226 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE 



and also reached by an electric elevator, are thus intertied, and form 

 unusual features. 



Checkmating the Burglar. 



As extra protection from the midnight prowler we enclosed the 

 main stair well at night with flexible metal folding gates used later- 

 ally and concealed in side pockets inset in columns, hoisted into the 

 ceiling beams or lowered within a solid surfaced balustrade would prob- 

 ably have been better. It is practically impossible for these gates to 

 get out of order, but in case they do, ample means of egress are afforded 

 by balconies and fire ropes. With this arrangement no intruder 

 entering the first floor or basement could gain access to the floors 

 above, as the back stairs were enclosed to form ample protection in 

 that quarter. Thus barred, the watchdog, kept on the second floor, 

 was secure from cajolery. Burglar-proof mortise bolts protected each 

 bedroom and were inset above the reach of childish hands. 



A frontiersman gave me the idea of secreting a revolver in a 

 leather pocket nailed against the back of a picture within easy reach 

 of the bed, less dangerous than the under-the-pillow plan. 



Fire and Burglar Battling. 



Fire ropes of flexible wire, with swinging safety seats, are 

 coiled in each outdoor bedroom, but two distinctly separate flights 

 of stairs and the ready exit given by balconies and sun-bathed outdoor 

 bedrooms practically eliminate all fire risk to life and limb, especially 

 as the conning tower surmounted with a clerestory lookout is in 

 reality a narrow brick windowed shaft centred with an engine house 

 sliding pole and reached through fireproof doors from each landing, 

 the openings rail protected. 



High under the eaves connected with the owner's suite, was 

 fastened a loud clanging gong to call the farmer and his assistants in 

 case of fire or burglary. This, with an electric switch turning on 

 in an instant every light in the house, and a couple of good dogs 

 one within the house and one without, seems preferable to a care- 

 lessly handled burglar alarm with its unnecessary "wee sma' hour" 

 bone-chilling surprises or the percussion cap window fastening, one 

 of many precautionary devices. 



The Arch. 



At the head of the first story stairs is a double arch, one forming 

 a hall division; the other, directly back of it, leading to the third 

 story stairs. The effect of these with the corridor arches on the 

 same floor, is called particularly pleasing. Enthusiasm for beauty 

 as expressed in the arch leads one back through the centuries to that 

 first arch in active service in the world, the famous Cloaca Maxima 

 round headed Roman-arch doing humble sewer duty in the Eternal 

 City on the Tiber, 2,400 years ago, and even today in active service, 

 that arch sprung over a dozen centuries before the Incas ignorantly 



