SIXTEEN] NOOKS AND CORNERS 
packed with object lessons and truths that make 
up character. 
A plenty of nooks and corners, making good use 
of nature’s quiet places, indicate the great truth 
that the most of one’s living processes must be car- 
ried on out of doors, and that a house, at the best, 
is only a place of retreat — possibly a confinement. 
A healthy person longs for fresh air and sunshine, 
and companionship with all the things that whisper 
and sing. The old Saxon word for dwelling is 
stopping-place, and that for house is hiding-place. 
Neither of these words originally implied that a 
house was intended for anything more than a shel- 
ter. We make too much of indoors altogether. 
We have got into habits of conforming tu house 
regulations which entirely dominate. Health is 
not possible in the shade of fashion. We have too 
many curtains to shut out the sunlight, and our fate 
is tied up with infinite bric-a-brac. House dust is 
the worst of poisons. Try a bit of it in a spectro- 
scope, and you will get lines that will astound you. 
House air, with a hot-air furnace, is charged with 
carbon dioxides. The heat in winter is irrational 
and debilitating; in summer our only hope is to let 
in as much as possible of out of doors. If your lot 
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