the wealthy, delightful patterns of work of Pompeian elegance are soon
introduced.

As with the bricks, so with the mortar and the wood employed in
building, they are rendered, as far as possible, free of moisture. Sea
sand containing salt, and wood that has been saturated with sea water,
two common commodities in badly built houses, find no place in our
modern city.

The most radical changes in the houses of our city are in the
chimneys, the roofs, the kitchens, and their adjoining offices. The
chimneys, arranged after the manner proposed by Mr. Spencer Wells, are
all connected with central shafts, into which the smoke is drawn, and,
after being passed through a gas furnace to destroy the free carbon,
is discharged colourless into the open air. The city, therefore, at
the expense of a small smoke rate, is free of raised chimneys and of
the intolerable nuisance of smoke. The roofs of the houses are but
slightly arched, and are indeed all but flat. They are covered either
with asphalte, which experience, out of our supposed city, has proved
to last long and to be easily repaired, or with flat tile. The
roofs, barricaded round with iron palisades, tastefully painted, make
excellent outdoor grounds for every house. In some instances flowers
are cultivated on them.

The housewife must not be shocked when she hears that the kitchens of
our model city, and all the kitchen offices, are immediately beneath
these garden roofs; are, in fact, in the upper floor of the house
instead of the lower. In every point of view, sanitary and economical,
this arrangement succeeds admirably. The kitchen is lighted to
perfection, so that all uncleanliness is at once detected. The smell