Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1892-10-19
ARCHITECTURE A TATTLER.
Peoples Characters Judged from the
STYLES of the Houses They Live in.


Did YOU ever notice that houses have
as distinct characteristics as people?
Certain styles of architecture are gem
uine embodiments of in wood and
stone of the kind of lives the occupants
lead and it needs but flying railway
trip to note these wayside telltales.
Take first the large stone mansion,
gray, solemn and rigidly correct with
no graceful feminine touches in win
dow draperies, no hanging baskets in
the broad piazza. The trees are cut
down within the radius of Il square so
that no natural beauty can hide or de-
tract from this monument that has
been erected solely through mans
boarding and mans industry.
The occupant is perhaps old, feeble,
penurious, yet proud of his grand
home, which never shows the twink
ling lights of hospitality cleaning
through the countless windows, never
echoes to the sound of guests gay
laughter, but stands grim, awe-inspir-
ing and magnificent, perpetual
reminder of the wealth of its owner.
A little further on is Il much smaller
but no less handsome structure. Here
are hammocks on the porch, rattan
chairs and settees brought out into the
open air, the windows are open and
the sound of piano and banjo floats
out and you catch a glimpse of girl
in white and man in regulation ten
mis- costume. The drives shows marks
of many and recent carriage wheels.
The dog rises lazily to greet II new
guest as though the ceremony was
so oft repeated he soon grew tired of
being too demonstratiye. The entire
house reflects the character of the in
mates wealthy, genial, hospitable
people who look upon life as a period
of endless enjoyment and do all they
can to make every one within their
gates feel the same way.
The train makes a sudden dash
through the woods and just on the
other side stands dwelling typical of
SO many lives we meet every day.
Right in the midst of natures won
drous beauty they have no share in it.
Grim, angular and forbidding, the
colorless structure stands minus any
attempt at decoration. its staring win
dows uncovered from the binding rays
of the sun, not towering plant bloom
ing in the severely practical garden.
The paint, long since weather-beaten
and changed from all semblance to its
original color, and the occupant, tall,
gaunt woman who gives the passing
train but momentary glance and
then bends her body over the washtub
with extra vigor as if to compensate
for. that Hantinfr wi hon 81 a
obtained a glimpse of another world so
different from her own.
Are there not just such lives being
lived all about us, hearts that are shut
against the beauty close at hand, and
burden bearers who make their trials
harder by not accepting the helps and
wayside offerings of natures lavish
hand? As if to compensate for the
pitiful, colorless existence that the
revolving wheels permitted us to look
upon there soon comes into view a
picture that warns the heart and
sends us out into the world with a
loving remembrance of its beauty. A
house with no pretensions to style;
brown, homely and struggling. The
paint is off in many places, but trailing
WINS niue bHt DuIt SpolS lIoIii oul-
sider's eyes. The windows are draped
prettily in cheap muslin. An open
window on the lower tloAr shows us
group of girls, one at the sewing-ma-
chine and others cutting and lifting.
A CHEEKY voice from the kitchen calls
out: "Dinner's ready" and we can
imagine the sunny, buNom woman
who owns it. Under that roof is more
content, though less riches, than in
many a grander home. The little
effort to hide their necessary make
shifts from the world but draw them
closer together and when the busy
sewers at last leave the rambling old
farm house for the snug. coy homes
of their own they may have more style
but il will never seem 10 them IKE
the roof-tree under which they passed
their trying yet happy childhood days.
Philadelphia Times.