ed and preserved with a true appreciation of nature. This estate
is a lesson in reclaiming and remodeling that cannot fail to be
instructive to all home builders. It goes to show that forethought and
ingenuity can create a comfortable and inviting home in the midst of
desolation, and transform an old dilapidated cottage into a charming and
picturesque abode.

CHAPTER XIII

LITTLE ORCHARD

The old farmhouse can well be copied as a type for the modern summer
home, for its lines are excellent, and its design is often so striking
that it lends itself to easy reproduction. To the house owner of to-day
it may seem a little strange that, with the trend of modern
improvements, the old houses should be used for this purpose, and the
architecture of the master builders of long ago shown preference over
that of modern architects who have given their life to this subject.

The builders and designers of old houses had to depend on their own
ideas or possibly on a few designs that were sent over in the cumbersome
ships that plied between England and the new country,--the work of Sir
Christopher Wren, one of the most celebrated architects of his day.

There are no more satisfactory details of house construction than we
find in these old houses, where fireplaces, doors, porches, and carving
show individuality. These ideas, modified and improved upon, are found
in many a twentieth-century home, lending a dignity and charm that would
otherwise be lacking.

If you are remodeling an old house and wish to change a fireplace that
is unsatisfactory or a stairway that is not artistic in design, do not
introduce modern ideas, but rather seek for an old house that is being
torn down and from it take bits that will satisfactorily fit into the
work of remodeling. It is not a hard matter to find details of this
kind, for many an old farmhouse has been neglected so long that it is
past redemption, and it is the blending of the old with the old that
does much to keep distinctive the period that you are seeking to
preserve.

Sometimes the house has been badly mutilated, often to such an extent
that its best features are disguised, and it is a serious problem to
eliminate the wrong ideas and duplicate the original. The old craftsmen
before Colonial times were apt to build houses along certain lines which
often failed to bring proper results; details varied and sometimes were
incongruous with the type of the house. The first houses were