MR. URBAN AND A COUNTRY HOUSE 



might offer a very inviting show. Brick may 

 also be used effectively for the filling in of 

 such exposed carpentry of the frame; and if 

 the timber be given a dark chocolate tint, the 

 contrast is very striking and pleasing. I give 

 a sketch of such a house, the roof covered with 

 shingles, or (better still) red tiles; and the 

 basement of quarry chips. 



Aside from those who object to the appear- 

 ance of a stone house, there are many who en- 

 tertain the very current prejudice that such 

 buildings must needs be damp. If damp, the 

 dampness must be due to faulty construction. 

 Nothing more is needed to secure dryness than 

 to "fur off" widely from the stone, and to 

 allow a free circulation of air between the 

 interior and exterior walls. In this way not 

 only is dryness secured, but a degree of warmth 

 in winter, and of coolness in summer, which 

 no wooden walls can maintain. In this con- 

 nection it may be worth while to note the fact, 

 that the larger part of the civilized portion of 

 the world have been living in stone houses 

 for the last few centuries, and they have weath- 

 ered the damps pretty courageously. 



But the objection to country houses of stone 

 is not so much on the score of appearance or 

 of imagined dampness, as of cost. The great 



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