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 
[55] 
