hstand the
incursions of time." Though it had been built before the Civil War, the
foundation of stone, the wails of red brick and the roof of steel gray
slate, were as sound as when first constructed. The arched front door,
bordered with a transom and small panes of glass, was the one artistic
thing; and she declared must not be altered. But the small iron porch,
little longer than the width of the doorway, must be supplanted by a
broad veranda, the roof of which should be supported by massive colonial
pillars, in keeping with the grounds, and curative of the barrenness of
the house.

The interior, she said, was a desecration of architecture as an
ornamental science, a waste of room and a destruction of grace and
beauty. Though John would not concede the waste of room, since every
thing was built on a right angle plan and nothing appropriated room but
the partition walls and a narrow stairway. The interior looked as though
it were fashioned by artisans who were zealous disciples of a
carpenter's square and who carried it about for insistent and perpetual
use. She pointed out where many new windows must be cut or old ones
enlarged and considerably modified in form.

"John, you and I must save our money for the next year, then we will
have an architect give our modifications the sanction of his approval.
We must not be too precipitate with alterations; living in the old house
as it is a year, will settle just what we desire. In the meantime we can
find plenty to do in the yard and garden.

"I have four thousand dollars in bank which I have been saving for you.
We will use it to pay off the balance of the purchase price and to
supplement my furniture, which is not more than half enough for the
house.

"How happy we shall be planning and changing the house and grounds to
suit our mutual fancy. It will be the second time for me. When your
father was thirty we had saved three thousand dollars, just enough to
buy a little home. Then we changed our plan and built one fresh and new.
He died before the newness wore away and the place really looked like
home. I believe your plan the better one; to buy an old home with a
large front yard of great forest trees and a garden back of the kitchen,
a house of substantial wall and foundation and living in it, as fancy
dictates or need requires or purse affords, make your alterations; then
the place grows from strangeness to sympathy and takes on individuality.

"These old cherry an