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Page 35
"Not fully. We shall have both steam and open fires; the architect
understands that, but he doesn't know how many fireplaces nor what
kind. We can tell him how many easily enough: one in each room of the
first story except the kitchen, but including the hall, and one in each
of the bed-rooms."
[Illustration: "A SIMPLE RECESS."]
"Including the guest chambers?"
"By all means. There is nothing that makes one feel so thoroughly
welcome, so delightfully at home as a room with an open fire. Mahogany
four-posters, velvet carpets and sumptuous fare are trivial compliments
in comparison. Concerning the style and cost he says: 'Of designs there
is an endless variety, and there is a wide range in cost, from the
simple recess in the side of a plain brick chimney'--"
"One of the kind that Aunt Melville builds for a dollar and a quarter."
"'--to the elaborate affairs that cost as much as a comfortable
cottage. It would be idle for me to attempt to give you a full
description of them all--my letter would appear like a manufacturer's
catalogue. Indeed, you can find whole books on the subject, large books
too, which it will be interesting and profitable for you to study; but
first it is necessary to lay out the chimneys to accommodate the sizes
and styles to be chosen. You will easily understand that a grate for
burning coal alone, especially hard coal, may be much smaller than a
fireplace to hold hickory logs that it takes two men to carry; but the
heat of anthracite coal would soon destroy the lining of a fireplace
adapted to an ordinary fire of wood. It cannot be necessary to remind
you that the best open fireplaces, whether for wood or coal, are those
which, instead of sending three-fourths of the heat up the chimney
flue, give it out from all sides, to be saved either directly or by
being conveyed to an adjoining or upper room. It is also possible to
make a fireplace that will accommodate either wood or coal, but like
all compromises this is attended with certain disadvantages. If large
enough for wood it is too large for hard coal. The smoke flue for a
coal fire may also be smaller, the hotter fire causing the stronger
draught. Coal ashes, too, ought to be dropped through the hearth into
ash pits below, even from the fires of the upper rooms. To "take up the
ashes" of a wood fire is not so troublesome. These are some of the
reasons why it is necessary to determine the kind and number of your
fireplaces before the plans of the chimneys are drawn.'"
[Illustration: IN THE MIDDLE RANK.]
"Why not make an appropriation of fifty dollars apiece for each grate,
mantel and hearth, and have him do the best he can with it?"
"We can fix that as an average price, but shall want some better than
others, and must mark in each room whether we wish to provide for wood,
for coal, or for both. That is, whether we want 'set' grates or open
fireplaces with andirons or something of that kind."
"Oh, do have andirons. _Please_ have andirons," said Bessie. "You know
you can go out into the country and buy them for old brass of the
farmers who haven't the remotest idea of their value. They keep them up
in those dear old musty garrets covered with dust and spider webs."
"Certainly, we will have a few andirons and several spinning-wheels and
moony clocks and solid old carved oak chests that for generations have
been full of moths and food for worms. I never happened to come across
one of those old bonanza garrets, but I suppose there are plenty of
them lying around and just running over with these antique treasures.
Jim, can't I hire you to go out among the unesthetic heathens and buy
up a few loads of heirlooms and other relics of former greatness? We
shall want some old associations in the new house, and if we haven't
any of our own we must buy some."
"I don't think I know much about such things. Why don't you go to a
furniture store and get what you want first-hand? Second-hand furniture
always looks shabby and out of date. However, if Miss Bessie could go
with me to pick out things, I wouldn't mind taking a drive into the
country to see what we could find."
[Illustration: THE WORTH OF A COSY COTTAGE.]
"Now, really, wouldn't you mind it? How enchanting! It will be
delightful to be associated with the new house. I know we shall find
some _lovely_ things."
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