HOME. 55 



any kind except at the west end, where a big 

 and square chimney-stack rises to a few feet 

 above the level of the ridge-pole. On the east 

 end of the house the roof slants down over a 

 piazza, which is always shady in the afternoons. 

 Part of the piazza at the northeast corner is 

 taken up with a small reception-room, opening 

 upon the piazza, and through which people 

 must pass in order to get into the house itself. 

 From this reception-room portieres open to the 

 main room of the house, which is living-room, 

 library, music-room, and everything but dining- 

 room and kitchen in one ; when we have a 

 crowd, it is a dining-room too. It is thirty feet 

 wide, the whole width of the house, and thirty- 

 five feet long. At the end opposite the entrance 

 is a monumental fireplace, built of brick rather 

 than rough stone, because stone is scarce in this 

 part of the world. The opening is large enough 

 to allow big logs six feet long to be thrown upon 

 the fire, and at least four feet deep. Above 

 the fireplace and the old-fashioned mantle-ledge, 

 which holds a collection of more or less dam- 

 aged bric-a-brac, is a device which perhaps 

 only a musician would understand or care for. 

 A broad frieze seven feet wide and three feet 



