and the reason was that I had found, from long experience, that
stair carpet wears first on the tread of the steps, where the
foot falls. By making the steps tall enough to save two, and by
making the tread narrow, I reduced the wear on the carpet to a
minimum. I believe in economy where it is possible. For the same
reason I had the stair banisters made wide, with a saddle-like
top to the newel post, to tempt my son and daughter to slide
downstairs. The less they used the stairs the longer the carpet
would last.

I need hardly say that Sarah has a fear of burglars; most women
have. As for myself, I prefer not to meet a burglar. It is all
very well to get up in the night and prowl about with a pistol in
one hand, seeking to eliminate the life of a burglar, and some
men may like it; but I am of a very excitable nature, and I am
sure that if I did find a burglar and succeeded in shooting him,
I should be in such an excited state that I could not sleep again
that night--and no man can afford to lose his night's rest.

There are other objections to shooting a burglar in the house,
and these objections apply with double force when the house and
its furnishings are entirely new. Although some of the rugs in
our house were red, not all of them were; and I had no guarantee
that if I shot a burglar he would lie down on a red rug to bleed
to death. A burglar does not consider one's feelings, and would
be quite as apt to bleed on a green rug, and spoil it, as not.
Until burglarizing is properly regulated and burglars are
educated, as they should be, in technical burglary schools, we
cannot hope that a shot burglar will staunch his wound until he
can find a red rug to lie down on.