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Wyandotte by James Fenimore Cooper
page 55 of 584 (09%)
composed their recreation. Mrs. Willoughby found the cart of the
building her family was to occupy, with the usual offices, done and
furnished. This comprised all the front on the-eastern side of the
gateway, and most of the wing, in the same half, extending back to the
cliff. It is true, the finish was plain; but everything was
comfortable. The ceilings were only ten feet high certainly, but it was
thought prodigious in the colony in that day; and then the plastering
of Jamie was by no means as unexceptionable as his stone-work; still
every room had its two coats, and white-wash gave them a clean and
healthful aspect. The end of the wing that came next the cliff was a
laundry, and a pump was fitted, by means of which water was raised from
the rivulet. Next came the kitchen, a spacious and comfortable room of
thirty by twenty feet; an upper-servant's apartment succeeded; after
which were the bed-rooms of the family a large parlour, and a library,
or office, for the captain. As the entire range, on this particular
side of the house, extended near or quite two hundred and fifty feet,
there was no want of space or accommodation.

The opposite, or western half of the edifice, was devoted to more
homely uses. It contained an eating-room and divers sleeping-rooms far
the domestics and labourers, besides store-rooms, garners, and
_omnium gatherums_ of all sorts. The vast ranges of garrets, too,
answered for various purposes of household and farming economy. All the
windows, and sundry doors, opened into the court, while the whole of
the exterior wall, both wooden and stone, presented a perfect blank, in
the way of outlets. It was the captain's intention, however, to cut
divers loops through the logs, at some convenient moment, so that men
stationed in the garrets might command the different faces of the
structure with their musketry. But, like the gates, these means of
defence were laid aside for a more favourable opportunity.
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