house, and
this fact explains the density of population and the signs of wealth on
every hand, which would otherwise puzzle the stranger. The houses are
not only so near together that almost every man can call to his
neighbors and be heard, but they are large, stately, and even luxurious,
in contrast to the dwellings of other country people in Europe. The
average population of Outer-Rhoden amounts to four hundred and
seventy-five persons to the square mile, being nearly double that of the
most thickly settled portions of Holland.

If one could only transport a few of these houses to the United States!
Our country architecture is not only hideous, but frequently
unpractical, being at worst shanties, and at best city residences set in
the fields. An Appenzell farmer lives in a house from forty to sixty
feet square, and rarely less than four stories in height. The two upper
stories, however, are narrowed by the high, steep roof, so that the true
front of the house is one of the gables. The roof projects at least four
feet on all sides, giving shelter to balconies of carved wood, which
cross the front under each row of windows. The outer walls are covered
with upright, overlapping shingles, not more than two or three inches
broad, and rounded at the ends, suggesting the scale armor of ancient
times. This covering secures the greatest warmth; and when the shingles
have acquired from age that rich burnt-sienna tint which no paint could
exactly imitate, the effect is exceedingly beautiful. The lowest story
is generally of stone, plastered and whitewashed. The stories are low
(seven to eight feet), but the windows are placed side by side, and each
room is thoroughly lighted. Such a house is very warm, very durable,
and, without any apparent expenditure of ornament, is externally so
picturesque that no ornament could improve it.

Many of the dwellings, I was told, could not be built with the present
means of the population, at the present prices of labor and material.
They date from the palmy days of Appenzell industry, before machinery
had reduced the cost of the finer fabrics. Then, one successful
manufacturer competed with another in the erection of showy houses, and
fifty thousand francs (a large sum for the times) were frequently
expended on a single dwelling. The view of a broad Alpine landscape,
dotted all over with such beautiful homes, from the little shelf of
green hanging on the sides of a rocky gorge and the strips