cottage, for an upper kitchen and its offices, and they now live
like sensible country folks; and with their healthy, frolicksome
children, are worth the envy of all the dyspeptic, town-fed people in
existence.

A long digression, truly; but so true a story, and one so apt to our
subject can not well be omitted. But what has all this to do with
ventilation? We'll tell you. Jocelyn's house was _ventilated_ as it
should be;--for he was a methodical, thoughtful man, who planned and
built his house himself--not the mechanical work, but directed it
throughout, and saw that it was faithfully done; and that put us in mind
of the story.

To be perfect in its ventilation, every room in the house, even to the
closets, should be so arranged that a current of air _may_ pass through,
to keep it pure and dry. In living rooms, fresh air in sufficient
quantity may usually be admitted through the doors. In sleeping rooms
and closets, when doors may not be left open, one or more of the lower
panels of the door may be filled by a rolling blind, opening more or
less, at pleasure; or a square or oblong opening for that purpose, may
be left in the base board, at the floor, and covered by a wire netting.
And in all rooms, living apartments, as well as these, an opening of at
least sixty-four square inches should be made in the wall, near the
ceiling, and leading into an air flue, to pass into the garret. Such
opening may be filled by a rolling blind, or wire screen, as below, and
closed or kept open, at pleasure. Some builders prefer an air register
to be placed in the chimney, over the fireplace or stove, near the
ceiling; but the liability to annoyance, by smoke escaping through it
into the room, if not thoroughly done, is an objection to this latter
method, and the other may be made, in its construction, rather
ornamental than otherwise, in appearance. All such details as these
should be planned when the building is commenced, so that the several
flues may be provided as the building proceeds. In a stone or brick
house, a small space may be left in the walls, against which these air
registers may be required; and for inner rooms, or closets, they may
pass off into the openings of the partitions, and so up into the garret;
from which apertures of escape may be left, or made at the gables, under
the roof, or by a blind in a window.

For the admission of air to the first floor of the house, a special
opening through the walls, for that pur