TAKING REINS IN HAND 



— only yielding the use of bricks for the cor- 

 ners, and for the window jambs. 



I further insisted that no stone should be 

 touched with a hammer; and that, so far as 

 feasible, the mossy or weather sides of the 

 stones should be exposed. The cementing 

 material was simple mortar, made of shell 

 lime and sharp sand ; the only exception being 

 one course of five or six inches in depth, laid 

 in water cement, six inches above the ground, 

 and intended to prevent the ascent of moisture 

 through the mason work. The house walls 

 were of the uniform height of ten feet, covered 

 with a roof of sharp pitch. The gables were 

 carried up with plank laid on vertically, and 

 thoroughly battened; and to give picturesque 

 effect as well as added space upon the garret 

 floor, the gables overhang the walls by the 

 space of a foot, and are supported by the pro- 

 jecting floor beams, which are rounded at their 

 ends, but otherwise left rough. This feature, 

 as well as the sharp pent roof, was an English 

 one, and a pleasant reminder of old houses 

 I had seen in the neighborhood of Gloucester. 



To avoid the expense of a great number of 

 window jambs, which, being of brick, were 

 not of home origin, I conceived the idea of 

 throwing two or three windows into one ; thus 



95 



