HOUSE, PLANS, AND SPECIFICATIONS. 47 



The contractor soon sent me a rough diagram of 

 the house. It was not exactly according to my 

 views ; instead of being an economical parallelogram, 

 it was made up of angles and eccentricities; the 

 architecture was of the conglomerate style, the main 

 building being Doric and the extension Corinthian ; 

 the former having a peaked roof so perpendicular 

 that it seemed as if it never would come to a point, 

 and that a fly would have difficulty in maintaining a 

 foothold on it, and the latter being so flat that a ball 

 would hardly roll off the eaves. The w r hole was or 

 namented with an unlimited amount of trimming 

 and moulding, and there w r ere windows of all shapes 

 and characters. There was stained glass in the front 

 and rear doors, plain glass in some windows, and 

 parti-colored panes in others; there were windows 

 where no one would expect them, and blanks where 

 one w^ould naturally expect windows. It might have 

 been called a model of surprises. To a person who 

 prided himself on his abilities for laying out a plan 

 economically and advantageously, this was discour 

 aging ; but, after all, to a philosophic mind, so long 

 as the necessary accommodation is obtained, the par 

 ticular plan makes little difference. 



Flushing is a small place, and any unusual occur 

 rence throws it into a wild state of excitement. 



