60 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



days in November I know nothing so inspirit- 

 ing as to get home from my oystering or fish- 

 ing or hunting, to find the big room a blaze of 

 light from a royal fire of logs, the candles or 

 the lamps giving the right points of color 

 throughout, the warmth and the brightness 

 making a strong contrast with the cold wind 

 outside and the coming darkness. 



The effect of such a room is due largely to 

 size, and next, to color. Its size would give it 

 a certain air even if the walls and ceiling were 

 of unpainted pine. But color may be called 

 to the rescue, at almost no expense. For the 

 sake of warmth in cold weather, as we stay 

 here until Christmas, and might want to stay 

 here all the year round, the walls have been 

 well plastered with rough plaster tinted a dark 

 gray, and forming an admirable background 

 for such pictures, skins, and bits of bric-a-brac 

 and color as we hang around. To plaster 

 the ceiling would have given an immense 

 stretch of plain surface almost unbroken by 

 light and shade, and to avoid this the beams 

 have been left open, with the immense girder 

 running across the middle of the room at right 

 angles with its length. Girder and beams have 



