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CHAPTER III 



THE VESTIBULE 

 " For booh are not absolutely dead things.''^ 



E decided that the most convenient 

 place for us to put our book-shelves 

 was in the vestibule, so there the 

 shelves went. And why should they not ? Can 

 there be a more cheerful wall-covering than 

 shelves fiall of books ? This passage-way was 

 seven feet wide, and if we had put an ordinary 

 bookcase on either side, we would have found 

 the space much contracted, for an ordinary book- 

 case is fifteen inches wide, though an ordinary 

 book rarely exceeds six. Some of my books 

 were large, so I made the lower shelves ten 

 inches deep, and then, about four feet up, 

 dropped back to six inches in depth. The 

 shelves are immovable. How far apart they 

 should be placed depends upon the character 

 of one's library. In our case, I found the fol- 

 lowing dimensions convenient. On one half, 



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