Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: M CHAPTER VI A WHITE-PANELED DINING-ROOM EANWHILE, the days and the weeks were passing; for such work must needs be slow, done as we were doing it. And, too, there were the demands of one's regular occupation; it was far from being a case of having nothing to do but to plan and supervise and change. And there were the general demands upon time that come from daily care of a home and grounds; there were the daily matters of the household; there was the garden; and always, besides the particular room definitely in hand, there was more or less of matters regarding other parts of the house, and at all times a considerable amount of work with lawn and shrubs and general out- of-doors. And there were the usual amenities of life: for we saw that we were to be quite a while in completing the house and there seemed to be no good reason why we should meanwhile consider ourselves shut out of the zone of friendliness. It was neither deterrent, restraining, nor cause for regret, that it was really hard work for us and that there was considerable inconvenience involved, for the gradual attaining of results and the glowing promise of still further results were fully compensatory. Although many changes were made, and, in some of the rooms, extensive changes, it was never for the mere sake of changing, never from a belief that a change is good from the mere fact of being a change. If a room or a house is just right it ought to remain as it is; and in the case of such a room or such a house there would be ample scope for the expression of the home- maker's individuality in decoration and furniture. But as a matter of fact it is incredible that any house should in every respect conform to the ideas, desires, standards, of any one who is accustomed to think and plan and judge for himse...