It looks as if somebody's
grandfather lived there still.
_Laurie_. It is most refreshing to see the dark boards amid those
houses of staring white. Strange that, in the extreme heat of summer,
aching eyes don't teach the people better.
_Aglauron_. We are still, in fact, uncivilized, for all our
knowledge of what is done "in foreign parts" cannot make us otherwise.
Civilization must be homogeneous,--must be a natural growth. This
glistening white paint was long preferred because the most expensive;
just as in the West, I understand, they paint houses red to make them
resemble the hideous red brick. And the eye, thus spoiled by
excitement, prefers red or white to the stone-color, or the browns,
which would harmonize with other hues.
_Laurie_. I should think the eye could never be spoiled so far as
to like these white palings. These bars of glare amid the foliage are
unbearable.
_Myself_. What color should they be?
_Laurie_. An invisible green, as in all civilized parts of the
globe. Then your eye would rest on the shrubbery undisturbed.
_Myself_. Your vaunted Italy has its palaces of white stucco and
buildings of brick.
_Laurie_. Ay,--but the stucco is by the atmosphere soon mellowed
into cream-color, the brick into rich brown.
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