INTRODUCTION. 19 



contriving every ingenious method they possi- 

 bly can to save it. 



FRAME OF A MODERN HOUSE. 



So many houses are built of brick and stone 

 that perhaps some of my young city readers 

 will scarcely know what a wooden frame means. 

 At any rate, they will not know the names of 

 the pieces of timber of which it is composed, 

 as children in country towns usually do. I 

 have therefore thought it would be best to pre- 

 sent the picture of a wooden house frame, which 

 I have employed an eminent artist to draw. 

 It will be very necessary for the reader to study 

 it a little while ; for I shall speak of its sills, 

 posts, girts, cupola, &,c., presently, and I wish 

 to be understood. 



When they build a wooden house, they first 

 lay a row of stones for underpinning. Some- 

 times they use other things instead of stones 

 for this purpose ; but not often. They lay 

 these stones in a square, exactly where they 

 mean to have the outside walls of the house. 

 Having taken care to make it level, that is, 

 just as high in one place as another, they 



