details are brought out in clearer relief. You would perhaps expect
coloring the mortar the same shade as the brick to give precisely the
effect of painting the entire wall. But it is not so. As in wood or
stone, though in less degree, there is a kind of natural grain, even
in the unnatural material, strengthened by oiling, but softer and
richer than any painted surface. There seems to be no evidence that
the mortar is injured by proper coloring-material,--mineral paints, or
even lampblack, if you like it; I don't. Whether you like it or not,
you are _not_ to use _white_ mortar for the outside work. Unless,
indeed, you propose to build of pressed brick, in which case you will
need it to show your neighbors how fearfully and wonderfully nice you
are. If you are so devoted to worldly vanity as to build in that
fashion in the country, I don't believe it will be possible for me to
help you.

Chimneys deserve a chapter to themselves, they are so essential and so
often abused. Let them start from the cellar-bottom and run straight
and smooth to the very outlet. If you wish to be exceptionally careful
and correct, use round pipe, cement or earthen, enclosed by brick.
When it is so well known how often destructive fires are caused by
defective flues, it is surprising that more care is not taken in
building chimneys. They should be intrusted to none but workmen who
are conscientious as well as skilful, otherwise every brick must be
watched and every trowel full of mortar; for one defect ruins the
whole, and five minutes after the fault is committed it can never be
detected till revealed by the catastrophe.

If the spaces between the bricks were always filled with good mortar,
it would be better not to plaster the inside of the flues, as the
mortar is liable to cleave from the brick, and, hanging by one edge,