THE HOUSE AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 



THE CHILDREN S ATTIC. 



The Attic in the Ideal House Robert Louis Stevenson and Toy Soldiers The Cost of Fitting 

 Up cm Attic for Children Practical Suggestions Indoor Cricket. 



THE discriminating lover of Robert Louis Stevenson is bound to confess to some small twinge 

 of disappointment with his essay on &quot; The Ideal House.&quot; The title promises much ; we expect 

 something from that wise and nimble mind that will give new food for architectural thought, 

 but outside he shows us only an ideal site, and within only the arrangements that make for 

 comfort and pleasant living. For the subject of this chapter, however, he provides a happy 

 text : &quot; The whole loft of the house from end to end makes one undivided chamber ; here 

 are set forth tables on which to model imaginary or actual countries in putty or plaster, with tools and 

 hardy pigments ; a carpenter s bench ; and a spare corner for photography, while at the far end a space 

 is kept clear for playing soldiers.&quot; 



It is clear, from the precise instructions that follow about the two armies of five hundred horse and 

 foot and the use of footrules and chalk, that these military occupations are as much for children of a 

 larger growth as for the real juniors. One of the players, too, is to take up the pen oi the army correspon 

 dent and write a report of the operations every day or so, and we may imagine that some of the warlike 



doings in Stevenson s 

 novels were conceived 

 with just such aids. For 

 the present purpose it is 

 enough, however, that 

 the support of so power 

 ful a pen is given to 

 establish the consecration 

 of the attic to the plea 

 sures of the younger 

 generation. The elders 

 will not always give it 

 up. There is a great loft, 

 in the house of a student 

 of sociology, which is 

 known as the &quot; thinking 

 room.&quot; Its owner believes 

 in the principle of solvitur 

 ambulando, and can best 

 collect his thoughts by 

 tramping up and down 

 his long attic. Generally, 

 however, it is the lighter 

 moments that can best 

 be spent in the space 

 beneath the tiles. In 



74. AT LARKSCLIFF, BIRCHINGTON. 



another chapter it is suggested that where billiards are impossible on the ground floor it woald often be 

 possible to use attic space for a billiard-room, and this has often been carried out with success. The present 

 illustrations, however, are devoted to attics where the first thought has been for the games of smaller 

 folk. The present state of Mr. Quennell s loft at The Four Beeches, Bickley, was bred by a wholesome 

 spirit of emulation. &quot; It was COUNTRY LIFE,&quot; he writes, &quot; that landed me, by illustrating the playroom 

 in Mr. Bolton s house, Larkscliff, Birchington.&quot; That picture is now reproduced. It shows an ideal 

 playroom, which is lined throughout with fireproof slabs, and the arching over the chimney flues forms 

 a natural proscenium for juvenile drama. 



To anyone who may contemplate making valuable use of wasted roof space, The Four Beeches 

 attic is particularly interesting, because the cost of the change is available eighty pounds. It is, 

 perhaps, in one way hardly a fair example, because when the house was built the future utilisation ol 



