BUILDING THE HOUSE 77 



else is needed at one fourth the ordinary cost of 

 such furnishing. If mosquitoes and flies abound, 

 inclose your balconies and verandas with close wire 

 netting, a very inexpensive method, but very last- 

 ing; it will give you that sort of comfort without 

 small annoyances, which the householder rarely en- 

 joys. 



Remember all this while that the absolute basis 

 of a happy and successful country home is health. 

 (Our Anglo-Saxon fathers called it wholth that 

 is, wholeness.) You must keep whole for there will 

 always be all that a sound man and a sound family 

 can do, and you must learn to keep your family al- 

 ways vital, physically and morally clean cut, and full 

 of executive ability. This condition will depend 

 very largely on how you build and keep your house ; 

 also largely upon cleanliness everywhere, on drain- 

 age as well as ventilation; but perhaps most of all 

 on wholesome food, home grown and brain prepared. 



Eating three times a day should forbid a single 

 mouthful between meals, and for most people two 

 meals a day is quite enough made up largely of 

 fruit and vegetables and cereals, with very little meat. 

 Go to your rooms at eight or nine at night and arise 

 with the daylight. The law of a true life and a 

 happy one is temperance and simplicity, with a satis- 

 fied mind. Take as your maxim, from Edward Ev- 

 erett Hale, " Look up, not down; look forward and 

 not back; look out, not in; and lend a hand." 



But if you will not obey the laws of Nature and 



