MR. URBAN AND A COUNTRY HOUSE 



the new made racy by a certain indefinable 

 smack of the old. 



For all such renovation, however, as I have 

 hinted at, stanch walls and sound timbers are 

 essential prerequisites. If otherwise — if the 

 examining carpenter can thrust his scratch-awl 

 eight inches into the sills — if the posts have 

 taken gradual settlement and the ceiling shows 

 gaping rents, any effective remodelling must 

 be of doubtful economy. Of course there must 

 be a substitution of new sills, and a splicing of 

 the posts which will make even wider gaps in 

 the ceiling. Then comes the pleasant sugges- 

 tion of the mater familias that the mantels are 

 awkward and must be replaced by something 

 new and tasteful. The adroit mason, being 

 called into consultation, decides that the chim- 

 neys are hardly worth the change, and that a 

 renovation from top to bottom would give a 

 large addition of closet room. So the old 

 chimneys come down, with such dirt and break- 

 age and necessary removal of partition walls 

 as are surprising. The ceilings, too, must 

 needs show ugly patches, and it would be wiser 

 (the amiable mason suggests) to replaster al- 

 together. There must be new hearths too, 

 and in place of an awkward patched floor per- 

 haps it would be better to renew the flooring. 



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