ouse-hunting, and it was this doleful experience which made Euphemia declare that befor

mine into the advantages and disadvantages of the various m

ty boarding-house, and were entirely satisfied

he had married a widow lady with two children, and was now keeping house in a French flat in the upper part of the city. We had called upon t

as to see how people keep house in a French flat. Perhaps

e entered the vestibule, the outer door being open, and beheld, on one side of us, a row of bell-handles. Above each of

he cards. "Here's his name and this is his bell

he bell, just as if it were an ordinary front-door bell, and inst

oarder's name, and very soo

el

, and in an instant t

ht here," whispered Euphemia

girl as we entered. But

d I. "He mentioned that in his letter.

ted stairs we climbed, and

ou say the magic word, the door in the rock opens a

all like an ogre, for he was very glad to see us, and so was his wife. After we had settled down in the parlor

d," she said, "for I do so want

Euphemia called h

nnecticut, and he expects to go into a civil engineer's office in the spring. His sister is olde

en, after a pause, "And nei

I devised it myself. You can take it away with you to another house when you move. But there

e or ten rooms, of all shapes and sizes. The corners in some of the rooms were cut off and shaped up

e baker, or the kerosene-lamp maker, came each morning, he rang the bell, and called up the tube

terviews with disagreeable trades-people, none of the ordinary annoyances of hou

ould rig up attachments by which I could sit in the parlor, and by using pedals and a

here was not much space left after the other rooms had been made, it was very small; so small, indeed, that it would accommoda

them, and they were all too tall. So we had to take a short one, who is only so so. There was one big Scotch girl who

s that?"

g a hole in the partition wall at the foot

emphatically. "I would n

gh which she might have put her head into the little room on this side. A low table could have s

rightened me to death to go into that room

Baptist," inter

rder, "the plan would h

k window. "What a lovely little iron balco

ed, on account of the house being on fire. You see there is a little door in the floor of the

and go down that dreadful steep ladder ev

uld never go down bu

ak your neck the first time," and she turned away fro

uphemia to the guest-chamber, while her

ith a mysterious expression on her face. She shu

ittle-not small enough for that bed, at any rate.' 'Why, yes,' said she, 'Adele is only four years old. The bedstead is quite large enough for her.' 'And she is not here now?' I said, utterly amazed at all this. 'No,' she answered, 'she is not here now, but we try to have her with us as much as we can, and always keep her

I was sleepy, and that we could find out all about it in the morning. But Euphemia could not dismiss the s

erhaps later, when I was suddenly awakened by Euph

ave

great hurry. "What is it? What

r's child. He was quite particular to say that his wife married VERY young. Just to think of it! So s

, in the morning, proved Euphe

n our own room, Euphemia remarked that she did n

be very conven

thing let down like a table-lid, or else turned with a crank. And when I think of t

on't follow as a matt

"but I shall never

cussed the

able housekeeping, and many methods of living in what Euphemia call

at we really ought to do is to build. Then

"but to build a house,

you might join a building association. In some of those s

sociation builds houses fo

. Else why is it called

I explained to Euphemia that a dollar a week was nev

" she said; "I know h

h," I remarked, "if

t me show you. Supposing, for instance, that you want to build a house wo

heaper house than that for a

pay them until it's done, of course. Then when it's all finished, borrow two thousand dollars and give the house as security. After that you see, you h

uld build your house and wait for their money until s

ess they could be found if y

hem, when I go t

he country, and then, as Euphemia wisely said, if we liked it, we might buy it. After she had dropped her bui

d, caused me much anxious thought, was that scourge of almost all rural localities-tramps. It would be necessary for me to be away all day,-and we could not afford to keep a man,-so we

on to a village. We don't want a house with a small yard and a garden at the back. We ought to have a dear little farm, with some fields for corn, and a cow, and a barn and things of that sort. All that would be lovely. I'll tell you what we want," she cried, seiz

times to allow the consideration of places, which otherwise would have been out

so well in other respects, that we concluded that this would do. The house was small, but large enough. There were some trees around it, and a little lawn in front. There was a garden,

it? We had no horse or cow, but the pasture and barn were ready

yed bliss. We walked from room to room; we looked out on the g

but that was only a canal-boat, and could not, in

But, in many respects, it was a delightful home

might do: Let us call this place Rudder Grange-the New Rudder

pot, and the hous

a servant-a German woman; and

se I weeded and hoed, working early in the morning and when I came home in the afternoon. Euphemia tied up the rose-vines, trimmed the bushes, and with a li

ighted in an out-of-door life. She was as willing to weed in the garden as she was to cook or wash. At first I was very much pleased with this

doors entirely too much. And what she did there, as well as some of her work in the house, was

found Euphemia

at work at, nearly all this afternoon. I was upstairs se

e-and had made of them a border around my wife's flower-bed. The bones stuck up straight a few inches above the ground

look beautiful,'" said Euphemia; "they h

m off with her to her

would please me to have such a border around my bed. But she is too independent, and neglects her proper work. I will give her a week'

e things here a wh

without giving her a fair n

d determined to bear with the bon

morning, soon after I had left, the good German appeared with her bo

hemia. "You are n

at all it is goot to

y one in the house, after my putting myself

This house is very loneful. I will go to-morrow in the city to see your

hemia rushed out to tell this story. I would n

mia never forgot the ungrateful stab given her by this "ham-bone girl," as she always called her. It was her first w