CHAPTER V

A HOUSE AND LOT--ESPECIALLY THE LOT

The past decade has witnessed a movement, just now taking aggressive shape, which is unique--the interest in outdoors, nature study, farming, summer homes, sport, and what is termed the simple life. It is a movement filled with the greatest promise of any among the host now claiming attention, and bids fair to soothe the tired nerves and over-stimulated minds of a frantically industrial age. Busy men and women, particularly the men, who once thought their affairs would become hopelessly muddled if they were not at the desk each and every day, now indulge in sport, farming or gardening, and horticulture. They have become convinced of the benefits of fresh air and consequent health, and have a calmer, more serene outlook on life as a whole. It has become "quite proper" now to live in the "country," even though the country is represented by a lot 40 × 100, for one may have a garden which produces wonders even on such a lot. Indirectly, people get the desire to fix up their homesteads, to plant hedges and vines, to have window boxes and put on a kind of apologetic style which develops into conscious pride ultimately. One cannot play with such an avocation long without learning a bit more about nature in general, and without any conscious resolution drifts into keeping chickens or pets as a kind of pleasurable refuge from mundane things. All this activity is much more than a fad; it points to a recurrence of the primitive instinct to always bridge the ever-widening gaps between nature and the human, who is merely an extra-developed animal himself. Children always possess in a marked degree a love for outdoors, for animal life, for growing things, and fight hard during the early years to satisfy the desire. When they cannot achieve results at home, the surplus energy is worked off by harrowing the neighbors. Steam will do a great deal of work when under control, but if one allows steam to accumulate it must get off sooner or later, and children are under steam always.

The adult, when he becomes a city dweller, takes his nature study in stiff two-weeks' doses, fishing or shooting, plus all the modern gastronomic tidbits he can carry, and accumulates a fine crop of scientific fables and sunburn. This is not real rest, not even the best acquaintance with nature; rather it is a sort of primitive spree, inherited in garbled form from tradition as a seasonal necessity. The truly fine side to the nature movement lies in its influence on everyday living through a sound regard for what nature can do at her best, and the resultant modification of taste in general. It is a questionable satisfaction to make a whirlwind campaign into nature's midst for a few short weeks, comfortably supported by the consciousness of urban conveniences in the end, when there is the possibility of bringing nature to our very doors, almost to the hearthstone. Nature is complacent and excellent company when offered a suitable welcome.

The ideal home is ideal throughout--outside as well as in. There is no vital difference between the kind of pride which demands clean linen and that which craves beautiful lawns (to be used however), beautiful flowers (also to be enjoyed), trees and porches for shade and rest. The kind of nature too which really rests and enthuses one is the kind which may be enjoyed for twelve months in the year; in other words, gardens, grounds, and trees which belong to the climate, to the locality, and, being hardy, commend themselves at all seasons.

But nature is no designer. The landscape gardener and the amateur must, by their united efforts, bring an artistic plan to bear upon nature's offerings, using her trees and flowers and the contour of the ground, and create an environment which pleases. The result should not only be fine of itself, but should furnish a proper and rich background for the house which is the centre. There are in existence numerous periodicals devoted to country living, farming, gardening, animals, sports, and the special suburban problem, and also a very distinguished library dealing with similar types. These have a surprisingly wide circulation, probably because they are as a class guiding the public taste in such matters instead of following it. This literature has in a few short years uncovered a new public interest in matters allied to nature, notably in home architecture and surroundings, and there is distinct evidence at the present time of improvement in architectural style. Domestic buildings are more appropriate in material and design than ever before, and are such as seem to be in tune with the somewhat informal suburban or village surroundings. Formerly architectural style was imported from abroad, and with it came a certain few odd fragments of landscape gardening, full of patterns, floral arabesques and geometric arrangements, imitation Renaissance, urns and alert iron dogs to guard the dooryard. One can still find houses with ugly mansard roofs, stiff, forbidding doorways, and gloomy windows, the whole perched high on a hill, or at least elevated above the street, suggesting in every feature the barrenness of the artificial. It is art at its worst. The effort was further emphasized by the consistent designers through formal, wax-like landscape accessories, tender budding plants, cast-iron benches and garden ornaments, which must surely be blood kin to the modern steam radiator and art cook stove. There was nothing human about such a place: it always suggested the hereafter. But the new, healthy, public interests in outdoors, in a joyous life, have banished those artificial shells and substituted a type of dwelling which is planned for living. And the outside aspect of the house gives one the impression that it belongs to that particular spot, for those people for home purposes. Of course all houses are not so successful, but one finds a good many nowadays. It was bound to come, because when people began to study nature, to live closer to their flowers and animals, to want green lawns and pleasant hills, they soon sought a type of shelter which would nestle close to the ground and look hospitable and inviting. Architecture and gardening are more closely related than one would first imagine, and it is questionable whether one can deal successfully with one and ignore the other.

In previous chapters the discussion of children and their training has touched lightly upon certain points which may well be elaborated a bit here. Most of the child's waking hours would virtually be spent out of doors; no house is large enough. And it was urged that these intense outside activities would be excellent foci for most profitable study. No yard, however restricted, is too small to accommodate some hobby which will absorb the child's energy and aid in generating constructive skill and judgment. The matter of pocket money is also very important and becomes a powerful motive when properly used. But there is another and more mature point of view concerning the home as a whole, which should not be discarded. _Every child should learn to so respect and value his own personal property and affairs that he will respect those of others, neighbors for instance._ He will not do this unless his own efforts and experiments are taken seriously, or unless his home grounds and living are maintained at top condition, or unless he grows to appreciate a beautiful physical environment. The lawn, the garden, poultry house and stable ought to be in perfect trim all the time. It is better taste to have them so, and it is good business. One cannot succeed with raising pets or animals in unsanitary quarters, or inadequate shelter. It will not be difficult to develop proper ideas of taste and charm in the grounds about the house if one begins with the boy's and girl's own business and steers that to a decent working basis. Ragged grounds, unkempt lawns, weeds, littered porches and hopeless, tired-looking flowers--all persistent manifestations of neglect--leave on the youthful mind ineradicable impressions which undermine good taste.

Most boys and girls dislike any kind of work which is mere drudgery, and most children in these days shy at work for ends other than their own, because they have found that they can have privileges and amusements without responsibility or other return to their parents. The solution lies in the restoration to the boy of a feeling of personal responsibility and pride, restoring to him and his sister the rights of ownership to things and privileges earned, and make the children something other than social puppets. Make their youthful occupations count. Among those occupations one finds a number which are equally fascinating to both children and adults.

Probably no accessory to the home is more to be valued than the garden, especially the flower garden. It adds so much of color and variety to the whole scheme, and helps to bring the house into intimate relation with the grounds. The finest gardening has probably been due to feminine influence, and every girl can draw from practical experience with growing things a delicacy of taste and wealth of knowledge to apply to ends peculiarly her own. The latent intuitive feminine outlook often remains undeveloped in these days, and no craft will preserve and stimulate it more than gardening. There is a reaction just now against the formal flower beds of tender plants, a patch of exotic color dotting otherwise irreproachable lawns, though the florist would like to keep such arrangements in fashion, for he is seldom a true artist. But better standards of living, a fresher study of nature, a more personal, intimate architecture, have brought into them many of the old garden ideals where the garden belonged to the mistress of the house and showed it. The garden has a most significant history. It has always been a centre of family life, and among the Romans was in fact the element about which the household revolved. Here the family rested and visited, worked and played. The dwelling was built around it, with living rooms which opened on its walks and fountains, bringing the family together in the most intimate way. The early Dutch and English colonists brought to America a similar taste for this soothing adjunct to the home and early put into effect such garden plans as their limited resources permitted. And always it has been the women-folk of the community who have kept the garden alive with persistent belief in its harmonizing influence on the family. Not infrequently the children learned their first lessons in business, in ownership and in responsibility, there. Gardening is one of the oldest and simplest of crafts and may not be overlooked in seeking a pathway for youthful energy.

Perhaps the boy or girl would rather grow fruits or berries, vegetables, raise pigeons, keep bees--one and all are equally good. This is the essential fact: every boy and girl should come into direct and positive contact with some of the important natural phenomena and life. Growing things have to be cared for, they must have food, water and protection. One cannot play with them when one feels like it; they need attention every day. The obligation is a pleasant one, but nevertheless it is an obligation and gives a much needed lesson in a way that sticks.

Any occupation around the home, if it be one which ministers either to the pleasure, comfort or profit of individual members, is quite likely to knit that family into a more compact group. It keeps the children more at home. The interchange of service and advice which brings into relief the interdependence of the individuals stimulates this one of the important characteristics of domestic society. There has been an indication in recent years to lay upon the schools the entire training for manhood and womanhood. It is expected to teach manners and ethics, to give the proper kind of academic information, to formulate character, to even teach "nature." It is impossible to do this. The finest character, habits of study, executive ability, and the social attitude must be started and nursed to strength, if not to maturity, at home. Five hours each day under incomplete authority can accomplish little else than formal instruction. Even the beginnings of technical and scientific training have their roots deep in these childish hobbies which originate and flourish at home, where a deep obligation rests upon parents to make the most of this early time. It is a lead the school can follow, but never originate. The school represents the average educational ideal of a given community, and when schools are inefficient, languish and give indifferent service, it is an excellent index of the local culture standard. Therefore, when parents develop to their highest pitch the enthusiasms and abilities of childhood, when they foster family life and enrich it so that every member, particularly the younger ones, become active participants, and feel that they too have work to contribute to the general welfare, then and then only will the school by force of public sentiment revise its own standards.

For reasons such as these every home should be a kind of unofficial training school, in which the courses are mostly elective. Some outdoor hobbies which the children will enjoy should be maintained, and, on however small a scale, the house and grounds should be planned with this in view. The city boy and girl will have somewhat limited choice, but even there one can enjoy several hobbies, even in a flat. One can at least grow things, for there are few corners, even in a city, so dark that some plants will not flourish.