beneath the broad windows. The old, wide boards of the floor were in
good condition and kept intact. The walls were plastered to the ridge,
exposing the heavy tie-beams. Along the walls under the eaves, sets of
drawers were built into the woodwork, thus obviating the necessity of
having chiffoniers or chests of drawers to consume already limited
space. The rough bricks of the chimney, which breaks slantingly through
the floor near the center of the room, are not concealed. Instead, they
form a rather decorative feature in the little apartment, and about
the four sides of the flue shelves are built which serve as a
dressing-table and a desk.

The furnishings of the whole house are delightfully simple and
suggestive of the quaint Colonial period when it was built. Tables and
chairs, pictures, mirrors, and china are interesting heirlooms that have
been handed down in the family of the owner and preserve the spirit of
the little cottage as admirably as do the various alterations which have
made it so modern and habitable.

CHAPTER IV

THE CURTIS HOUSE

The great charm of Colonial farmhouses lies in the simplicity of their
appearance. Many dilapidated, weather-beaten old buildings, long
neglected by an indifferent community, are really little masterpieces of
harmonious line and good proportion.

The style of the roof tells much about the age of the building to the
initiated, and its line is easily the most important factor in the
appearance of the house. The pitched roof is one of the oldest types and
was used long before our country was discovered. This roof slopes away
from the ridge-pole on both sides, thus forming a triangular area, the
angle at each end of which is called a gable. In the early days, the
pitch was built very steep to accommodate the thatching with which the
roof was covered. As shingles came into use, the slope gradually
flattened, and the age can be roughly judged by its angle.

The gambrel roof appeared before the eighteenth century and was
commonly used in New England farmhouses. Each side of this is made up of
two distinct pitches, which have no rule to govern their relationship. A
somewhat later development was the hipped roof, in which the gabled ends
were flattened, making four flat sides sloping from the ridge-pole. This
was used when no attic chamber was needed. In the more pretentious
Georgian houses, the top was flattened, and a wooden balustrade put
around it. These roofs are