OUR COUNTRY HOME 



" Be sure it is big enough, " I ventured, and we sallied forth to 

 find a spot for it to stand upon. Just beyond the stable on the other 

 side of the brook was a comparatively level piece of ground; here 

 we decided to put it. The Constant Improver marked off the site 

 in long strides, afterwards verifying his measurements with stakes 

 and a tape-line. He sat him down in his own sanctum and with 

 i|iia(lrille paper prepared a working drawing. It was a tempting 

 thing to do, no chimneys to place, no windows or doors to bother 

 with; the road eleven feet wide went through the middle of it, 

 and all the winds of heaven blew around its shadowy spaces. 

 It was seventy-two feet long, twenty-five feet wide, and eighteen feet 

 high in the centre, and the roof swept down within eight feet of the 

 ground and matched that of the house in its raised shingles. The 

 sides were of rough-hewn planks stained brown and overlapping 

 each other like clapboards; the centre gable on either side was of 

 plaster and timber construction to the ground; and where the side- 

 walls joined the roof a space five inches high was left for ventilation. 



The gardener began the building with enthusiasm, but it was not 

 long before he reappeared carrying the drawing, over which he 

 still brooded in puzzled inspection. 



'' At one end the eaves are only three feet from the ground, if you 

 please, sir, and at the other they are eight feet. " 



" Well, that is the fault of the ground, not of the drawing. Take 

 off a plank or two at the bottom of one end; if the roof line is 



straight the rest will come out all right. " And it did. 



fiR 



