|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 66
"Jim, dissatisfied; impossible!"
"Yes, he thinks it's too small."
"He wants more servants, I suppose; several additional children, a lot
more poor relations, and all the various items that go to make up a
well-ordered household."
"No, no; it is the house that is too small."
"Excuse me, you said the home. The house is a very different affair."
"You remember," Bessie continued, "that when it was built ten years ago
Jim thought it was not large enough. Now he is determined to sell it
and build a new one. There are five good rooms besides the closets, and
as there is nobody but Jim and me and the four children and one
servant, we have all the room we need. We have always been perfectly
comfortable, and I can't bear the thought of selling our home."
Here Bessie began to show symptoms of dissolution, but swallowing her
emotion she continued, "If we could build on a room or two as we need
them I wouldn't mind it. But if you advise us to sell this house for
the sake of having another, I'll"--
"We shan't advise any such thing," said Jack, "but it's perfectly
natural for Jim to think you ought to have a larger, more modern
house."
"But I don't want a more modern house," Bessie protested, "if there is
any created thing that I despise it is a 'modern' house, made up of bay
windows and crooked turrets, and shingled balconies, and peaked roofs,
and grotesque little fandangoes of wood and copper and terra cotta,
that have no more dignity or repose, or beauty or homelike appearance,
than a crazy quilt or a Chinese puzzle. They are simply outrageous,
abominable. I would sooner have the children brought up in a reform
school or a house of correction."
"How would you like a colonial house?"
Bessie's indignation had spent itself, and she resumed her ordinary,
but sometimes misleading manner.
"Isn't it a pity we were not all born a hundred years ago, then we
might have had colonial houses. But why should I want to live in an
uncomfortable old curiosity shop when I like my house just as it is?
Our trouble is that Jim wants the house twice as large as it is now and
I want only one more room."
"Bessie," said Jack, in his most fatherly manner, "I am surprised that
two sensible people like you and Jim should fall into such a
distressing controversy over nothing, absolutely nothing. You are
already in perfect accord. Jim says the house is only half large
enough. You say you want one more room. The house is now just
thirty-three feet long and thirty-three feet wide; add a new room
thirty-three feet square; you will have the one extra room, and Jim
will have the house doubled in size. Isn't that right?"
"Yes," said Jill; "It is exactly what I should have suggested if you
had given me a chance. Do you remember the charming room in the old
Florentine palace, where we spent the winter, and how we enjoyed it,
and finally measured it for the benefit of some other Americans who
intended to build a new house as soon as they got home? That was just
thirty-three feet square and eighteen feet high. There was a grand
piano in one corner, in another a group of chairs with bookcases, in
another sofas and chairs and tables scattered about, so that in effect
it was equal to several small rooms. Indeed one of our party described
it in a home letter as a magnificent apartment one hundred feet each
way. It would accommodate several callers, with their different groups
of friends, and it was of course a capital place for music and dancing.
In your new room you will have one corner for the children and another
for yourselves. The Dorcas society can meet at one side while your
little Jack and his friends are playing games at the other. It won't be
many years before Bessie will claim a large section, including one of
the bay windows, for her own use."
"I think I hear the baby crying. Thank you, I'll talk it over with Jim.
Good night."
"Do you think they will do it?" Jack inquired.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|