Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1883-06-13
OLD HOUSES.
Remin1scences Regrets at their
Destruction.

| @SoD SSD -eS~ ~as~~
| Destruction.
| Old houses lacked great man,
things which we consider essential t.
our comfort in these luxurious days.
They had no furnaces, no gas, no wa
ter-pipes, no telephones, no plate-glas
windows, no door-bells, no lifts, M
cooking ranges, no bathing rooms.
The old stone castles in which thu
grandest people once lived were worse
off than this and how the family man
aged to avoid tumbling down the steep,
dark stairways and breaking their
necks, and how they made themselves
decently comfortable at night, and were
kept from freezing in winter, we do no,
know.
And what must have been their emo
tions, az they were sitting down to q
sumptuous supper, when they happen
ed to remember that just under the
floor there were other human beings
groaning, and shivering and starving in
dark, dreary cells, and likely to keel
on groaning there until death should
bring them relief?
We do not think that we could enjoy
ourselves much under similar circum
stances.
Old buildings have peculiar charm
to our poets and novelists, and they
generally choose some such locality as
the scene of their songs and stories rath-
er than the modern mansions Of our
cities, or the spruce, span-new villa of
the country.
There is fascination and romance
even in the old-fashioned kitchen, with
its spacious chimney y-corner--where, if
you look up, you may see the stars-its
capacious oven, and stout crane, and
pot hooks, and smoke-jack, with it's
straight backed settle, and sprawling
chairs, and creaking table, and plea
SAINT smell of viands.
The low ceiling, and naked beams,
and small-psned windows, and tall
clock, ticking loud and strong; the lus-
trous buffet, with all it's glories of glass
and china; the landscape-papered walls;
the ont-of-the-way recesses where chill
dren love to hide the stOre-closet, with
its treasury of sweets, and above all, the
mysterious garret, full Of rich and rare
and curious relics. How delightful it
all seems in the reminiscence We
wonder how it would satisfy MS now?
The final destiny Of many fine old
houses it is not pleasant to contemplate
They may be torn down to make way
for finer editices, and, if SO, they only
fall in with the order of nature, which
destroys that which has fulfilled its pnr-
pose in order to make way for something
better.
Still, we cannot help wishing that
th ere could be a little more reserve in
lealing with the old houses.
These have all gone, and many of the
DID churches have followed them.
Many old mansions are converted into
shops and warerooms, being sometimes
fitted into the air and a basement intro.
luced for business purposes, which,
with its plate glass windows and iron
columns, forms a singular contrast to
he domestic looking structure above.
To one who has been born and bred
IN house thus elevated nto obscurity,
it seems sad and strange to see the nice
Did sitting-room converted into barber
shop, and the dining-room into den
lists place of business, and the upper
into photographers saloon.
1t is sadder still when grand old
mansion sinks to the low level of conf
non tenement house the rich wall
)apers detiled with dirty stains; the
ornamental stucco on the ceiling drop
,ing off piece by piece; the marble
nanel cherubs with their noses knock
ID off the costly balusters carried away
or fuel every corner of the house
crowded with dirty men and women,
md dirtier children the outer walls |
letiled with slops old hats, and rags
md paper stuffed into the broken VIM
iOw-paneS the doors askew ; the floors
unsteady ; seeking stoves everywhere
smells every where clothes
lung up to dry everywhere and then
o think what the house was, aid how
lice everything once was, and who the
,eople We're that lived there
Now and then nobler destiny |
waits the ancient mansion deserted by |
Is owner.
In the native town of the writer one
# these grand old houses has been con-
'erted into Il public library, all the orig
nal beauties of the place being left in
act, and only such changes made as
we're required by the purposes to which
he building is now appropriated.
Sometimes the imagination will clothe
ONE old house with a strange romance,
or which there is not the slightest
There were certain buildings which,
n our boyhood, we could never pass
without a shudder.
There were others which, 1t seemed,
light have been bnilt in Eden.
Every old town used to have its haunt
d houses, Of which the boys and girls
TODD very much in awe.
We remembe a dilapidated, weather.
Torn building, that stood in dreary,
pen pasture, and went by the name Of
ne pest house
II had not been used for any purpose,
erhaps, for half IA century, and it was
n object Of peculiar dread and super .
ition to the RISING generation
1t burned to the ground one night ,
neither by spontaneous combustion or
herwise we do not know. /
There are honses which we all rejoice
see deStroyrd-not because they are
mbc, but because they seem to be
YER -pretentious in the way; just like
le two churches in the Strand.
If it did not conflict with tue law of
le land, and furnish bad precedent, =,
lere might seem to be room in certain
aces for a judicious incendiary to in.
rfere.
1t is the fashion now to build old
'uses, or rather, houses that are made =
look as if they were old.
In fact, old things Of all sorts are in
'mand, and perhaps old men will be =
requisition by-and-bye, which would .
a great r, lief to some of us.