s is particularly true of the country home. In cities and suburbs,
building plots are more or less standardized units in a checker-board
with two controlling factors, so many feet of street frontage and such
and such depth. Local building ordinances sharply limit the type and
size of structure. The country offers much greater latitude. Such
matters as topography, location of existing trees, and points of the
compass with relation to the main rooms of the house play important
roles.

We well remember a dismal example of what can happen when these
controlling factors are ignored. The owner was an opinionated man with
a passion for economy. House building was to him no mystery. It was
just foundations, side walls, roof, stairways, interior partitions
and, of course, plumbing, heating and so forth. His house was "going
to cost just so much and people who paid architects' fees for plans
had more money than brains." Besides, he had seen a sketch and floor
plans of a house in a magazine that were good enough for him. He knew
a builder who could follow them and what more did one need?

[Illustration: A REALLY EARLY AMERICAN INTERIOR. THE GREAT FIREPLACE
OF THE WAYSIDE INN, SUDBURY, MASS.

_Henry Ford_]

The little matter of relating the structure to the site concerned him
not at all, nor did it enter his head that a house could face anywhere
except towards the road. As for the contractor, it was not for him to
reason why, but to build. So they went to work and a house entirely
made up of good things done in the wrong way was the result. An
outcropping of rock meant expensive blasting, so the magazine-pictured
house was set firmly down almost on the roots of a fine row of old
pine trees by the roadside. Through these the wind howled mournfully
at night and by day their shade made the main rooms of the ground
floor distinctly gloomy.

It was an ambitious house and the leaded glass windows of the living
room faced north. So keeping its temperature at a comfortable point in
winter was an added difficulty. The sunny southwestern exposure, being
at the back, was given over to kitchen and servants' quarters. Lastly,
the one pleasing prospect, a friendly little valley with a meandering
brook, could only be seen to advantage from the garage. The
architect's fee had been saved but when, a little later, the owner
wanted to sell, it took several years to find a buyer and then only at
a price of half the money invested. The new owner