Page 213

               DESIGN XXVIII.
  TIlE principal merit of this design rests in its bold
expression of purpose.     With very little pretension
to architectural style, its exterior is still harmonious
and tasteful, and cannot therefore be said to be un-
architectural.  It has a rustic sort of beauty that
properly belongs to the residence of the farmer-not a
beauty derived from neat and careful finish, but from
large surfaces and strong projections, and which is
more generally pleasing to the eye not cultivated to
nice distinctions, than a greater amount of elaboration.
And perhaps the reason of this is, that it requires no
study to render it intelligible; it speaks, like nature,
a language for all, and all understand it and are
satisfied.
  This house is of course intended for the farmer
who has successfully maintained the struggle for a
competence through which it is the lot of many to
pass, and has reached a condition of life familiarly
spoken of as "easy circumstances."  Still the business
of the farm must be carried on, and no one can attend
to it better than himself.   While he is, in one sense,
more at leisure than formerly, his mind and eyes are
not less active, and several years must elapse before
the son can be entrusted with the post that the father
has held so long with success.  What is more reason-
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