ently, all terra cotta was of the color that is called by that
name, but now it is made in gray, white, and bronze as well.

Bricks are laid in mortar, and this makes a wall one solid mass and
stronger than it could be without any cement. But mortar does more
than this. It is more elastic than brick, and therefore, when a wall
settles, the mortar yields a little, and this often prevents the
bricks from cracking. Bricks are always thirsty, and if one is laid in
mortar, it will suck the moisture out of it almost as a sponge will
suck up water. The mortar thus has no chance to set, and so is not
strong as it should be. That is why the bricklayer wets his bricks,
especially in summer, before he puts them in place. Lime or cement
mortar will not set in freezing weather, and a brick building put up
in the winter is in danger of tumbling down when the warm days of
spring arrive.

This thirstiness of bricks is their greatest fault. Three or four days
of driving rain will sometimes wet through a brick wall two feet
thick, crumbling the plaster and spoiling the wallpaper. That is why
it is a poor plan to plaster directly on the brick wall of a house.
"Furring" strips, as they are called, or narrow strips of wood, should
be fastened on first and the laths nailed to these, or the wall can be
painted or oiled on the outside. The best way, however, though more
expensive, is to build the wall double. Then there is air between the
two thicknesses of brick. Air is a poor conductor of heat; so in
summer it keeps the heat out, and in winter it keeps it in.

But brick will suck up water from the ground as well as from a storm;
and therefore, when a brick house is to be built in a wet place, there
ought to be a three-eighths-inch layer of something waterproof, like
asphalt and coal tar, put on top of one of the layers of brickwork to
prevent the moisture from creeping up.

Bricks have their faults, but they will not burn, and when properly
used, they make a most comfortable and enduring house.

V

AT THE GOLD DIGGINGS

When gold was first discovered in California, in 1848, people from all
over the world made a frantic rush to get there, every one of them
hoping that he would be lucky enough to make his fortune, and fearing
lest the precious metal should be gone before he could even begin to
dig. The gold that these men gathered came from what were called
"placers"; that is, masses of gravel and sand along the beds of
mounta