July, 1923 
47 
The site should he cleared of all trees which might fall athwart the cabin in 
a storm, but others should remain for shade and shelter. This photograph was 
taken from a model 
BACK to the LOG CABIN 
A Type of Deep-woods Architecture Once Favored by Parents of 
Presidents-to-he and Now Undergoing an Artistic Renaissance 
DARRAGH ALDRICH 
D ear mac;— 
Your letter was not the surprise 
you expected it to be. I have a theory 
that the notion of old Omar appealing 
only to the romantic youth is all rot. “A 
jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou” 
is a middle-aged plea. Y'outh wants to be 
up and doing, not sitting under a tree. 
It’s when people get to our age—but then, 
I’m probably wrong as usual and it's only 
youth in a different guise. 
So, I say, when you ask 
for “pointers” on carrying 
out your notion of a home 
in the woods where nobody 
can get you by telephone 
—unless the whole world 
goes to smash and it’s 
broadcasted to the nearest 
forestry station—I merely 
mutter, “Another Indian 
showing up.” 
Of course, I’ve always 
been an “out-of-door nut” 
—and when I’m gone it 
will be inscribed on my 
tombstone, “This chap was 
not rated very high finan¬ 
cially—-but he had a darn 
good time.” And as far 
as giving suggestions on 
how to live the wild life— 
Man, I’ll be coming back 
on the Ouija board to an¬ 
swer questions on that! 
“H o u s e of Dreams”, 
This is the first of two .articles on 
LOG c.ABiNS. Here are discussed the 
SELECTION AND PREPAR.ATION OF THE 
SITE, THE DESIGN, AND THE CHOICE OF 
MATERIALS. ThE OTHER, WHICH WILL 
APPEAR IN THE .YUGUST HoUSE & GAR¬ 
DEN, WILL CONSIDER THE DETAILS OF 
CONSTRUCTION 
In front of this great boulder fireplace, 
sacrifice beauty of line and proportion 
ruggedness, are set table and benches 
thoroughly consistent with the cabin idea 
which, by the way, does not 
as it attains an appropriate 
in natural birch and boards, 
as expressed in the construction 
you call it? Well, if you have gotten as far 
as a sure enough dream, you have a mighty 
good start. It is not a bad idea to locate 
one’s dream house in imagination first. It 
is inexpensive in upkeep and gives one 
time to mull over one's innermost—and 
therefore realest—longings, so that a fel¬ 
low won’t choose to build on a mountain 
side and then spend the rest of his life 
cussing himself for not choosing a lake. 
But along with holding 
it in status cjuo as a “dream 
house”, don’t begin this 
same old whimper of 
waiting until you have the 
time and the money. That 
time never comes. Did you 
ever know anyliody who 
“waited until they got the 
time and the money” and 
then did anything? I 
never did. Though I will 
admit I used just “them 
there words” in response 
to Little Pal’s wistful plea 
for a cabin, way off from 
e V e r y li o d y who wants 
things done on committees. 
One morning I found in 
my shaving glass a bit of 
magazine verse, “Let us 
go a-gypsying while we 
care”. Somehow that line 
sunk in deep and I real¬ 
ized that we were spending 
the precious time of youth 
k.. 
