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Page 38
"Whatever else we do we must make it all right for the burglars. Tell
him we will have floors that can be used either way, with rugs or
without, with matting, with carpets, or with nothing at all but their
own unadorned loveliness. Those in the chambers, where there is not
much wear and tear, may be of common clear pine, and we can paint or
stain a border around the edges. The others ought to be of harder wood,
and, as they will last as long as we shall need floors, we can afford
to have them cost rather more than a good carpet, perhaps thirty or
forty cents a square foot."
"I don't see the necessity for that," said Jill, who had a frugal
mind--at times. "I know they will outlast a great many carpets, but it
is considerable work to keep a bare floor in order--or rather to put it
in order--which must be taken into account; and, as for saving the
expense of carpets, we shall be likely to spend twice as much for rugs
as the carpets would cost. However, extravagance in rugs is not the
fault of the hard-wood floors and ought not to be charged against them.
We might have a few parquetry floors, but for most of the rooms plain
narrow strips, with a pretty border, will be good enough. What do you
think about it, Jim?"
While Jim was preparing to say that he didn't think he knew much about
such things, there came a crash on the floor above, followed by loud
and incoherent observations by the chambermaid. The chandelier began to
shake, as that substantial domestic fairy flew through the passage that
led to the back stairs, at the head of which she was distinctly heard
to exhort the cook in good set terms to "hurry up with the mop, for the
water-jug was upset and the mistress would be raving if the water came
through the ceiling."
The quartette below listened with conflicting emotions. Jill was
indignant, Bessie horrified--apparently, Jim greatly amused, and Jack
sublimely indifferent. "If there's anything I _despise_," said Jill,
"it is a house that makes a human being seem like an elephant, and
where I can't say my prayers or move a chair in my own room without
rousing the entire household."
"There's one good thing about it," said Jim pleasantly. "You can't help
knowing what is going on in your own house."
"Spoken like a man and a brother, James. You always go to the root of a
matter. I like to keep posted. No skeletons and gunpowder plots for me.
I had this house made so on purpose." Whereat they all laughed and
again took up the floor question, while the sound of hurrying feet and
the rattling of domestic implements went on overhead, and the
chandelier trembled with the jarring floors.
"I suppose forty dollars' worth of timber originally added to these
floors would have made them so firm that we might drive a caravan
across them without shaking the building. We will, at least, have solid
floors in the new house; but the architect informs us that 'effectual
deafening of the floors and partitions necessarily adds considerably to
their cost, since the walls and ceilings must be virtually double or
filled with some light porous material. The construction I have
described for making the house fireproof, or nearly so, would also make
it comparatively sound-proof. It would prevent the passage of any
reasonable in-door noises, though it might not withstand the stamping
of heavy steel-shod feet. Indeed, the question of bare, hard-wood
floors is, in one of its aspects, rather a question of boots. It is
most unreasonable to say the floors are noisy and slippery when the
fault lies rather in the hard, stiff, awkward receptacles in which our
feet are imprisoned. If we are ever clad from head to foot in the robes
of a perfect civilization, we shall doubtless find smooth bare floors
for general use more satisfactory than any kind of rugs, mats or
carpets.'
"And now," said Jill, "we will leave the rest of this interminable
letter for a more convenient season and see what our indefatigable aunt
has sent as the latest and best thing in domestic architecture. If you
will take the plans and follow the description, I will read the letter
straight through, though it will doubtless contain more or less advice
not strictly pertinent to house-building. Here it is:
"MY DEAR JILL: On further reflection I have concluded that the
little cottage plans which I sent last will not answer. I doubt
whether you and Jack have sufficient independence and
originality to make a success of living; even temporarily, in a
small, unpretending cottage. It requires unusual strength of
character'--
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