A Village as seen from the Fields 
THE 
RURAL HOMES 
OF 
ENGLAND 
By 
CLIFTON JOHNSON 
A House beside a Mill Dam , Isle of Wight 
E NGLISH houses are built to last. By 
contrast many of our American homes 
seem like temporary shelters. The dwellings 
of the mother country are never of wood, 
and they are designed not only to withstand 
indefinitely the ravages of the weather, but 
those of fire. It would indeed be difficult 
for the average Englishman to comprehend 
what a devouring scourge fire is with us, for 
in his country destruction of this sort is a 
rare experience. So well are his houses con¬ 
structed and so seldom are these sacrificed 
by accident that old buildings are in the 
great majority and are the typical ones. I 
should, however, have to modify this state¬ 
ment with regard to some of the large towns 
that have 
grown very fast. 
N aturally, 
the newer 
buildings are 
less attractive 
than the old. 
They are stiff- 
er,more regular 
and more pro¬ 
saic. It is not 
often that they 
are actually 
ugly, yet at best 
they want the 
mellowness 
that time alone 
can give them, 
and the h'u - 
manized sentiment that comes from long use. 
One artistic disadvantage of the newer 
structures is that they are apt to have com¬ 
monplace roofs of slate, while the older 
houses are usually roofed with tile or thatch. 
'Tile is unfailingly decorative and attractive, 
and the passing seasons paint and ornament 
it with soft-tinted weather-stains and gather¬ 
ings of moss. It is also a good protection 
against the oucer heat and cold. But the 
roof of thatch is more comfortable still, and 
it is at the same time the most beautiful 
roof imaginable. There is grace in all its 
outlines, which so blend with the landscape 
that the roof seems as much a growth of na¬ 
ture as does a mushroom-top. Its color, 
too, is con¬ 
stantly pleas¬ 
ing, whether 
in its shining 
golden new¬ 
ness, or in its 
gradual brown¬ 
ing, or in the 
caked and mil¬ 
dewed green¬ 
ness of age. 
Then, too, it is 
warm in winter 
and cool in 
summer. Yet, 
because of its 
clumsiness,and 
because straw, 
which is the 
THATCHED DWELLINGS AT FARRINGDON 
From a photograph by Clifton Johnson 
1 99 
