the comfort of it is incalculable, and the expense a
mere trifle greater than that of the bow-window alone.

In larger houses a larger space might be appropriated in this way. We
will not call it a conservatory, because that name suggests ideas of
gardeners and mysteries of culture and rare plants which bring all sorts
of care and expense in their train. We would rather call it a greenery,
a room floored with earth, with glass sides to admit the sun,--and let
it open on as many other rooms of the house as possible.

Why should not the dining-room and parlor be all winter connected by a
spot of green and flowers, with plants, mosses, and ferns for the
shadowy portions, and such simple blooms as petunias and nasturtiums
garlanding the sunny portion near the windows? If near the waterworks,
this greenery might be enlivened by the play of a fountain, whose
constant spray would give that softness to the air which is so often
burned away by the dry heat of the furnace.

* * * * *

"And do you really think, papa, that houses built in this way are a
practical result to be aimed at?" said Jennie. "To me it seems like a
dream of the Alhambra."

"Yet I happen to have seen real people in our day living in just such a
house," said I. "I could point you, this very hour, to a cottage, which
in style of building is the plainest possible, which unites many of the
best ideas of a true house. My dear, can you sketch the ground-plan of
that house we saw in Brighton?"

"Here it is," said my wife, after a few dashes with her pencil,--"an
inexpensive house, yet one of the pleasantest I ever saw."

[Illustration: _c_, China-closet. _p_, Passage. _d_, Kitchen-closet.]

"This cottage, which might, at the rate of prices before the war, have
been built for five thousand dollars, has many of the requirements which
I seek for a house. It has two stories, and a tier of very pleasant
attic-rooms, two bathing-rooms, and the water carried into each story.
The parlor and dining-room both look into a little bower, where a
fountain is ever playing into a little marble basin, and which all the
year through has its green and bloom. It is heated simply from the
furnace by a register, like any other room of the house, and requires no
more care than a delicate woman could easily give. The brightness and
cheerfulness it brings during our long, dreary winters is incredible."

* * * * *

But