sed, it was in an excellent state of
preservation, with the exception of the ell which was past repairing. It
faced directly south and had evidently been set by a compass regardless
of street boundary, though the location was only a short distance from
the main road. The design of the house contained all the characteristics
of early construction,--the small-paned windows, closely cropped eaves,
and long, unrelieved, roof line. At the time of the purchase of the
estate, which had originally included hundreds of acres, it was
surrounded by a low wall of field stone which had evidently been taken
from the grounds to make tillage possible. The house stood on a slope
and was surrounded by grass land; the same idea is carried out to-day,
in that little attempt has been made at garden culture, the owner
preferring to keep the estate as near as possible to the farm lands of
centuries ago.

After the remodeling was commenced, many interesting facts of
construction were brought to light. The north side of the house, which
was originally the rear, was changed by the present owner into the main
front, with entrance and staircase hall. The hall was necessarily small,
and in order to make it practical, five feet of the large central
chimney had to be removed, including three fireplaces and two brick
ovens. It was then found that this portion had evidently been added to
the house after the original chimney had been built, as an old fireplace
and brick oven were found on the line of a partition on the south side
of the hall. It was also discovered that in all probability the original
house had a lean-to at the north which was used for a kitchen, and that
this fireplace and brick oven were a part of the old room. The original
chimney was found by actual measurement to be sixteen feet by seven and
a half feet, and the stone foundation was the largest ever seen, being
ample enough to accommodate the wide hearths as well as the chimney. In
fact, to-day it takes all the central portion of the basement, leaving
two small spaces on either side. In the remodeling, it was found that
the original work was laid up with clay, meadow clay being taken as a
binder.

The exterior required little alteration, save on the north side, where
it was necessary to remove a portion of the wall in order to run the
hall out under the roof of the house so that it might be two stories in
height. The front of the house, which faced directly south, was left
unalte