ound
for themselves in the ages since they were dropped by the dissolving
glaciers. However you handle them, there will be cavities underneath,
where the stone does not bear upon the solid ground. The smaller ones
you may rub or pound down till every inch of the motherly bosom shall
feel their pressure. Upon this first course of--pebbles, if you
please, lay larger ones that shall overlap and bind them together,
using mortar if you wish entire solidity. As the wall rises, introduce
enough of large size to bind the whole thoroughly. Above the footing
the imperfect bearings of the larger stones are of less consequence,
since there is little danger of their crushing one another.

[Illustration: ROUGH STRENGTH AND SMOOTH-FACED WEAKNESS.]

I say you will probably set their smooth faces inward, where they can
be seen, which is quite natural and well enough, provided this is not
their only merit. If behind there is a lame and impotent conclusion, a
tapering point on which it is impossible to build without depending
upon the bank of earth, it will be better to have less beauty and more
strength. I don't like a foundation wall that is "backed up"; it
should be solid quite through; if any difference, let it be in favor
of the back or outside. You will find plenty of walls bulging into the
cellar, not one crowding outward.

If the footing of a foundation is made as it should be, the upper part
may be much thinner, since there is no danger of crushing it by any
probable weight of building. It may be crowded inward by the pressure
of surrounding earth, especially if the building is of wood. To guard
against this, interior buttresses of brick, or partition walls in the
cellar, will perhaps cost less than a thicker main wall. The
buttresses you may utilize by making them receive shelves, support the
sides of the coal-bin, etc., while the partitions will take the place
of piers, and, if well laid, need be in smaller houses but four inches
thick.

Should your cellar happen to be in a gravelly knoll,--you are thrice
and four times blessed if it is,--and if there is a stony pasture
near it or a quarry from which you can get the chips, you may try a
concrete wall of small stones, gravel, and cement. It will be strong
and durable; with a wheelbarrow you can make it yourself if you
choose, and the rats will despise it.

Whether your house is one story or ten, built of pine or granite, you
can have no better foundation than good hard bri