12 JULY 1913, Page 13

[To THY EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") was once driving past

some rustic cottages with an old gentleman who made, if I rightly recall it, this remark : " Lord Palmerston once said that every cottage ought to have three things—a good oven, a good well, and a good porch." The last-named serves as a sort of outdoor smoking-room for the father and his neighbours and a covered playground for the kids. It is a modest substitute for the steep and verandah so universal in South Africa, Australia, and California. Intending builders might do well to bear the fact in mind.