August, 19 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



285 



neither of them much bigger 

 than the huge chimney that 

 rose at one side — a chimney 

 of warm red bricks, with a 

 generous "Dutch oven" for 

 the baking of the goodies of 

 those days. More than a 

 hundred years later another 

 room was added, a big living- 

 room, and so the house still 

 stood when Mr. Otis jour- 

 neyed out to view it, and see 

 if it might be turned into the 

 house of his dreams. At 

 first he was certain that it 

 couldn't. As a dream house, 

 it resembled nothing more 

 than a nightmare. Neglect 

 and age seemed to have set 

 their indelible stamp upon 

 its every board and shingle. 

 The ground around was a 

 wilderness. But the location 

 was there — the wonderful 

 location on that gentle slope, 

 with the Sound in front and 

 the woods behind, and the 

 big trees here and there, and 

 the sunny spaces just made 

 for a garden, and — inside 

 one treasure — a jewel of an 

 old corner cupboard! That 

 cupboard seemed to be 

 thrusting itself out from be- 

 hind its disfiguring coat of 

 dismal chocolate brown, Garden of the Otis house 



smeared upon it by some former owner, and calling aloud Both are necessary in 

 to be rescued. The owner heard, and answered the appeal, to-day. So the old place 



He remembered the 

 mighty timbers our fore- 

 fathers used in building, 

 looked for them, and found 

 that the frame of the old 

 house was good for another 

 two hundred years. So he 

 bought it. Bought the house 

 and four acres of the land 

 about, and then set to work 

 to make the poor old wreck 

 of a place back into a home 

 — and a bigger, handsomer 

 home than it had ever 

 dreamed of being before. 



His work of regeneration 

 was slow, painstaking, lov- 

 ing. He studied every line 

 of old and new, determined 

 that they should harmonize 

 perfectly. He made certain, 

 that with all the changes 

 necessary, there should be 

 perfect symmetry in the lines 

 of roofs and walls, so that 

 no part could blandly ex- 

 claim, "See me — I'm new" to 

 the most critical observer. 

 And he has succeeded. He 

 has maintained the simplicity 

 of the old house and yet 

 made a modern home. 



There was a great deal to 



do besides merely adding 



rooms. The old house had 



had no cellar and no attic. 



a sanitary, convenient living place 



was propped up and suitable under- 









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Th c - situation of the Otis house is ideal in many ways; compare this view of the remodeled house with that of the original house shown at the top of 



this page 



