalized ; but the followers of this fashion 
; soon grew weary of it, and, like other follies, it had its day. 
But out ofallthis, good resulted. Attention was drawn 
to the possibility, even in farm belongings, of combining 
utility with beauty, and farm-life become less rude, and 
its more elevating influences sedulously cultivated. The 
whimsical erections, too, gave birth to a happy irregular- 
ity and picturesqueness of building, immeasureably an 
improvement on the square brick house, that before seem- 
ed the only form in which the residence for those occu- 
pying the middle rank in life could be cast. 
Perhaps no country can show results so happy in this 
desire to accommodate frugality of life with elegance of 
manner, as can England, in the small suburban and rural 
residences which receive the name of the Cottage Ornee. 
The people have profited by the costly experience cf 
past generations, and, whilst one never sees erected now 
a perfect bijou of a small villa like that of the Durke of 
Devonshire — which Horace Walpole found fault with, ’as 
being “too small to live in, and too large to hang to one’s 
watch chain,” though the caustic writer afterwards exhibit- 
ed, in his own “ Straw'berry HiiJ,”,hov^ much ei-sier it is j 
to criticize than to excel — house.s better adapted to every- j 
day life, and at the same time exceedingly pretty and rus- 
tic in their character, plentifully abound. .Sometimes j 
there is, it is true, too great an affectation ofTbe cot about j 
such suburban buildirigs, particularly W'h^ bdonging to 
a wealthy man of many homes; and a passer-by is re- 
minded of the cottage spoken of in the witty satire, where 
the Devil quizzes such an one fdescri^ied j as 
“A cottage with a double coach house — 
A cottage of gentility ; 
And the devil diU ^hi : for his favorite sin 
Is the pride that apes humility.” 
Such buildings, however, w^e the type ' of a class of 
houses that dots Everywhere plea-santly-living place.s 
of beautiful England. . JMany a *f)hady lane reveals in iis 
v/indings, glimpses of such homes, an*^ the*cnrfJjination 
they present -of comeliness and comfort rnpy very advan- 
tageously be studied. In this country, a want, rapidly 
growing in its, imperativeness, iL being experienced of; 
just such homes. Country life ten'jpts so many from the 
cities to spend at least a portion of the year with tleir 
familu^s iu rural retreats, that inquir;/ is awake?ied a.s to 
the best mode to adopt to secure an inexpensive yet en- 
joyable home, to be lived in during .summer, and, perh- ps, | 
leflto the charge of those that tend tl.c litil' Tom-noldii g j 
attached to it, during the season oftiie year that city resi ! 
dence is intended. ! 
This home, thus needed, differs materially fro;n the j 
villa or the mansion, and has requirern^iifs. too, tic^t ,»eek I 
embodiment in other farms than will found in ttte farm- 
house or farm-cottage. 
The family seeking such a home, it i.s supposed, re- 
quire one for temporary or protracted residence, at will; it 
must not be a mere shell or tent, as it were a shelter for a 
few weeks or months in the season, as cottages at our 
fashionable watering-places are, nor yet are all the belong- 
ings of a permanent home thought necessary, although the 
plan should so be contrived that the house of the summer 
may readily be made the family homestead for life; and 
it is in this facility of afler-adaplation and enlargement 
that the class of house novr under consideration posscsse* 
advantages so charming and de.sirable. 
Sometimes a summer-house is w'anted of but limited a«> 
commodation; gentlemen fond of rfiral sports now and 
then are tempted to build such a little lodge amid beauti- 
ful scenery, where fishing or hunting may abound. The 
loveliness of the place may tempt the family to join in tlie 
occasional excursions made for such purposes ; and, al- 
though these buildings are not so frequently to be met 
with here as in Europe, a want has, now and then, been 
expressed for such a little sporting cottage ; and the first 
design in this section will exhibit a plan suitable for erec- 
tion. 
The artist, too, often needs such an abiding-place in 
which to spend his summer days, and gather lessons from 
the open book of nature, and in my profe.s-sional practice 
1 have more than once been called upon to fui niah such a 
design. 
Now and then appears an illustration of such a build- 
ing in the serials, or other works that touch upon arclii 
tec'tural matters; but I have scarcely examined one*auch 
design that was not too dreamy and unlivablc for the pur- 
pose it professed to fill. 
The Excellence of such a building should-be absolute 
economy in construction and plan, and adajftation to ma- 
terial that can be used whh greate.st facility. With these 
an appropriate harmony with the surrounding scenery 
should be sougfit, but there should little embellishment 
that Vvoqld cause difficulty of work*man.ship to the moun- 
tain laborers that the builder will be able to employ, and 
the material and mode of us'fng it should be suclt as the 
neighborhood most naturally suggests. 
’I'he log house may be made c\ most cornfdrlable and 
pio<turescfue building for a purposo> qnfl the manner 
of thus constructing it .vfould scarcely interfere .with al- 
most a.tky ground plat» that convenien<?e Ifed the owner u> 
adopt. ^ 
stone abounds, a rrfbgh wall may cheaply and 
quickly be built, and of this material a very beautiful con 
struction pan be made. In fact, although the indwellerss 
supposed to be a man of.cumvated and refined taste, the 
out-door surroundings are ini^gined to bE wild and inarti- 
ficial. sucli.as naturally woyld be in tho.se localises that h 
portsrnan or arti.-st would be liltely to select as u placft P»r 
summer sojourn. Yet ho Vudene.s.s oflh'e is intended — but 
only that*'sinqfiicity that ’be- 1 finds ph^yln the country; 
and so, though plahdy built and furnidied, the joituge 
should be fitted in its plan, and in the decent provi^hm 
for domestic con v^miem^e •that it makes, f)r occupancy by 
'he owner., chat clse\t'here>woujd require all the sur 
rounaings of r'-finernent and artificilil 
51 ' ' ^ # • 
On the .sides of^a noole mounudn, who-^e ba.se dips f/> 
he waves of a br'^ad river. - nd wIiO'^ g'‘<'b of verduni 
de<-k' the si :*- to tlie upirio,t pertk .of its rocky crown, « 
windiniT road c!iiob>. , with rrerpieri|ji,reaks; froin a valley 
tiiat one of ti:e r''dbii_o-,ide ; of tiLC ruouiitaiii form.sin intr.r- 
-jcction '’.'itn t!i<; ba -c d 'oK-t.' c-r <;f ilie ra)ig< ; girdling 
U:(i shi'tin<^ . p- 'ses I long ihrMitgii other if.ouiiUiin 
gorge., and little v-di' v-. u.oiil it is lost irf the- v.iridings of 
its dl 'ant cour-e. 'iii’;rojd is iioi <T r/iucb travel — it 
lead - f orn one li tk- hamk-t, supported by the scant b^Jji 
ness p»roduced.by the s tW-M.il'.s, tliaL the tnb'jjary strfjam.s 
flo'A'ing ki'.o the river i* eds, ’.o anoiacr a few di.^rant. 
