The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-10-10


SkNTnner residence for me, as a sii hit
Patlmonial of his high regard for my
lefliDg. worth and symmetrical es-
hcheon--a testimonial more sug-
fstive of earnest admiration and
Farm personal friendship than Of
PEAT intrinsic value, etc.-that l
ppe he Will not construct it on the
Eoaern plan of mental hallucination
Il Q morbid delirium tremens pecu-
NJ to recent architecture.
esu4sa g man ought not to look
- -
a nbase in the gable end, out II
n%.Eiends don't kno me any better
than\o build me summer house,
and Ehrow in odd windows that no.
bod! else wanted, and daub it up
Will colors they haye bought ut auc-
ton, and applied to the house after
dark with a shotgun, l think it is
timeWe had a better understanding.
Su(h a structure does not come
within either of the three classes Of
Renaissance, 1t is neither Floren-
tine, Roman nor Venitian, Any
man can originate a style Of aIchitec-
ture il he will drink the right Kind Of
whisky long enough, and then de-
scribehis feelings to an amanuensis,
Imagine the sensation that one Of
these modern, sawed-off cottages
would create a hundred years from
now, fit should survive. But that
is impossible. The only cheering
feature of the whole matter is that
these creatures of a disorded imagi-
nation must soon pass aWoy, and the
bright sunlight of hard horse.sense
shine in through the shattered dor
mers and gables of gnaWed off arChl-
lecture of the average summer resort.
A friend of mine a few days ago
showed me his new house with much
pride. He asked me what l thought
fit. l told him l liked it firstrate,
Then 1 went home and Wept all
night. 1t was my first falsehood.
The house taken as a whole looked
to me like a skating rink that had
started out to make money, and then
|-doCenly changed it's mind, and re-
sotyed to become a tannery. Then
ten feet higher it had lost all self-re-
sDect, and blO-somed into a full
blown "drunk and disorderly," sur
mounted by the smoke stack Of a
foundry, and with the bright future
of thirty days ahead with the chain
gang. That's the way it looked to
me.
The roofs were made Of little odds
and ends of mistit rafters and distor-
ted shingles that somebody had pur.
chased at sherih's sale, aud the rooms
and stairs were giddy in the extreme
I went in and rambied around among
the cr0ss-eyed staircases and other
Nightmares till reason tottered on
her throne. Then | cane out and
stood on the architectural Wart called
the side porch, to get fresh air. This
porch was painted Of dull red, and il
had wooden rosettes at the corners
that looked like a brand new car
buncle on the nose of a social wreck
Farther up on the demoraliZed lun
Der pile | saw now and then place
where the WOrkman's mind had won
dered, and he had nailed on his clap
boards wrong side up, and then pain
ted them with Paris green that hc
had intended to use on something
else. 1t was an Odd-lOOking struC
ture indeed. If my friend got al
the materials for nothing from peo
pie who had fragments of paint anC
lumber left over after they failed, an(
then if the wOrkmen constructed j
at-Rights for mental relaxation ant
intellectual repose, without charge
of course the SCENE was a financia
success, but architecturally the hous
is a gross violation Of the statutes il
such cases made and provided, ant
against the peace and dignity Of tn
state.
There is a look OF extreme povert,
about the structure which ma,
might struggle for years to acquir
and then fail. No one could Loo
upon it without feeling a heartach
for the man who built that house
and probably struggled on year afte
year, building little Of it at a tim
as he could steal the lumber, gettin
a new workman each year, buildIn
a knob here and a protuberance there
putting in a three-cOrnered windoN
at one point and yellow tile or
wad Of broken glass or other debri
at another, patiently filling in aroun