282 ROOF-TREE. 



means a part of their beauty. Mortar plays a sub- 

 ordinate part in a structure, and the less we see of it, 

 the better. 



The proper way to treat the subject is this: as 

 the work progresses, let the wall be got ready for 

 pointing up, but never let the pointing be done, 

 though your masons will be sorely grieved. Let the 

 joints be made close, then scraped out, cut with the 

 trowel, and while the mortar is yet green, sprinkled 

 with sand. Instead, then, of a white band defining 

 every stone, you have only sharp lines and seams 

 here and there, which give the wall a rocky, natural 

 appearance. 



The point of union between the stones, according 

 to my eye, should be a depression, a shadow, and not 

 a raised joint. So that you have closeness and com- 

 pactness, the face of your wall cannot be too broken 

 or rough. When the rising or setting sun shines 

 athwart it and brings out the shadows, how powerful 

 and picturesque it looks ! It is not in cut or hewn 

 stone to express such majesty. I like the sills and 

 lintels of undressed stone also, " wild stone," as 

 the old backwoodsman called them, untamed by the 

 hammer or chisel. If the lintels are wide enough, a 

 sort of hood may be formed over the openings by pro- 

 jecting them a few inches. 



It seems to me that I built into my house every 

 one of those superb autumn days which I spent in the 

 woods getting out stone. I did not quarry the lime- 

 stone ledge into blocks any more than I quarried the 



