wonder what my opinion is of architects. Well, without being
personal, I'm free to maintain that as a rule I'm afraid of 'em. The
truth is, they don't care what a fellow's house costs him, whatever
they may say in the beginning; and I never knew a man to build from an
architect's plans that his bills didn't come in just about double what
he laid out for. They want to get up a grand display, if it's a
possible thing, so everybody that comes along will stop and say, "What
a charming house! Who made the plans?" while from beginning to end it
may be all for show and nothing for use, and mortgaged to the very
chimney-tops. That's my opinion, and I'm not alone in it, either.

There was my neighbor down the road,--he wanted a commonish kind of a
house. Nothing would do but his wife must have it planned by a
"professional" man. Result was, she had to put her best bedstead
square in the middle of the room, and there was no possible place for
the sitting-room lounge but to stand it on end behind a door in the
corner. Another acquaintance of mine had $5,000. Didn't want to spend
a cent more than that. Called on an architect,--may have been you, for
all I know; architect made sketches, added here a little and there a
good deal, made one or two rooms a few feet bigger, poked the roof up
several feet higher, and piled the agony on to the outside, until,
when the thing was done, it cost him $11,000! Of course it ran him
into debt, and most likely will be sold at auction. He'll never get
what it cost him, unless he can sell it as we boys used to swap
wallets,--without looking at the inside. But everybody says it's
"lovely," and wants to know who was his architect.

That, I expect, is just where the shoe pinches. If an architect can
only make a fine show with another man's money, he gets a reputation
in no time; but if he has a little conscience, and tries to plan a
house that can be built for a given sum, every one says it looks
cheap, no kind of taste, and very likely the owner himself is grouty
about it, and next time goes for another man.

I don't envy you a bit. But don't be discouraged.

Yours,

JOHN.

LETTER V.

From the Architect.

BUILDING-SITES AND FOUNDATION-WALLS.

DEAR JOHN: You seem to have made as much of my last letter as could
reasonably be expected. I might reply to your unfortunate experience
with architects, by describing the cost and annoyance of the
subsequent alterations, almost inevitable when