They may look old-fashioned, by and by. No matter; an old
fashion, if it is a good one, is more to be admired for its age than
despised. It is only by reason of its falseness and inconvenience that
it becomes absurd.

In the same category with colored bricks (indeed, they are a sort of
spiritualized bricks) are the brilliant-hued encaustic tile that are
finding their way hither across the Atlantic. Let us hope that the
greatest country in the world will not long send three thousand miles
for its building materials. A variety of forms and sizes of bricks we
may easily have when we demand it in earnest. Beyond question there is
room for almost unlimited exercise of fancy in this direction. We only
need the taste to design appropriate shapes and to use them aright.
Mr. Ruskin mentions certain brick mouldings as being among the
richest in Italy. The matter of size relates rather to construction
than ornament, but it is very important here. I think it will some
time seem as unreasonable to make brick of but one size and pattern as
it would now be to have all timber sawn of uniform dimensions.

[Illustration: BRICKS THAT ARE NOT SQUARE.]

You are more liable to attempt too much in the way of decoration than
too little. Don't make your house look as though it was intended for a
brickmaker's show-case. You will find the simplest designs the best. I
have seen a really good effect on the side of a large building from
the mere holes left in the wall by the masons' stagings.

One thing more: Do not become possessed with the idea that a brick
house must be a large or an expensive one. It may be small and cheap,
but withal so cosey and domestic, so thoroughly tasteful and
picturesque, that you will have an unquestioning faith in the
possibility and the desirableness of love in a cottage, the moment you
behold it. On the other hand, by making the best of your resources,
it is possible to build a large, plain, square house, a perfect cube
if you please, that shall not only be homelike in appearance, but
truly impressive and elegant. How? I've been trying to illustrate and
explain. By being honest; by despising and rejecting all fashions that
have nothing but custom to recommend them; by using colored and
moulded brick if you can use them well; by _not_ laying the outside
work in white mortar, and by exercising your common-sense and
independence, both of which qualities I am sure you possess.

I must beg Mrs. John and Sister Jane