Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1875-10-11
HINTS ABOUT HOUSE BUILDING.

A writer from Paris says: lis it not
a common complaint that not a door or
window in France will shut properly?
The lOcksmiths fitted all the locks and
hinges on the doors, windows. &c. which
in q measure accounted for the INSULT
cient and clumsy nature Of their fixing
throughout the different buildings in
Paris. The locks were all box locks,
and badly made. The hinges we're like
wise bad, and Of ancient design"
To those who delight in cheap fnery.
Mr.. Gardner says: what might have
been a very gem Of homely and pictur-
esque grace If left in modest plainness,
may be so overburdened with worthless
trash that its original expression is lost
and its simple beauty becomes obtrusive
deformity. Even conspicuous cheap
ness is not necessarily unpleasant to
see, but don't try to conceal it by fore.
ing the materials to seem something bet
ter than they are. Let wood stand for
wood, brick for brick, and never ask us
TO imagine brown stone value to paint
ed sheet iron. There is, too, deeper
honesty than mere truth telling in ma
7erial, conscientiOusness of purpose,
an artistic spiritual sense Of the eternal
fitness, without which there can be no
worthy achievement no lasting beauty"
BAY WINDows.-If you indulge in a
regular bay window, make it large enough
to be Of real use don't feel constrained
to build it with more than fifteen sides
remember that two stories will not cost
twice as much as one, while the second
IS pretty certain to be the pleasanter;
don't carry the ceiling Of the main room
level and unbrOken into the bay, or, be-
cause certain one you may have seen
looks well in its place, resolve to have
another just like it, regardless Of its
surroundings. / sometimes fancy there
muss be factory where bay windows
are made for the wholesale trade, all Of
one style, strictly orthodox, fve-sided.
bracketed, blinded, painted with striped
paint. and ready to barnacle on whetev-
er required, In the stereOtyped pat
tern the blinds are apt to be trouble
some. If outside, they clash against
each other and refuse to be fastened
open, while inside they are a mighty
maze Of folds, flaps, brass butts and roll
ing stats. In the first case, wide piers
between the sash are necessary in the
second, boxing for the blinds. Both re-
quire ample room, which, fortunately,
you have. Sixthly, aud in conclusion,
there is no feature which is more charm
ing, combining so much of comfort and
beauty, as windows of this class, from
the simple opening, pushing forward a
few inches beyond the wall face, to the
broad extension of the entire room but
there be bays and bays.-Gardner's
"Homes and HO'0 to Make Them"
ROOFs.-Practically, the steep roof is
better than any other, because fat one
cannot be as permanently covered with
any known material at so little cost the
multitudes Of cheap and patent roofngs
to the contrary Notwithstanding. By
steep roofs l mean any that have suf6-
cient pitch to allow the use of slate or
single. Such need not be intricate or
difficult Of construction to look we'll,
but must be honest and useful. They
can be neither unless visible, and here
we see the holy alliance Of use and beau
ty; for the character and expression Of
a building depend almost wholly upon
the roof. You will lose, too, under the
nat roof, the roomy garnet of the old
high-roofed houses. These have for me
a wonderful fascination. Whether the
rain upon the shingles, the mingled fra
GRANGE Of seeds and dry herbs, the sur.
prising bigness of the chimney, the mys-
teries hidden in the worm-eaten chests.
the almost sanity charm of the long-un-
used spinning wheels, crumbling memen-
toes Of the patient industries Of former
generations, or the stars through the
chinks In the shrunken boards, the old
garnet and all its associations are among
the 'long, long thoughts" Isometimes
doubt whether the modern conveniences
we are so fond of proclaiming are really
an equivalent to the rising generation
for the happiest of play-rooms, this
storehouse Of heirlooms, this silent but
potent tie, that binds us to the life, the
labor and the love of the past Let
there be light, too, in this upper story.
Spinning-spiders and singing wasps are
not half so terrible to the children, who
will make halfway paradise of the
garrett, as the darkness that is covered
by an unlighted roof.
a WORD TO You've MEN.- Young