“ Cairnwood ,” at Bethayres, Montgomery County , Penna. 
“CAIRN WOOD,” 
AT BETHAYRES, MONTGOMERY CO., PENNA. 
Designed by Carr'ere £s? Hastings , Architects. 
S long as cities bring prosperity to men, 
as long as a 
country-side brings 
them peace, will 
homes be reared 
apart from the 
smoke and noise of 
cities and the bustle 
of their pavements. 
Wherever the will ot 
man has been free 
to exercise selection 
—and some degree 
of freedom has al¬ 
ways been his—the 
citizen ot leisure has 
withdrawn himself 
to rural surround¬ 
ings near the city ot 
his interests, and yet 
to all the senses re¬ 
mote from it. What 
a wholesome tend¬ 
ency this is. How 
much the manor- 
house has given to 
civilization. Whatever its present condition 
may be it remains for us often the only witness 
of events of history, or the creations of art or 
literature. “ Nothing,” says Stuart Mill, 
“ contributes more to nourish elevation of 
sentiments in a peo¬ 
ple than the large 
and free character of 
their habitations.” 
He thought that his 
visits to Ford Abbey 
were an important 
circumstance in his 
education. 
The rolling coun¬ 
try ot our Eastern 
States gives the best 
of settings for the 
rural homes which 
are becoming an im¬ 
portant phase of our 
national lite. The 
nearness of moun¬ 
tains becomes over¬ 
powering, and the 
plain becomes mon¬ 
otonous, but a va¬ 
ried country ot rich 
meadows and hill¬ 
sides interrupted by 
14 
