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Page 5
There are three classes of people to whom this little volume with its
quaint descriptions and wise suggestions will be peculiarly welcome.
_First_--Those who contemplate, at some time, the building of a
home. It matters not whether it is to be humble or palatial,
"The House that Jill Built" will be found to contain not only
the most valuable suggestions, but a humorous gaiety that will
be sure to add pleasure to this duty.
_Second_--Those who desire at any time to enlarge, modify or
improve the homes in which they live; for they will find very
forcibly illustrated in its pages the principles which should
govern such modification.
_Third_--Those who, like the writer hereof, have suffered in
purse and comfort from the lack of such a pleasant and
philosophical treatise, and who will be glad to see how their
blunders might have been avoided.
"The House that Jill Built" is founded on the rock of common sense. It
does not profess to tell the prospective builder how to be his own
architect and carpenter; it does not fit him out with a plan ready made
and tested--by somebody else: but deftly and easily it leads him to
think about the essential elements of the home he desires until, almost
unconsciously, he finds himself prepared to give such directions to an
honest architect as will secure for his home, convenience, safety and
that peculiar fitness which is the chief element of beauty in domestic
architecture. It is not so much for what is taught as for what is
suggested that the book is valuable. What the author has written is
perhaps not more remarkable than the peculiar art with which he compels
the reader to think for himself. "The House that Jill Built" may fairly
be said to take the first place among the many works that are designed
to make our domestic architecture what it ought to be--the art by which
the house-builder may erect a home adapted to his needs, commensurate
with his means, in harmony with its surroundings and conducive to the
health and comfort of its occupants. What the author's pen has so well
described his pencil has illustrated with equal happiness.
In penance for the lack of faith displayed at the outset and in hearty
approval of the pages that follow, the Editor has written these words.
A.W. TOURG�E.
PHILADELPHIA, Oct., 1882.
THE HOUSE THAT JILL BUILT.
CHAPTER I.
A WISE FATHER AND A GLAD SON-IN-LAW.
Among the wedding-presents was a small white envelope containing two
smaller slips of paper. On one of these, which was folded around the
other, was written,
"A NEW HOUSE, FROM FATHER."
The enclosed slip was a bank-check, duly stamped and endorsed. Did any
old wizard's magic-box ever hold greater promise in smaller compass!
Certainly not more than the bride saw in imagination as she read the
figures upon the crisp bit of tissue. Walls, roof and stately chimneys
arose in pleasant pictures before her mental vision. There were broad
windows taking in floods of sunshine; fireplaces that glowed with
living flames and never smoked; lazy lounging places and cosy corners
for busy work or quiet study; sleepy bed-rooms; a kitchen that made
housework the finest art and the surest science, and oh, such closets,
such stairways, such comforts! such defiance of the elements, such
security against cold and heat, against fire, flood and tempest! such
economy! such immunity from all the ills that domestic life is heir to,
from intractable servants to sewer-gas!
If some ardent esthete had arrested her flight of fancy by asking
whether she found room for soul-satisfying beauty, she would have
dropped from her air-castle, landing squarely upon her feet, and
replied that if her house was comfortable and told no lies it would be
beautiful enough for her--which was saying a great deal, however
interpreted, for she loved beauty, as all well-balanced mortals ought,
and she would have been conspicuously out of place in a house that was
not beautiful.
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