r within. When Mrs. Josephine
Hartwell Shaw, of Boston, was searching for a country seat where she
could pursue her occupation away from the bustle of city life and
unmolested by chance guests, she was attracted first of all to the quiet
little town by the name of Duxbury. As she looked about for a suitable
house, she was charmed with the location of this weather-beaten old
building, and closer examination proved it well worth reclaiming, both
from an artist's point of view and from that of her own individual
requirements.

[Illustration: THREE ACRES--FRONT VIEW]

Like many of the farmhouses in eastern Massachusetts, it had that
peculiar beauty which consisted largely in its simple and
straightforward solution of the problems at hand. It was not the
creation of a master architect but of ordinary builders and craftsmen
following the traditions of their fathers, varied by the restrictions of
local material and newer requirements. It is this rugged and sturdy
simplicity that gives to it an enduring charm; it was the very lack of a
set style that gave to the remodeling of it an unfailing zest, increased
by the very difficulty of the experiment that might result in a woeful
failure or a great success. In dealing with houses such as this, it is
impossible for the architect to rely on any formula or book of rules to
direct him in a correct restoration. It requires a much deeper study and
an understanding of the problems that confronted the builder in erecting
the structure and the conditions under which he worked. It is then that
the spirit of the old house will be manifest, and its adaptation to
modern requirements will be but the thought of former years revised to
meet present needs.

[Illustration: THREE ACRES--SIDE VIEW]

There are few buildings that can claim a more sympathetic handling in
their restoration than this early, pre-Georgian farmhouse, which is
called Three Acres. The excellent line of the wide, gabled roof,
broken by a succession of outbuildings, forms an unusually attractive
picture, with the weather-stained shingles softened against a background
of oak and pine trees. The house now faces away from the main road and
fronts upon a wooded slope that falls sharply down to the shores of a
picturesque little pond. This is partly hidden by dense woods that form
a background and a windbreak for the house. Formerly the public road
went along here within a few yards of the front of the house, but it has
been aba