128 The Farmstead 



the frame of a house was along the lines of ship 

 construction (Fig. 39) : that is, ribs, joined to 

 a sill or sills, encircling the entire structure 

 and placed at equal distances apart. Two 

 keels or sills joined together by joists, straight 



Fig. 39. Framework of a ship. 



ribs — joists — instead of curved ones, a roof 

 instead of a deck, and the balloon frame (Fig. 

 40) — the best of all frames when properly 

 constructed, — was invented. Unwittingly the 

 ship construction, slightly modified, was adopted. 

 In this frame the westerner departed radically 

 from the style of his ancestors, but he could 

 not be satisfied with a plain oversail projection. 



