Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1882-02-03
FIFTY YEARS AGO-No. 5.
ny SCRIBE.
CONCERNING HOUSE FRONTS.

CONCERNING HOUSE ffONis'
Having briefly noticed things outside,
we will now speak of the portion OF house
best seen from the street-its front. And
here is ample room 10 give your descrip-
tive powers the fullest swing, and your
widest imagination the wildcat stretch.
The indians conical wigwam ii about the
simplest form of house. What range
OF improvement between that and the man
SION OF the millionaire From barbarism
20 enlightenment; from ugliness TO teauty;
from poverty to riches; from sqnalor 10
neutness; from chaos tn order; from disa-
greeableness to,comfort from nnconthness
to taste. And yet the Saviour speaks OF
mansions in his Fathers house, ample for
all and compared with Which, in all that
is desirable, even the elegant residence OF
Vanderbilt cannot Justly be named. Yet
these Heavenly mansions may not be 80
gorgeous and grand III material, workman
ship and looks. After all, the beauy and
preculisness OF home are less in the rich
ness and expense of its fitting up, than in
the love and peace that make IL their
abode
A step in advance of the bark and pole
wigwam il the rouyh-log hut with it's
roof of matched straw, or split oak shukes.
How pam and unattractive the front Of
such home 1t stands broa,-side 10 the
road. For ceiling il has mud daubed on
strips of wood. Its doorway and the hole
designed for window. have the toughest
casing the door oil battened Loards hangs
on wooden hinges and has II wooden latch
with string protruding through and the
end hanging without and pane or
two Of glass, a shingle, an old hat or n
shawl, supply the window and keep ont
a part OF the wind and storm. Sometimes
the second floor joists are left to siIck on'
few feet over a part Of the front loose
boards are laid tor floor; the raiter'
also come down to meet the jolstsi ,h'
whole is "shnked," and this addition be
comes not only porch over the door, bu
a catcl, MI for nearly every conceivable
thing, from the boys bntternGts Il
their fathers scythe. The next in
: provement is to liew the logs Of the hove
and cover it with shingles Of wlitewood
aud possibly OF pine. Then the simplest AN
| cheapest frame Supplants the old log hu
Formerly frame houses had their hcavy,t
Der benta such as are now found in mills an
/. barns. Then no family would have fel
e safe In scant!ing or balloon frame. Ne,
u came stone houses, and afterwards bricl
= At length dressed stone and even marbl
d were employed. / think, next to Il dwell
C ing plastercd outside, abont the oddest re
Y ilence ever saw, was one whose front fac
, was OF neatly arranged cobble stone.
When basement houses were il
e vented, il Ia well for the inventt
j. that nobody knows. They are II
Is abomination, and to our women the bal
Al -or one o. ihem-of their life. The
rs originated, probably, in the costumes AZ
n scarcity Of land front. A person with b
!, twenty feet or less, front on the stree
= would lack needed room with even tv
. stories in height and M the laws give .
owner right TO occupy 10 the center
1.-THE earth, and Ia the zenith, II IL ~
n wonderful TINT easements were devise
Of II wonld nsionisl, folks nn nsed 10 lie
n, large cities. to zee tenement lionses ten ~
ries high with several Easements below Il
le surface Of the earth. A family 0ccnIi
II an entire floor which comprised u full ~
% Of rooms and have nll The convenienc
-. furnished in an drIinnry entire house NJ
i, yard. Even drying cl"tl'eH is dome on u
W roof Of some extension, and there IL
.e need 10 20 below. But what rlimbi'
n Of stnirs TO render such liie pnssib
.. bearable 10 il,e upper residents; an elev
tor should be IN every basement hon'
!" leaving the usual han ior stairs 10 nal
rh the more room.
" The front OF house includes doors N
-, windows whicl, may lie and are irimm'
~ and nre adorned wi'h beauty and tas
'h What difference between The plain "
ly or three sieps ni an humble dwelling, N
= the highly ornamenied flight Of STARE,
!. cast iron, in front Of the mansions OF d
- rich. Doors had 10 lie coniem with beil
III implanted, then eoarsely painted but nc
he they are beautifully grained. Windo'
d. were plain with small panes Of glass NJ
n they hnve stone trimming; and each sa
- has but one pane. Latierly boxes of gro
oi ing howers without, besides oriinmel
within add to heir beauty aud good lo,k,