Overcrowding and defective housing in the rural districts . re side, and the other side, I am sorryto say, is just the same. It would beinteresting to know what was passingthrough the mind of the builder who de- 56 Rural Housing vised such a form of architecture, whichcertainly may help to account for thetuberculous history of this house, which istold in the last chapter. Another example of this defective build-ing characterized by small windows isshown in the photograph (Fig. ii): thisprobably was an old log-house, made overby weather-boarding and converting theoriginal loft into an upper roo
Overcrowding and defective housing in the rural districts . re side, and the other side, I am sorryto say, is just the same. It would beinteresting to know what was passingthrough the mind of the builder who de- 56 Rural Housing vised such a form of architecture, whichcertainly may help to account for thetuberculous history of this house, which istold in the last chapter. Another example of this defective build-ing characterized by small windows isshown in the photograph (Fig. ii): thisprobably was an old log-house, made overby weather-boarding and converting theoriginal loft into an upper room. The log-cabin of the early settler, with its port-hole windows, was really not bad buildingin its day, for the inhabitants of thosetimes led so much of an outdoor life andspent so little time indoors that whatwould be bad housing now to the clerk,the artisan, the mechanic, and the farmerhad little effect on the frontiersman andthe settler. The damp cellar is a very prominentdefect in rural building: every one wholives or visits in the country knows the. Defective Building 59 damp, musty odor which pervades almostevery country house, especially in the fallbefore the fires are started: so vastly dif-ferent is it from the dry atmosphere ofthe usual city house. This dampness issurely a potent factor in the cause of thevarious rheumatic complaints so commonin most rural districts. It goes withoutsajdng that the proper construction of abuilding demands a dry cellar such asmay be obtained by means of concrete anddamp-proof course in the foundation. With the elimination of damp cellars,close building in rows, and small win-dows, much of the defect in rural housingwould be overcome, and these correctionscan usually be so readily accomplishedthat the only excuse for their existence isthoughtlessness or ignorance. It is hardlynecessary to say that every house shouldhave open space all around it, and be sosituated that the greatest number or all 6o Rural Housing of the rooms receive sun
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