map. "It looks as if the water were way, way below our house cellar, doesn't it?" 66 "Yes, it is," replied Uncle George, a good fifteen feet and here, in the spot that we have chosen for our play-house, under the cherry-tree, the ground is sandy and dry, so that I think we can be sure that we have chosen a very good spot for our play-house." "And now," said Ruth, "which way shall we have the play-house face? The big house faces west, and I think that is nice, because you can stand on the porch and watch the sunset." “I think,” suggested Mother, who had just come out to join the group on the lawn, "that it might be wise to have the entrance on the west, because that would make the kitchen face north, which would be less sunny in summer and would also give Ruth a nice, sunny bedroom in winter." W N "Now my suggestion," said Uncle George, "is that we don't make the house face directly west, but that we set it like this with the E porch facing northwest and the corners of the house pointing north, south, east and west. You see that this piece of a circle which I have drawn shows the course of the sun in winter, rising and setting a little south of the exact east and west. If the house faced directly west, you can see that Ruth's room and the bathroom would get all the sunshine in winter. The dotted lines show how, in summer, the sun rises and sets a little N S "That's funny," exclaimed Ruth. "I never thought of that before. But how can they manage it in the city? If a street runs straight north and south, or east and west, it would look awfully funny to see all the houses set with their corners to the sidewalk." "Yes," agreed Mother, "so it would. But in a number of the newer cities the streets have been purposely laid out running diagonally, so that the houses can get some sun in each room. "Well," said Paul, "I never thought it would take so much fussing to build a house. I thought you could just go ahead and dig anywhere." "Why, Paul," said Uncle George, "don't you remember how long Mr. and Mrs. Oriole took before deciding on the best place to build their nest?" "Oh, yes," cried Ruth, "they sat and chirped and talked and visited all the different trees for two whole days before they began to build at all. And finally they made the loveliest nest right here in the cherrytree. But they didn't come back this year—you can see the empty nest now." "Well," said Mother, "let's hope that your housekeeping will be luckier than the orioles' and that you can use your house for a great many years to come." THINGS TO DO Find out in what direction your house faces. Find out how many rooms in your house get the morning sun. The evening sun. Note what time the sun enters the room you are in most. Note the hour the sun leaves the room, and figure how many hours of sunshine the room gets. Which rooms in your house have the most hours of sunshine? Go down into your cellar and make a list of the ways that dampness is prevented there. Examine all of your premises to see if there is dampness anywhere. THINGS TO REMEMBER A comfortable and healthful house must be built in a healthful place. We must consider how clean and pure the air around it is, how much sunlight enters the rooms and how well drained is the ground on which it is built. Marshy places, little puddles, weed-grown and damp vacant lots nearby are homes for mosquitoes. Mosquitoes, not night air, spread malaria. No site is good which is damp. There should be no gutters or basins around a house where water can collect and stand. Dusty air, filled with street dirt, is bad. No dwelling house should be so close to the street that the air inside is always dust-laden. The ground on which the house is built must be well drained. Then water that falls on the surface of the soil will be carried away from the house and its foundations. We can find out about this from the city engineer or the State geologist. Poorly-drained ground causes damp basements. The air from such damp basements will find its way into the house, carrying with it disagreeable odors, and sometimes uncomfortable chilliness. Things stored in damp basements mold, mildew or decay, since the little living germs thrive in moist, dark places. In our latitude (Do you know what this means?) the sun in winter rises and sets a little south of east or west. Therefore we must arrange our houses so that one side does not get all the winter sun. The best placing of a house is to turn the corners towards the cardinal points. What are these? Make a diagram with a house placed so. In what direction will the street the house faces, run? Sunlight prevents germs from growing. It warms and dries the air. Therefore we need as much as possible in every room in the house. TO THINK ABOUT Examine the premises for a block around your home. Your school. Make a map of the block and put in with blue crosses the damp places. How many are there near your home? School? How many stopped-up pipes, basins, barrels, gutters with standing water? Are there mosquitoes near-by? What should be done to improve conditions? What can you do? How does the city aim to protect people from dusty air which might be blown into our stores or homes? Is your house surrounded with clean air? Examine your basement and find out if it is damp. Why do we object to damp cellars? Point to the north. Use a compass if you are not sure. How does your house face? How does your street run? Why is it hard to grow plants in north windows? Name all the disadvantages you think of from having sun cut off from your yard and house. How should a house be placed so that the rooms may all get a share of the sunshine? CHAPTER IV LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS THE weeks that followed were full of excitement and interest for the Weston family-full of hard work, too, for although Father hired a man to dig the cellar and do some of the heaviest work, there remained plenty to keep Father, Uncle George, Paul and Ruth all busy. Father had suggested that instead of a cellar they might raise the house above the ground on brick columns, with lattice work between. That," he 66 said, "will let the air blow through under the house and will keep the ground from being too damp." But Mother had insisted on a "really, truly" cellar. "While we are about it," she declared, "we |