The times., 1898-03-06
The Summer Boa rder.

In a recent work on esthetic house,
furnishing appears a sentence which is
such a micrOcosm of the sentiment Of
a large class Of people that it ought to
be framed. The writer is a lady, of
much taste and feeling in the matter
of art. She has a soul for reform and
considerable reputation. Burning
with the desire 10 promote artistic
culture among the American people, she
says:
Why should a New England farmer build his
home OF wood instead of using irregular stones,
which are picturesque and durable, whether left
plain plsstcred painted?
He builds his house of wood because
he is building it for home, and not TO
afford esthetic qualification TO the
summer boarder. Undoubtedly, it does
lock queer to the uninitiated, especially
when it is considered that the stone
crop is about the only crop on which
some New England farmers can de-
pend with any regularity. The
summer boarder, driving peacefully
through the sweet summer lanes, sees
this crop of stones lying idle in the
fields. sees the farmers house built Of
wood and painted white, and wonders
and disapproves Then this summer
boarder goes home and writes things
about the extravaganza of the poor, and
so on, and thinks that when the farmer
really understands how inartistic his
house is, he will reform. But he doesn't
He keeps right on building his house OF
wood. He knows that u stone house on
New England hillside is probably the
coldest, dampest and most outrageous
ly uncomfortable place this side the
Klondike With the first September
frost-and frosts arrive early in that
section-the house would take a chill
in its walls. and the chill would stay
there till the following June. 1t is per-
fectly impossible to keep such a house
warm. The average New England
farmer cannot afford to heat his house
throughout Two or three fires, some
times only one, must suffice for the
whole building. If the summer boarder
thinks it would be nice and comfort
q bic to sleep in room without any fire
in stone house, one night of it would
probably cure him Of the notion. Of
heating a stone house which will
make it warm, but it takes scientific
architect to do it that way, and the
New England farmer, whose cash in
come probably does not exceed one or
two hundred dollars year, can gener-
ally find q better use for his money
than to spend it on scientific architects.
l. ba in a
en- house, and it does not seem to him
worth while to change his style of liv-
ing for the accommodation of the es-
thetic sense of the summer boarder.
There is another thing to be consid-
cred. and that is the quality of the
stone AS the lady in question would
know if she studied the subject little,
ii is not every kind Of stone which is
fit for building purposes, and when 1t
is fit, ii takes a good deal of work
to make it into building material.
With the farmer, work is money. 1t is
all he can do to scrape enough out Of
his little patch Of ground to feed him
self and his family and give the bright
est of the children an education, with
out studying art a great many rich
people think they know more about
economy than poor people do. But, as
a general rule they don't. Their sort
Of economy takes a good deal of money
for its proper practice, after all 1t
ought to be plain to any person Of
ordinary sense that when generation
after generation of people build their
houses or make their living, or order
their diet, in one way, ii is either be-
cause that is the best way or because
- L, hon liz.