“ The House of the Seven Chimneys ” 
THE FIREPLACE AND FOUR OF THE ELEVEN CLOSETS IN THE OWNER’s BEDROOM 
the forethought for detail which characterizes the 
entire work. All the screens in the house (and all the 
windows and doors are screened in summer) are of 
copper. Copper does not rust. All the fixtures are 
of brass; door pulls, latches, locks, hooks, even the 
pipes, are brass. Brass does not corrode with sea 
air. All flashings are of copper. The cellar, exca¬ 
vated under the entire house, is roomy where room 
is needed, but at least fifty per cent of excavation was 
saved by leaving earth in place where no room was 
wanted, and surfacing it with an inch of cement. Of 
course there is a three foot air space under the whole 
house, and passage-way runs through the cement¬ 
faced earth to the cellar windows. This treatment 
gives the cellars their name of “The South Yar¬ 
mouth Subway,” something that every one sees and 
laughs over. But speaking of laughs, perhaps the 
most oft-told tale of this house of tales, is that of the 
gentleman who came, unexpectedly, to call while 
the owner was away. He wandered disconsolately 
from each to each of the seventeen doors, seeking that 
which he could recognize as the front one. Finally 
he ended up at the kitchen. 
“Could you tell me,” he inquired politely of the 
domestic who answered his knock, “where I can 
find the front door 
“I’m very sorry, sir,” came the answer, “I’ve only 
been here a week and haven’t had time to learn!” 
And it IS bewildering. The present scribe, on his 
first visit, was told to come to the front door, if he 
could find it,—if not, to anv other door, or a window. 
Confident that he could 
locate it, he yet entered 
through the most back¬ 
ward of all the doors, 
it any can have right 
to such a title. P u t 
shortly, all doors are 
front doors, although one 
of course, is a main en¬ 
trance; there is no back 
yard, if one excepts a 
copper screened enclosure 
tor laundry purposes, 
covered with Crimson 
R a m b 1 e r. C r i m so n 
Ramblers are all about, 
forming the exterior 
scheme of decoration, 
with the gray shingle 
walls and roofs, just as 
the white Colonial wood¬ 
work and the blue lined 
white tilinii of the bath- 
rooms, form the predom¬ 
inating motifs of cheer¬ 
fulness within doors. 
Of the domestic ar¬ 
rangements, nothing but praise can be said. A 
very large kitchen, with a clean sweep of breeze 
through it from north to south, with a hotel range, 
opens, through a pantry, and by means of a revolving 
THE SOUTH YARMOUTH SUBWAY 
The cellar runs the whole length of the house 
15 
