st. The only sure way of having a
thing done well is to do it yourself; the next best is to tell some
one else precisely how to do it and then watch them till it's done.
The worst of these little blunders is, that they won't improve with
age. They stare at you every time you see them, and they'll rise up
before your great-great-grandchildren, monuments of your carelessness
and ignorance.

I told you my house was half done when it was well begun; now that it
is almost done it seems to me only fairly begun.

Yours,
JOHN.

LETTER XLII.

From the Architect.

SAVED BY CONSCIENCE.

Dear John: We are just beginning to learn the importance of color. I
don't allude to the wonderful revelations of the spectroscope almost
passing belief, but the new departure in the useful art of
house-painting.

The old weather-stained, unpainted walls were not unpleasant to see;
even the unmitigated red, that sometimes made a bright spot in the
landscape, like a single scarlet geranium in the midst of a lawn, had
a kind of amiable warmth, not to be despised; but there is no
accounting for the deluge of white houses and green blinds that
prevailed a few years ago. If nature had neglected our education in
this respect we might be excused for our want of invention.

With infinitely varied and ever-changing colors smiling upon us at all
times and in all places, it is blind wilfulness not to see and strive
to imitate them. We need not look to the sky nor even to the woods in
their summer brightness or autumn glory. The very ground we tread
glows and gleams with the richest, softest tints of every hue and
shade. Look through a hole in a piece of white paper and try to match
on the margin the color you find. Turn in a dozen different
directions, avoid the trees and the sky, and you will have, in summer
or winter, a dozen different colors. Look in the same places
to-morrow, and they will all be changed, an endless variety. Some one
of these soft and neutral tints should clothe the body of your house.
Enliven it, if you choose, with dashes of crimson, green, or even
blue and gold, but use these bright colors carefully. Aim to make your
house (in this as in all other respects) in harmony with its
surroundings, not defiant of them. Your proffered advice shall be duly
applied, for it's true that a man may easily occupy all his leisure
time, be it more or less, in watching the building of his home,
however carefully the work may be laid