Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-11

The Beautiful Home Secured Through
Thrift in Public Life.

Thrift in Public Life.
Senator sherman, says the Boston Her
ala, is just completing one of the finest
country residences in Ohio at his home In
Mansfield. 1t is dark red brick Of two
stories and a mansard roof, finished out
with a tower and many corners. 1t has
roomy porches at the front and side, CIV
ing shady seats and beautiful views at all
hours of the day. The windows of the
house, bnilt on the French order, open
like doors onto these porches, and their
ceilings are of polished wood. The trim
mings of the house are made of remark
able stone, a quantity of which underlles
Mrs. Sherman's farm east of the city.
That used by the Senator comes from a
quarry on an adjacent estate. tits reddish
sandstone, notified and grained with many
different cOlOred veins. At some places
it looks like a section of knotted, gnarly
wood, and at others like the veins of a half
rotten stump carefully polished. The
veins are of different widths, and they
twist themselves around into all conceiv-
able shapes. Now number of them will
run in parallel curves, now they twist
themselves into as many rings as the
snakes of the LAGOON, and now they stand
out in all directions like the hair of the
Medusa. Well trimmed and polished and
cut into beautiful shapes, their color
matches well with the dark red of the
house, and in front, where they show out
prominently above the door and mold up
the great porch, they form a finish more
rich and beautiful than any stone that
can be procured anywhere else. The in
terror of the mouse, however, will be its
chief feature. 1t has many rooms, and
how lou a,,I h erh aosI fy,aen
The halls are so wide that
wagon load of hay could be driven
through them. They run through the
centre of the house and are arranged with
a sort of L at the back, so that every room
on each floor opens into its respective hall.
The carpenters were busy at work here
several days ago when / passed
through the house in company with Sena-
tor Sherman. We went together through
out three stories, carefully stepping up
the partially made stairs, STOPPING low as
we moved around through the scaffolding,
and going through a number of large
windowed rooms, giving a series of views
which extended far and wide over the
rich farms and wooded hills of Richland
county. The house itself is situated on
some of the highest ground in the State of
Ohio. 1t has a large lawn filled with
shrubbery, fine orchard and fields sur
rounding 1t, making up an estate OF about
fourteen acres. 1t fronts on Market
street, the finest i'm Mansfield, and is well
to the west of the city. Several of these
windows overlook the city, and there are
none of them but that give beautiful
country views as well.
These large halls and easy staircases
are finished in a beautiful red cherry,
highly polished, and in places elegantly
carved. Each OF the rooms is finished in
a different kind of choice wood, and each
of them contains a fireplace and mantel
trimmed in the same material. The dim
lng-room, for instance. is Of rich oak,
with its sidebOard to match. The kitchen
is finished in fine yellow pine of beauti-
full grain and highly polished. The sit
ting-room, l think, is notified or BIRDS
eye poplar, and the library in some other
rich wood. The shelves in the library are
built close up against the wall, and their
chief ornamentatiOn is the books resting
upon them. A large library-table sits in
the centre Of the room, and this to-day
was covered with books and papers. Be-
fore this time, Senator Sherman has had
his library in the third story, but now he
has removed it to the ground floor, putting
it in the northeast corner of the room adj
joining Mrs. Sherman's sitting-room,
which lies between it and the parlor 1t
is a large room, well lighted and airy,
Win several WINDOWS looking out
upon the lawn. Every room in
the house has an electric bell, and all the
chambers are furnished with modern con-
veniences. 1t will be a splendid place FOR
entertaining and it will continue for MANY
years as one of the historic n-,ansIons Of
the country. 1t is a rem ,rkably comfort
able house, and Is rrilch without being ex-
traVagaht OF ggdudy. That which consti-
tutes re soul of the house is still to be
,.uded. As yet no curtains have been put
up, and the glitter and polish of furniture
and brass work are absent. In two weeks,
however, all will be complete. The pic
lures will be on the walls, the fine rugs
will partially hide the WELCOMED floors,
and bright chandeliers will throw their
rays over the thousand and one things
which, so much more than woodwork and
masonry, go to tell the character of the
inner life of home or the tastes of it's
inmates. AS it is, it compares well with
the osher homes of great statesmen. Clay,
Webster and Calhoun had but ordinary
homes, and Buchanan's Wheatland, near
Lancaster, though located much the same
as Senator Sherman's home, possessed no
elegance worthy of remark.