House and Garden 
style, however, is the combination of square, 
solid, heavy walls with small pinched porches, 
and narrow verandas—in which the railings 
and spindles are so weak as to give way to a 
foot pressure. This lack of proportions is one 
of the most common and worst features of 
our newer country houses—quite like a full- 
grown man set on twelve-inch legs. 
I have preferred to give a few of these illus¬ 
trations, before asking and trying to answer 
the question, “What ought the country house 
to be, and be like.” The Norwegians have 
a native style; so have the Swiss, and the 
French, and nearly every other nation but 
our own. An American country style can¬ 
not, of course, be as definite as those of 
smaller countries, with fewer variations of 
scenery and methods of living. Our country 
people range all the way from dairying dis¬ 
tricts to corn-growing prairies; from the 
wheat fields of Dakota to the olive orchards 
in the valleys of California. A New Eng¬ 
lander can hardly build with wisdom the 
adobe ranch house of New Mexico, nor are 
his house needs exactly those of the resident 
of Georgia or Florida. Still there are 
enough needs in common, throughout the 
whole country, to create an American style. 
In my illustrations I have suggested some 
things that certainly must be omitted. As 
a rule we may lay down the following points 
as essential. In the first place the American 
country house must not be a city house, or 
an imitation of it. Its needs are entirely 
different. But of this I enlarged sufficiently 
in my former article. Next to this the country 
house should “possess the country”—that is, 
have a good degree of retirement. I place 
emphasis on this point, because so many of 
our country homes line the roadside. I hey 
do not possess that quiet and peaceful atmos¬ 
phere, which should be a characteristic in 
contrast with city life. Any one possessed 
of five or ten acres can have his house, advan¬ 
tageously, at quite a distance from the street; 
if not in the centre of his property. I his 
will give him an advantage in reaching his 
orchards and gardens as easily as he reaches 
the street. He will not be much farther from 
the people; and the cost of building a good 
driveway will not be serious. I find that I 
can sustain, in fine order, a half mile of drives, 
with hedges, at very little annual expense. 
A well-made road or drive needs only watch¬ 
fulness during driving showers, to keep it 
in excellent condition for many years. 
This rule of retirement should be modified 
very decidedly, where farms are large and 
population scarce. In such a case 1 believe 
it is wise for owners to build on adjacent cor¬ 
ners of their property, so that two or three, 
or even four farmers, may have their houses 
within call of each other. This makes a 
co-operative group, of great value in case of 
illness or danger. But in these days, when 
we have the rural telephone, our houses are 
very closely linked, even when not in sight of 
each other. Country life now has nearly all 
the advantages which twenty-five years ago 
were confined to urban life. Rural free mail 
delivery is a fine illustration of the new order. 
Instead of crowding together to secure con¬ 
veniences, they are brought to our doors, 
wherever we are. 
In the third place, the American country 
house should be specifically endowed with a 
good outlook. While in the country we fore¬ 
go the pleasure of seeing people, we all the 
more should be able to see trees, valleys and 
hills. What we go out to find is communion 
with Nature. Nearly every homestead in 
the Eastern States can afford a knoll, or slope, 
giving a delicious bit of scenery, or an out¬ 
look over broad valleys, full of villages. The 
countryman should take care to secure these 
landscapes, as a part of his daily intellectual 
and moral life. It is not easy to estimate how 
largely such things go into the make-up of 
children. Asa Gray used to call the trees 
that filled the valley before him, his college 
professors. Emerson insisted: 
“One harvest from your field, 
Homeward brought your oxen strong; 
Another crop your acres yield,— 
Which I gather in a song.” 
I should place next in order the securing 
of good drainage. In fact, sanitation is so 
important that you may not rank this as a 
requisite any less important than those 
already mentioned. If a high point has been 
selected for the house, it matters very little 
what system you adopt for carrying off wast¬ 
age—only carry it where it can be used; best 
of all into a compost pile, several rods from 
the house. Such a pile grown over with 
squashes or melons during the summer is 
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