course of neighboring streams and the location of springs may suggest valuable information. The slope of the land should be from the house. Extra precaution must be taken when it becomes necessary to build at the foot of a hill which is covered with houses from which the surface water and under-ground drainage flow toward the home. The location of neighbors' out-houses, with reference to the proposed home, should also be taken into consideration. While an intelligent man will not neglect the sanitary condition of his own premises, his neighbor's cesspool or privy vault may drain into his well and poison his drinking-water. Have the house upon a place high enough, and as dry as possible. Avoid, whenever practicable, narrow streets, which are devoid of sufficient sunlight and pure air. The width of the street should be twice the height of the houses along it, and no street, even in the business centres of cities, should be narrower than the height of the houses. In many of the older cities, however, the streets are narrower than this.

The best soils upon which to build are gravel, marl and limestone; for in these the drainage is likely to be better than in others.

A due amount of shade around the home renders it more healthy, but the shade should not be dense enough or close enough to the house to obstruct the air and light.

THE CELLAR.

Every dwelling-house, even that which has but one room in it, should either have a cellar, or should be raised sufficiently high from the ground to allow a free supply of air under it. The walls of the cellar should be perfectly water and air tight. It is better, in making the excavation, to remove the earth a foot, on all sides, further than the line on which the outside of the wall will stand; then, after the walls have been built, pack the space with clay or gravel. In this way the walls of the cellar are more likely to be

kept dry. If built of brick the walls should be hollow, consisting of a thin outer wall two or three inches from the main wall. The two are firmly held together by occasionally placing a brick across from one to the other as the walls are being built. Unless this is done, moisture will pass through a brick wall, it matters not how thick it may be.

The cellar floor should be of concrete, about six inches thick, and covered with Portland cement or asphalt. If the soil be very damp,

tiling should be placed under the cellar floor, and carried out beneath the wall to a larger tile which passes around the house and leads off into some suitable receptacle.

It is absolutely essential to a healthy house, that its cellar should be free from dampness and ground air. In order to secure these requisites, the walls and floor of the cellar must be well built, even if it becomes necessary, on account of increased cost, to deprive the superstructure of some of its ornamentation

The cellar should be well supplied with light by having windows above ground, or by sunken areas in front of the windows. The window-sashes should be hung on hinges, so that they may be easily opened when the cellar needs an airing.

If the cellar is to be used for several purposes, as the location of the heating apparatus and the storage of fuel and vegetables, it should be divided into compartments, the temperature of which may be kept at different degrees.

Basement bed-rooms are almost universally unhealthy, and should be used only in cases of absolute necessity. It is also best not to have the kitchen in the basement, especially if the room directly above be occupied. If stationary wash-tubs be placed in the basement, they should have a metallic or porcelain lining, and the pipes which conduct the refuse water from them should be thoroughly trapped.

THE WALLS.

If built of brick the walls of the house should be hollow, as described in referring to the walls of the cellar. Furthermore, the plastering should never be placed directly on the brick. The inside of the wall should be "furred," scantling nailed to the furring, and the lathing done as in a frame house. It has been found that a single brick will absorb as much as one pound of water; and if a brick wall be built solid and the plastering placed directly on the brick, the house will be constantly damp. Many of the older brick houses are constructed in this manner, and consequently their interiors always have a damp, musty oder, it matters not how untiring the housekeeper may be in her efforts to have everything sweet and clean.

Even in case of a stone wall, the plastering should not be placed -directly on the wall; though stone does not absorb water to any such extent as brick does.

New brick and stone walls are necessarily damp, and for this reason houses built of either should not be occupied until some weeks after the building of the walls. In order for them to dry thoroughly they must be pervious to air; and walls built as recommended above will allow the air to pass through them freely. Plastering does not prevent the air from passing through the walls, but papering does. However, as papering is the most economical way in which walls can be decorated, it will long continue in use. Wall papers containing arsenical colors have been, and are still to some extent, used. Rooms decorated with such papers are not suitable for living apartments. It is generally supposed that only the green colors contain arsenic, but, in truth, it may be present in paper of any color. The only way, then, by which they may be avoided is by having the selected samples tested. Any intelligent drüggist or chemist will make the analysis for a small fee, which should be at the expense of the paper-dealer.

A nice way of finishing inside walls is to paint and then varnish them. The varnish prevents the rubbing off of the paint, and places the walls in such a condition that they may be washed whenever desirable.

THE FLOORS.

Floors should be made tight, so that they may be thoroughly scrubbed with soap and water occasionally. The best floor, from a sanitary view, is one of hard wood, planed smooth and oiled. It is far better to have a clean, bare floor, than one covered with a filthy carpet. However, where carpets are kept clean, and are occasionally taken up and the floor scrubbed, there is no objection to their use; and it must be admitted that a clean carpet adds much to the comfort of a room. A cheap straw matting is now made, which can be washed when necessary, and it will not retain dust and filth to the extent that woolen carpets do. Such a covering is especially suitable for dining-rooms.

ARRANGEMENT OF ROOMS.

The living-rooms should be on the sunny, airy side of the house. Human beings as well as plants demand sunlight. Too frequently the good housewife shuts out the sunlight for fear that it will fade the carpet. As some one has said, "It is far better to have faded carpets than to have faded cheeks." A little saving in the color of

the carpet is poor economy when it is secured at the cost of health. Especially should the room occupied by the women and children, who are indoors much of the time, be well supplied with light. If there is to be a long, dark ball or passage-way in the house, let it be on the side upon which the least sunlight falls, and place the living rooms on the other side.

It is, unfortunately, the fashion to make bed-rooms small in order to have a large sitting-room. Too often the bed-room is a mere recess scantily supplied with fresh air. It is better to have a smaller sitting-room and a larger bed-room. Even farmers often suffer from diseases which are due to an insufficient supply of pure air. This arises from the fact that for six or seven hours out of every twenty-four they are shut up in small, tight, musty bed-rooms, and are compelled to rebreathe the air which they have already once breathed.

As has been said in discussing the cellar, basement bed-rooms are always poorly supplied with fresh air, and are generally damp and musty. They should be used only in cases of absolute necessity. Attic bed-rooms are cold in winter and hot in summer, and their use also can be excused only on the question of dire necessity.

If the owner of the house can afford it, at least one bed-room should contain a grate or fire-place,-for, with every attention to the laws of health, there will come times when some member of the family will be sick; and the sick room should be full of cheer. The open fire is cheerful, and serves as an excellent ventilator. Pleasant surroundings often aid the doctor's pills and potions in restoring the patient to health.

Of course the number and exact arrangement of the rooms will depend upon the purse of the owner; but a cottage may be built so as to be as healthy as a palace,-and indeed the advantage is often in favor of the former, as the more complicated finishings and elaborate furnishing of the latter may serve as harbors for dust and filth.

Space may often be saved by doing away with the conventional long, dark hall, and by having the stairs go up from a sitting-room, or from a smaller vestibule. The long halls are often cold, dark and dreary. In winter they are filled with cold draughts, and in summer they are receptacles of refuse of various kinds, and at all times they are cheerless. They may be necessary in certain houses, but in small homes they are neither ornamental nor pleasant.

It is the ambition of most American housewives to have a parlor, in which the most valuable household ornaments are placed, and which opens only when some honored guest comes. The small boys of the family look upon it as forbidden territory, and too frequently both fresh air and sunlight are regarded as intruders, and are shut out. The exclusion of the small boy may be all right, but the air and sunlight should not be treated with so much discourtesy. Indeed, they should be consided the most honored guest, and should be welcomed even to a place in the parlor.

Probably the most important room in the house is the kitchen. Before you praise the housekeeping of any woman, visit her kitchen. The parlor may be a beauty, the bed linen may be spotless, the table may be covered with decorated china, but if the kitchen be filthy, all is in vain. But in order that the kitchen may be kept in good condition, its construction must be proper. The floor is best of hard wood or yellow pine; or, if these are too expensive, of selected white pine. They should be kept bare.

At least two windows, one on each side, are desirable. A pantry or shelves for setting aside clean cooking utensils and dishes should be at hand. If the cellar be used for the storage of vegetables, an inside stairway from the kitchen or pantry should lead down into it. The flour-box in the pantry should be so hung that it will close itself. It adds much to the comfort of the cook, and to the cleanliness of the walls and ceiling of the room, if the stove or range be covered by a hood which conducts the vapors arising from the cooking food into a flue in the chimney.

If the owner can possibly afford it, the house should contain a bath-room. In the absence of public water supply, a force-pump. below, a cold-water tank in the attic, and a hot-water tank attached to the kitchen range will furnish the bath-tub. The room should be heated either directly or from another room, otherwise it would not be used much in cold weather. The cost of the bath-room and its supply need not be great, while the pleasure and benefit derived from its use will be appreciated.

THE WINDOWS.

The importance of an abundant supply of sunlight has already been insisted upon. If possible, every room should have direct light, and not be dependent upon that which is diffused through an adjoining room. The location of the windows should be such as to