ways and window frames assured similar
niceties within.

"What good are they," snorted practical grandfather. "If they were
where people had adequate incomes it would be different. But here!
Once this was a prosperous town. Men made money breeding merino sheep.
Now the town's dead and its houses falling apart. Better tear them
down to save taxes."

Twenty-five years ago many substantial old houses were doomed to die
with their towns. Today, people who want an old house but cannot find
it where they wish to live have learned that it is practical,
financially and otherwise, to transplant an old structure to a new
location. Once this was the sport of eccentric millionaires or of
amply endowed museums. Now it is done for people of average incomes.
The expense will about equal that of building a new house of the same
cubical content and architectural detail. Sometimes it can be
accomplished at a slight saving. But whether the cost is equal, a
little higher, or somewhat less, the great advantages of a
transplanted house are a certain mellowness of age and that charm of
individuality which only old structures possess.

For those who want an old house on a site of their own choosing, there
are now men who deal in old buildings ready for removal. Just as
pickers comb the back-country for antiques, a related group search for
untenanted old houses. These men are a cross between practical
builders and antique dealers. They know Early American domestic
architecture and experience has taught them the point beyond which
salvage is impossible. Also they are experts in dismembering such
houses so they can be re-erected.

Tearing down an old house is easy enough, but to do it so that it can
be rebuilt is a trade in itself. From removing paneling and interior
trim to taking apart the hewn timber frame requires care and
understanding. Too much brute strength will split boards that should
be saved. Similarly, it is disastrous if mortice and tenon joints are
sawed apart. Such are the short cuts of ignorance to be expected of
ordinary carpenters and handy men. And when the old house is on the
ground they will display exasperating unconcern regarding what goes
where and how to put the structure back together. The most complicated
jig-saw puzzle is simplicity itself compared with an Early American
house taken apart without predetermined marking and numbering.

Having learned this by bitter experience, these experts have evolved
marking s