“Indeed, they will not be; our windows will be arranged to be wholly uncovered whenever we need the light.  Too many windows are not so unmanageable as too many doors, and I should like one room with a whole broadside of glass; but for most rooms the fewer windows the better, provided they are broad and high.  I despise a room in which you can’t sit down without being in front of a window or walk around without running against a door, that has no large wall spaces for pictures and no room for a piano, a book-case, a cabinet or a large lounge.  A small room, that has doors or windows on all sides does not seem like a room intended for permanent occupation, but rather as a sort of outer court or vestibule belonging to something farther on.”

“I suppose the architect will claim the porches, balconies, and things of that sort, as belonging to the exterior, and design them as he pleases; but I think we have a right to insist that they shall add to our comfort.  They must be large enough to be used, they must be put where we can use them conveniently, and they must not interfere with the interior arrangements; beyond that we shall accept what the architect sets before us.”

“‘Asking no questions for conscience sake.’  How about the roof—­is that also a matter of evolution?”

“No; because the inside of the roof is of but little consequence.  It must keep out the rain and wind, snow and ice; it must be strong and economically built and have a reasonable amount of light.  The rest we shall leave to the architect.  As Uncle Harry observes, ’the material part of the house rests upon the foundation stones; its spiritual character is displayed chiefly in the roof, which may change to an unlimited extent the expression of the building it covers.’”

[Illustration:  JACK’S ARCHITECTURAL PHRENOLOGY.]

“That’s so.  Let me make the roofs for a people and I care not who builds the houses.  The roof on the house is like the hat on the man, as I can show you,” said Jack, taking a piece of charcoal from the stove and drawing on the back of the fireboard some astonishing illustrations of his theory.

“Here is the president of a big corporation who must be dignified whether he has a soul or not.  He represents the ‘renaissance.’  No nonsense about him, no sentiment, no sympathy, no anything but—­himself and his own magnificence.”

“This fellow is a brakeman—­prompt, efficient, laconic.  Same head, you see, but different hat.  He stands for the hipped roof which has one duty to do and does it.”

[Illustration:  THE HAT MAKES THE MAN.]

“Give the dignified president a smashing blow on the head and you see what he may become after an unsuccessful defalcation—­an unfortunate tramp, who has ‘seen better days.’  He is a capital illustration of the roofs called ‘French,’ that were so imposing a few years ago, and are about as agreeable in the way of landscape decoration as the tramp himself, but not half so picturesque.