76 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



they burst out into a cloud of pink-and-white flowers 

 until they hang their arms down full of Spitzen- 

 bergs and pippins. One may love an apple-tree 

 with a personal tenderness ; as for myself I remember 

 nothing with more joy than climbing into the top of 

 the huge Kirkland orchard trees, to sit among the 

 red streaks and look over the Oriskany Valley. 

 There were birds' nests all around me, and every hol- 

 low tree had an owl or a yellow-hammer. It is a 

 whimsical fashion, without a bit of good sense in it, 

 that excludes fruit trees from our lawns. 



Furnish your house simply and let it be substan- 

 tial furniture. Not a single article should display 

 pride or ignorance. We lack the furnishing instinct. 

 All sorts of things are tumbled into our houses, 

 mainly glued together and crudely varnished. Stiff 

 and fussy furniture that you cannot sit upon easily 

 is a bad display. I am inclined to believe strongly 

 in that which comes to me as " knock-down furni- 

 ture, " for it gives me the more substantial forms of 

 tables, desks, and chairs, within reach of a common 

 man's purse. 



Detest a varnished floor. It looks slippery, even 

 if it is not, and it is always getting scratched. It is 

 probable that you have something else to do in the 

 world besides revarnishing. Neither is there any 

 reason for expensive plumbing, something a little 

 more costly in proportion than the rest of the house. 

 Get a bright-brained carpenter and he can fit up 

 your bath room with a substantial tub and whatever 



