The Value and Use of Simple Materials in House Building 
rough plaster, and your weather-stained 
wood, as evidences of poverty and meanness. 
And beware of the wise and prudent in your¬ 
self that sees in the practical, only dollars 
and cents and physical comfort, leaving out 
of count the equally practical esthetic and 
spiritual side of life—that inner conscious¬ 
ness of our better self to which the larger 
things are evident. Rank sentiment? Yes, 
but so is all beauty that is not born of pride 
and ostentation. Be practical to the utter¬ 
most. Make your plan fit the smallest as 
well as the greatest physical need. Sac¬ 
rifice symmetry, style, precedent, anything, 
to it, but don’t forget that the soul must be 
fed as well as the body. Don’t forget that 
the home is to be the cradle of the ideal of 
the next generation, and the new truth that 
is to make the practical possi¬ 
ble. Don’t forget that modern 
steam power was the child of 
the teakettle, born at the fire¬ 
side, and that art is the 
mother of all unborn myster¬ 
ies, for it is through her we 
grow. 
Take time to think about 
your house and garden, so 
that it may be your home, not 
your lodging, as fit for another 
as for you. But don’t think 
when you have taken time and 
thought as to the plan, that the 
work is done. You will have 
to give the mason, the joiner, 
and the plasterer a chance, 
and by giving him a chance I 
don’t mean signing a contract 
with him. If he cannot add 
some touch of individuality to 
his work, you have planned 
in vain. You must coax his 
interests into your walls. 
You must make him a mason, 
not merely a fulfiller of speci¬ 
fications. You cannot specify 
the unknown individuality 
that must be built stone by 
stone into your wall. You say 
that you cannot find such 
skdlful and artistic masons ? 
Have you tried ? He is hid 
away in the bosom of most 
men. The art instinct is primeval. It drives 
the humblest of savages to express himself 
in the work of his hands. But we have made 
him very shy, and with our exact specifica¬ 
tions, our deadly detad and superior knowl¬ 
edge, we have well-nigh crushed him out. 
But give me the many-johbed mason of the 
countryside, the backing stone you hide in 
cellar walls, a little time, and I’ll show you 
walls that sunbeams and creepers will cling 
to to your heart’s content; garden seats and 
pergolas that will be no intrusion; not a 
house, but a home, that will woo you away 
from smug structures of cut stone and painted 
wood, back to good fellow Nature’s side, 
who stands tapping at your garden gate, 
who when you will not have her for year- 
round fellow, still draws you away to moun- 
SIMPLICITY FOR THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND 
