Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/801

 1869.] Descriptions. 647 turn, reaping what the parents have sown, and selling, or renting, by the foot what the family purchased by the acre. On this account, the mass of moneyed mankind not engaged in agriculture, always throw their capital and energies into the active pursuits of business, manufacturing or mercantile, because while the risk is far greater, the imme- diate profit, if any, is much more. There are not wanting those, who contend, that it is much better for the young business man to rent, rather than huj, as his limited capital will make for him a larger interest, actively employed, than it can possibly save him in a house ; and if eveiy man's ideas were set upon a home quite beyond his means, though possibly far within his wishes, this posi- tion would assuredly be correct. But nearly all admit, that the beginning of" prosperitj' to any man, settled in life, consists in owning the house he lives in. Apart from any other consideration — and there are many — the fact of owner- ship, from its augmented security, con- fers additional happiness upon the whole family. They then first realty become a household, because they hold the house, in the sense of possessing, not renting it ; and the house itself actually becomes a home. A thousand little improve- ments are then made, by father, mother and children, which would never even be thought of, much less done, in a resi- dence merely leased. It is this innate tendency of human nature that led Scott, in his younger days — as he humorously mentions in one of his prefaces — so to appreciate the wit of an almanac — of the time of Charles II., "when all publications, even to almanacs, aimed to be smart" — rec- ommending " every man to walk at least a mile every morning before break- fast, for the benefit of his health ; and, if possible, to do it upon his own ground" — that landed proprietorship became one of the great objects of his life This general feeling is by some indi- viduals carried so far, that, they get comparativel} 7 very little satisfaction out of the best books, unless they own tlieni ; and, in fine, it is the grand lever moving the world. Take away the hope of at- taining real property and you take away all genuine love of liberty. The tyrants of the world, in all ages, have so well understood this, that their first seizure was invariably the ownership of the land- at large, to be held of them, by the few, for military and civil service ; and for- ever to be withheld from the many. Sacerdotal establishments, ostensibly secondary to the kingty, but often supe- rior, have always been fastened meas- urably upon the soil, to sa} r nothing about the tithes from the products of the lands of the people. Among the laity, primogeniture, or the right of the first-born son, has secured accumula- tion in all the countries of Europe, ex- cept Wales ; and there gavel-kind, or equal distribution of the land between all the children, caused interminable wars of selfishness, for asjorjindizement ; because the Welsh were ^ itiated by the doctrine of all the land for the eldest son, as held by all the nations around them. But, in a country like the United States, where gavel-kind is a portion of the people's primer, we see its benefi- cent effects. Here no extent of posses- sions is honorable, unless held by equitable descent, or amassed by legiti- mate personal effort. That which the individual has fairly earned, let him freely enjoy and transmit. Not intending a lecture on political economy, we return to our cottages. All understand, of course, that the prac- tical builder, from familiarity, botli with the plans of architects, executed by him- self, in many previous instances, and the locality and rate of materials, would be at no loss, with regard to the elevation of an absolutely plain small structure, of routine style. If the projector has any special taste to gratify, or want to meet, he had better get the advice of