[Illustration:  SNOW HAS DIGNITY, BUT IS THE HOUSE SNUG AND WARM?

Photo by Samuel H. Gottscho]

Repoint the foundations, inside and out, with a rich cement mortar to seal any cracks through which the wind might penetrate.  A late October or early November day when there is a high wind is ideal for this work.  As one goes over the inside of the foundation, the searching cold blasts will reveal the crevices that need attention.  Mark each one with a wooden splinter as fast as they are found.  When all four walls have been thoroughly inspected, the work of closing these cracks can be done as a single operation.  Except for a solid brick or stone house, inspect the point at which the sills rest on the foundation walls.  The fillet of mortar may have come loose or cracked in places.  Any such breaks should be repaired.

Before leaving the cellar notice the windows.  Does cold air leak through joints of sash and frame?  If so, make them tight with batten strips or, if very loose, calk them with oakum.  The window through which coal is delivered, of course, cannot be sealed so thoroughly as it may have to be opened now and then for additional fuel.  Weatherstripping it as well as the hatchway door is advisable.

Some houses built on side-hill sites have at least one cellar wall more exposed than the rest.  Where this condition exists, it is a real economy to cover the inside of it with insulating material.  Either special plastering or fiber-insulating board can be used, as individual conditions warrant.  At the same time any water pipe that is close to an outside wall should either be re-located or insulated, lest it freeze some day when it is abnormally cold or a high wind is blowing.  Freezing cold air blowing through a fine crack in an exterior wall acts about as does the flame of a welder’s torch, only in the reverse.  The flame cuts by melting; the cold air solidifies the water in a pipe and sometimes does it so thoroughly that a cracked pipe is the result.

From the cellar one now goes to the attic.  Are windows in place here and weather tight?  How about end walls and the under sides of roof?  If not insulated, your house can lose a quantity of heat at these points.  Remember, heat rises and, after a storm, if the snow on the roof of your house melts quicker than on those of your neighbors, it is a clear demonstration that you are wasting heat by letting it ooze through certain minute apertures.  Another way to combat this upward radiation is to pour a loose, featherlike insulating material into the space between the attic flooring and the plaster of the bedroom ceilings.  As it comes in bags prepared especially for this purpose and is very light, sometimes it is only necessary to raise a small proportion of the attic floor boards and the insulating material can be spread evenly through these openings.