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84 COUNTRY IIOUSES.
<br />Though small, this cottage is not wanting in variety; and
<br />though there is not enough variety to allow of harmony, yet
<br />the whole displays an entire unity of feeling. Take away
<br />the gabled window, and the porch ornament, and substitute a
<br />straight -lined roof and a plain, common doorway, and the front
<br />loses its symmetry, and falls to the rank of plain regularity.
<br />But the greatest charm of this cottage to our eyes, is the
<br />expression of simple but refined home -beauty which it conveys.
<br />No person would build such a quaint yet modest porch as this,
<br />Iio one would give this simple character of beauty to the
<br />windows, and no one would reach this exact height of tasteful
<br />simplicity in the whole exterior character, unless lie had a real
<br />appreciation of the beautiful and truthful in cottage life, rattier
<br />than that false ambition which leads men to make small
<br />cottages ape great villas. The owner of this cottage either
<br />lives in a climate so far north that lie needs no veranda, or he
<br />feels that he cannot afford one: but the pretty little open porch,
<br />with its overhanging window and its seat, where, in the cooler
<br />hours of the day, the husband, the wife, and the children may
<br />sit and enjoy the fresh breath of morning or evening Hours,
<br />convey an idea of something beyond the merely physical wants,
<br />quite as forcibly as the veranda usually does.
<br />Altogether, this cottage evinces much of absolute and
<br />relative beauty—the universal beauty of form, and the
<br />relative beauty of refined purposes. Without recommend-
<br />ing it as a model cottage, we should be glad to find that
<br />dwellings of this simply beautiful character become greater
<br />favorites, with those of our countrymen who build cottages,
<br />than designs of more pretension. We cannot but look upon
<br />it as greatly superior in truthful beauty of character to cottages
<br />DESIGNS FOR COTTAGES. 85
<br />of this class highly decorated, as we frequently see them, with
<br />overwrought verge boards on all the gables, and an excess of
<br />fanciful and flowing ornaments of a card -board character.
<br />ACCOMMODATION. The plan of this house, Fig. 14, is that of
<br />a very simple cottage, with only a living -room, bed -room
<br />and kitchen on one floor. The arrangement of this floor,
<br />however, shows a good deal of compactness and conve-
<br />nience for a small family. The porch or entry, d, is 5 feet
<br />wide, opening on one side into the living -room, and on the
<br />other into the bed-room—each 14 by 16 feet. Each of
<br />these rooms has a closet, a. The living -room bas an open
<br />grate, or fire -place: the bed -room may have an open fire-
<br />place or a stove flue, as the occupant pleases.
<br />The back entry is shown at b—also 5 feet wide. This
<br />back entry communicates with the living -room, the kitchen,
<br />and the bed-room—as well as with the open air by a back door
<br />opposite b. This door opens on a landing or platform with a
<br />railing on the left-hand side, to guard the stone steps which on
<br />that side descend to the cellar. This back entry, b, also
<br />contains the stairs to the chamber floor. These stairs, placed
<br />as they are in this back entry, are much more conveniently
<br />located, for all parties, than if placed in one near the front
<br />door—while they are accessible from all the rooms, without, as
<br />is often the case in small cottages, being located in any one of
<br />the rooms.
<br />The kitchen, 12 by 14 feet, is lighted by two windows, and
<br />has a well -lighted pantry 4 by 7 feet, as well as another closet,
<br />C, for cooking utensils, etc. In this closet, a partition is shown
<br />by tile dotted lines. This closet, c, may be left entire by
<br />omitting this partition, when it would make a good store-
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