LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
155 
The roof is of a piece with the rest ; no' ceiling 
meets the eye ; the gaze goes up heyond the 
smoke-burnt rafters up to the very shingles ; nay, 
beyond them, for in the bright night the radiance 
of many a star gleams upon the upturned eye of 
the recumbent watcher, and during the day many 
a moving spot of light upon the floor shows the 
progress which the sun makes towards the west. 
But it is during the brief, but terrific rain-storms, 
which often occur in this climate, that one becomes 
painfully conscious of the permeability of the roof ; 
the floor soon streams; one knows not where to run 
to escape the thousand and one trickling cascades ; 
and it is amusing to see the inmates, well acquainted 
with the geography of the house, catching up books, 
and other damageable articles, and heaping them 
up in some spot which they know to be canopied 
by a sound part of the roof. 
There is a fireplace at each end of the house, 
a large open chimney, the fire being on the hearth, 
which is raised to a level with the floor ; the 
chimney itself is curiously constructed ; simply 
enough howev.er, for the skeleton of it is merely 
a series of flat slips of wood, laid one upon 
another in the form of a square, the ends crossing 
at the corners, where they are slightly pinned to- 
gether, the square contracting from five feet at the 
bottom to little more than one at the top. As 
this frame- work proceeds, it is plastered within 
and without with well-beaten clay, to the thick- 
ness of two or three inches. This is considered 
a sufficient protection against the fire ; for though, 
on account of the clay here and there dropping off, 
the slips of wood often ignite, and holes are burnt 
through, yet the clay around prevents the fire from 
