rangement perhaps more than any other house which has been built. I have since advised all my friends to engage a good architect even if they contemplate building only a woodshed or a dog kennel.
We were not easily satisfied with our plans; like all builders with limited means, we wanted a large number of big rooms within a limited floor space, and we wanted everything on the first floor. When everything had been adjusted to our satisfaction so far as this was possible we submitted the plans to contractors for bids. If any architect has ever submitted plans to a contractor and had the bids come within the original estimate I should like to have the name and address of both. At any rate the bids on our house ran two thousand dollars beyond anything which we had in our wildest moments considered. We had to cut, and we did it generously, and then let the contract. In round numbers the total cost of the house including lighting fixtures, walks, and everything necessary to its completion was twenty-one thousand dollars. It will be remembered that the amount of money we had borrowed was fifteen thousand dollars and this left six thousand dollars unprovided for. We had during the interim since our house notes were first issued saved two thousand five hundred dollars from this source, and the re-
