When the Colony Club was at last finished we discovered that the furnace heat did not go up to the roof-garden, and immediately we had to find some way of heating this very attractive and very necessary space.  Even from the beginning we were sadly crowded for room, so popular was the club-house, and the roof-garden was much needed for the overflow.  We conferred with architects, builders and plumbers, and found it would be necessary to spend about seven thousand dollars and to close the club for about two months in order to carry the heating arrangements up to the roof.  This was disastrous for a new club, already heavily in arrears and running under heavy expenses.  I worried and worried over the situation, and suddenly one night an idea came to me:  I remembered some great porcelain stoves I had seen in Germany.  I felt that these stoves were exactly what we needed, and that we should be rescued from an embarrassing situation without much trouble or expense.  I was just leaving for Europe, so I hurried on to the manufacturers of these wonderful stoves and found, after much difficulty, a model that seemed practicable, and not too huge in proportion.  The model, unfortunately, was white with gilded garlands, far too French and magnificent for our sun-room.  I persuaded them to make two of the stoves for me in green Majolica, with garlands of soft-toned flowers, and finally we achieved just the stoves for the room.

But my troubles were not over:  When the stoves reached New York, we tried to take them up to the roof, and found them too large for the stairs.  We couldn’t have them lifted up by pulleys, because the glass walls of the roof garden and the fretwork at the top of the roof made it impossible for the men to get “purchase” for their pulleys.  Finally we persuaded a gentleman who lived next door to let us take them over the roof of his house, and the deed was accomplished.  The stoves were equal to the occasion.  They heated the roof garden perfectly, and were of great decorative value.

Encouraged by this success I purchased another porcelain stove, this time a cream-colored porcelain one, and used it in a hallway in an uptown house.  It was the one thing needed to give the hall great distinction.  Since then I have used a number of these stoves, and I wonder why our American manufacturers do not make them.  They are admirable for heating difficult rooms—­outdoor porches, and draughty halls, and rooms not heated by furnaces.  The stoves are becoming harder and harder to find, though I was fortunate enough to purchase one last year from the Marchioness of Anglesey, who was giving up her home at Versailles.  This stove was of white Majolica with little Loves in terra cotta adorning it.  The new ones are less attractive, but it would be perfectly simple to have any tile manufacturer copy an old one, given the design.

THE CHARM OF INDOOR FOUNTAINS.

Wall fountains as we know them are introduced into our modern houses for their decorative interest and for the joy they give us, the joyous sound and color of falling water.  We use them because they are beautiful and cheerful, but originally they had a most definite purpose.  They were built into the walls of the dining-halls in medieval times, and used for washing the precious plate.