Page:Speeches and addresses by the late Thomas E Ellis M P.pdf/48

 builders of these a natural taste for what was fitting and pleasurable and beautiful. Before entering these old houses, one thing, I think, strikes most observers. That is, that our forefathers in Wales did not plant their houses just in the first place that came. Many of our villages now and of our newer houses are just planted like railway stations anywhere, without taking any account of their situation or anything else. But if you observe the old homes of Wales, whether manor houses, or farm houses, or cottages, you will find that the builder has been very careful in his choice of the site. Not that, as a rule, he chose to build a house where he had the best view of the scenery, because peasants do not realise usually the beauty of landscape or scenery, but he generally chose it in a spot sheltered from the prevailing wind. The house was built where there was a sense of comfort and of snugness, and instead of leaving the house bare to the four winds and to the tempests and rains of Wales, the builder generally surrounded it by a belt of sycamore, or ash, or oak, or pine trees. I