House and Garden 
DINING-ROOM OF THE PACKER HOUSE, WYCKOFF 
when I consented to wait for her to put on her 
best gown. 
It is a real pleasure to hnd such picturesque 
environment so near the metropolis of the 
country, and it seems to me no little inspira¬ 
tion for a rational development in the design 
of small houses, while sticking close to local 
tradition. In a still broader way it raises 
the question of what is to be the aspect of 
rural America in 2000 A. D., and if a society 
for the betterment of 
farm architecture 
could not be devised 
to try to instil into the 
agricultural heart, by 
a literary propaganda, 
some sense of tbe 
beautiful or at least 
some realization of 
the hideous. 1 here 
are certain magazines 
which go to the hum¬ 
blest homes in the 
land and which are 
credited by many with 
a decided influence upon the manners, social 
usages and style of dress of the farmers’ 
wives and daughters. Could not such an 
agency be secured to arouse a better taste 
and more reasonable ambition as to the exter¬ 
nal aspect of the homes; or is the democracy 
so firmly founded on the principle of social 
climbing that it is hopeless to try to teach the 
farmer why he should not copy the “villa” 
of the railroad conductor in the neighboring 
village, or the latter, 
that it might be better 
if he did not imitate 
so servilely the livery 
stable keeper of the 
county seat hard by ? 
It is a hard life, 
that of a reformer, 
and truly a thankless 
task. Much more 
profitable, I fancy, it 
is to let the future 
take care of itself 
while we please our 
fancy with the past. 
OLD DUTCH HOUSE, BOGOTA 
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