have relied--a majority of such
dwellings have turned out, if not absolute failures, certainly not what
the necessities of the farmer has demanded. Consequently, save in the
mere item of outward appearance--and that, not always--the farmer and
cottager have gained nothing, owing to the absurdity in style or
arrangement, and want of fitness to circumstances adopted for the
occasion.

We have stated that our prevailing rural architecture is discordant in
appearance; it may be added, that it is also uncouth, out of keeping
with correct rules, and, ofttimes offensive to the eye of any lover of
rural harmony. Why it is so, no matter, beyond the apology already
given--that of an absence of cultivation, and thought upon the subject.
It may be asked, of what consequence is it that the farmer or small
property-holder should conform to given rules, or mode, in the style and
arrangement of his dwelling, or out-buildings, so that they be
reasonably convenient, and answer his purposes? For the same reason that
he requires symmetry, excellence of form or style, in his horses, his
cattle, or other farm stock, household furniture, or personal dress.
It is an arrangement of artificial objects, in harmony with natural
objects; a cultivation of the sympathies which every rational being
should have, more or less, with true taste; that costs little or nothing
in the attainment, and, when attained, is a source of gratification
through life. Every human being is bound, under ordinary circumstances,
to leave the world somewhat better, so far as his own acts or exertions
are concerned, than he found it, in the exercise of such faculties as
have been given him. Such duty, among thinking men, is conceded, so far
as the moral world is concerned; and why not in the artificial? So far
as the influence for good goes, in all practical use, from the building
of a temple, to the knocking together of a pig-stye--a labor of years,
or the work of a day--the exercise of a correct taste is important, in a
degree.

In the available physical features of a country, no land upon earth
exceeds North America. From scenery the most sublime, through the
several gradations of magnificence and grandeur, down to the simply
picturesque and beautiful, in all variety and shade; in compass vast, or
in area limited, we have an endless variety, and, with a pouring out of
God's harmonies in the creation, without a parallel, inviting every
intelligent mind to study their fe