[Illustration:  A REASONABLE HOPE.]

“I suppose you would object to iron girders with brick arches between them on account of their cost, but I hope to see rolled iron beams for brick dwelling-houses so cheaply made that they will be commonly used instead of wood.  Such iron ribs, with the brick arches or other masonry between them, might well form the finish of the ceilings, and if we were accustomed to see them, our frail lath and plaster would seem stale, flat and combustible in comparison.  The usual mode of making floors of thin joists set edgewise, from one to two feet apart, with one or two thicknesses of inch boards on the top to walk upon, and lathing underneath to hold the plastering, is perhaps the most economical use of materials.  A more satisfactory construction would be to use larger beams two or three times as far apart, laying thicker planks upon them and dispensing with plastering altogether, or perhaps applying it between the timbers directly to the under-side of the planks, leaving the beams themselves in sight.  If the floor is double the planks or boards lying directly upon the joists may be of common, coarse stock, hemlock or spruce, upon which must be laid another thickness of finished boards.  It is for you to say whether the finished upper floor shall be of common, cheap stock, to be always covered by carpets, or of some harder wood carefully polished and not concealed at all, except by occasional rugs.’”

“Oh, I do hope she will have rugs!” Bessie’s remarks were semi-asides addressed chiefly to Jim.  “There’s nothing so lovely as these oriental rugs.  Kitty Kane had an exquisite one among her wedding presents, and when her house was built the parlor was made to fit the rug.  It makes it rather long and narrow, but the rug is too lovely.”

“’It is also for you to say whether the finished floor, if you have no carpets, shall consist simply of plain narrow boards or be more expensively laid in parquetry designs.  In the latter case I shall claim the privilege of choosing the pattern.’”

“Why should he trouble himself about the pattern of the wood floors any more than he would about the style of the carpets?”

“He would probably say, because the floors are a part of the house for which he is making the plans and will last as long as the house itself, while the carpets are subject to changing fashions and will soon return to their original dust.  But he may attempt to dictate in regard to carpets if we give him a chance.”

[Illustration:  FLOORS AS THEY ARE.]

[Illustration:  FLOORS AS THEY MIGHT BE.]

“Undoubtedly—­to the extent of pitching them out of the window.”