The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-08-05
=" DOor-Steps."

THE following warm weather suggestion
comes to us from the country:
A country-house in summer isdelightful
in proportion to its piazzas and its shade
trees. The 'shade,trees are for noon-day
heats but the piazzas belong especially to
the golden hour the cleaning and the
moonlight. The house itself has to be,
but when one can make the compromise
between the pastoral simplicity Of living
altogether out of doors and the civilized
necessity of architecture it is fair to sup
pose that the happy medium is attained.
And lust at the door-steps there is this
combination of security and freedom, OF
unconstraint and the propretles, which
satisfies at the same time the natural pro-
Clivities and the artificial tastes. Certain
" the summer breezes and odors have
something to do with ones enjoyment; but
the ascetic value of the surroundings Is
| large, unknown quantity.
One does not often sit solitary on ones
doorstep to watch the stars. There is a
sort of sociability that is of the summer.
Perhaps it comes more perceptibly to us
who have just escaped the rigors OF winter;
at any rate it belongs especially to the sum-
mertime, and takes tone and color from
the surroundings. II is part of the twi-
light in the country, and has prominent
place in cverybody's wine and tig-tree'
ideal.
AT first the family is attracted to the one
person sitting on the door-steps. The
modern piazza is mere expansion of the
primitive doOr-steps, and is the same sig
nificant border country. The cares and
| anxieties of life are g to be continued" an
other day, like serial story in the next
number Of the magazine. In the mean-
time there is the border country, where
there is neither house work nor garden
| labor. After the family are assembled
| friends drop in and neighbors stop at the
gate They have something sensible to
say, as, "What beautiful roses you have!'
Or, "I've brought you some harvest ap-
pies" Then they come up the gravel
| walk; you extend to them the hospitalities
of your door-steps, and sociability is ac-
| complished There are no elaborate toilets
! to prepare, no "fuss and feathers" And
| to be social without the aid of the &c butch
| cr, the baker the candlcstick- maker is
| beyond belief: one accepts it as certain
spiritual manifestations are accepted-as
matter of experience. It was in this way
that our sociablcs originated, and we called
them, significantly, Door-steps." 1t is
| good name. Gradually we found out the
moraze that 1 have already attempted to in
dicate 1t does not limit us to the outside
or the inside of the house, but only means
a homely, home-like. hearty hospitality,
better than mere sans soetct.
The silver moon rolls on to our faint
praise, and we talk commonplaces to It's
accompaniment. Does anybody suppose
that on this account we don't know how
beautiful it all is? The light falling
softly on the uee-tops and in silvery shafts
among the branches; the dim, hazy
shadows on the lawn the lake or river
glittering in the valley, and the pale gray
mountains beyond OF course we know
all about it, but we don't e2croach on the
domains of the poets and essayists. So
we talk our commonplaces, and find our
selves refreshed and cheered thereby. L
can't pretend to tell why this is so, but the
knowledge is drawn from observation.
! We are literary chiefly in the way of rem-
inisCences. Our dramatic recitatives are
often the well-remembered treasures ofour
| school days. We rescue "Sir john
! Moore, and " Marco BozZarisN from Oh.
hvion. Somebody remembers little OF
Shakespeare or has learned little of Ten
nyson, and that satisfies our modest am
. hition-' Home and Soc5e<y," sn 'Scrabaer
for August.
The paddle-wheels Of large steamer
on the st. John River in Florida, stopped
i y