I am, truly, anxious about the kitchen and closets, whatever nonsense my husband may write, but should be sorry to have the house look just like any other, and, of course, wish to have it look well.  Why may not our stone house be built in the manner of your model brick one, at least basement and first story, thoroughly warmed and ventilated, brick partitions, fire-proof, and so on,—­that is, if we can afford it?  And that brings me to the question that I intended to ask in the beginning, Are these suggestions intended to apply to common kind of buildings or only to those that are usually described as “first class”?  Architectural rules and the principles of good taste are not thought to concern those who, in building, know no law but necessity,—­with whom the problem is to get the greatest amount of use for the least possible outlay.

John is industrious and serene, this morning.  He thinks my letter isn’t very practical, and hopes you won’t forget that the subject in hand is house-building, not family history.

Yours truly,

Mrs. John.

LETTER XVII.

From the Architect.

Good taste is not A foe but A friend to economy.

Mrs. John:  Dear Madam,—­For your wise and tender treatment of John you have my heartiest thanks and admiration.  It is not strictly an architectural suggestion, but could you not found a sort of training-school for wives who have not learned to manage their refractory husbands?  I’m sure you would have plenty of pupils.

Your query as to applying these hints I am glad to answer.  Instead of preventing its indulgence, close economy demands the exercise of the most refined taste.  The very houses that must pay strict regard to the first principles of art are those upon which not one dollar can be wasted.  But these fundamental rules are identical, whether the building costs five hundred dollars or fifty thousand.  When the newspapers describe “first-class” houses, those above a certain size or cost are meant.  Let us henceforth have a truer standard, placing only those in the front rank whose design and construction are throughout in wise accord with the material of which they are built and the uses for which they are intended.

Notwithstanding your want of interest in the wood question, I must give your husband one chapter on that subject, and promise him it shall be thoroughly practical, free from all romance and family allusions.

LETTER XVIII.

From John.

Our picturesque ancestors.

My dear architect:  I’ve no doubt it would be vastly agreeable to you to have Mrs. John keep up this end of the correspondence.  Very gratifying, too, to another party,—­the paper-makers.  It would be a big thing for them.  But I don’t want to hire a housekeeper, even in so good a cause, not till I have a house.