Don't ask me any more questions till I've disposed of these already on
hand.




LETTER XXVIII.

From Fred.

THOUGHT PROVOKES INQUIRY.


MY DEAR ARCHITECT: In spite of your prohibition, I must pursue one or
two of the inquiries already raised, in order to understand the
answers given.

What is the objection to cheap floors, if they are always covered with
carpets? Am I to understand that you do not approve of lath and
plaster for walls and ceilings of first-class dwellings? If so, what
would you substitute?

It seems much easier to say what to avoid than what to accept; but
that, I believe, is the privilege of critics and reformers.

Why do you despise the modern fashions so heartily? Are the old any
better?

Yours,