If you have been living in cottage-chambers,--rooms in which a
full-sized man can hardly stand erect in the centre, and a well-grown
baby scarcely creep at the sides, unventilated, heated beyond
endurance during the hot summer days, and retaining their heat through
the long, wakeful nights,--rooms in which the furniture must stand at
various distances from the walls as if marshalled for the
house-cleaning battle, but in which even the making of beds is a work
of supreme difficulty,--if you've been living in such rooms as these,
I don't wonder, whatever architects or other men may say, that Mrs.
John objects, and insists on good, square chambers. But good, square
chambers no more require flat roofs than good, square common-sense
requires a flat head. I don't believe you will contrive a house, of
whatever form or size, that may not be covered more cheaply, more
securely, and more tastefully by a steep roof than by a flat one. Of
course, I'm supposing your house to be isolated. Buildings in crowded
streets or in blocks require, on all accounts, entirely different
treatment. By all means, then, have wide doors, generous windows, and
high roofs; and if you must build with strict economy you may be
morally certain that your house, though not perhaps as altogether
lovely as you might wish, will still be cheerful and homelike.

Allow me to add, that, while faithfully striving to build a house that
shall be honest and cheerful, you will surely find yourself growing in
the same direction.




LETTER XXII.