three] growing the HOUSE 



open fire of logs, with brick hearths to catch the 

 sparks, and all the family around it, telling stories 

 and cracking nuts, or paring apples, while the 

 mother turned the great wheel or knitted at a home 

 supply of stockings. But whether we have an open 

 grate or not, we should at least make sure that 

 every chimney be based upon the ground. 



If I were to build another house I would not have 

 an ounce of plaster in it, nor a square of paper pasted 

 over mortar. This is always subject to fading or to 

 breakage. It opens the way to the display of bad 

 taste, and in a few years it has become the harbor 

 of disease germs. Every room should be wains- 

 cotted in some neat wood that can be oiled or var- 

 nished as you will. It need not be costly or it may 

 be as ornamental as your means allow. A house 

 wainscotted with Georgia pine has an initial cost 

 very little exceeding that of one properly plastered 

 and papered; and it will need nothing more than 

 oiling for fifty years. In case of infectious disease, 

 thorough washing of the walls and thorough aerating 

 of the rooms make them safe for occupancy. 



A white house in the country, if deeply imbedded 

 in trees, is all right, but a white house standing near 

 the street is in all ways disagreeable. The neutral 



[56] 



