This cottage is 10 feet high, from the sill to the plates, and may be
built of wood, with a slight frame composed of sills and plates only,
and planked up and down (vertically) and battened; or grooved and
tongued, and matched close together; or it may be framed throughout with
posts and studs, and covered with rough boards, and over these
clapboards, and lathed and plastered inside. The first mode would be the
cheapest, although not so warm and durable as the other, yet quite
comfortable when warmed by a stove. On the second plan of building,
it will cost near or quite double the amount of the first, if neatly
painted. A small brick chimney should rest upon the floor overhead, in
the side of which, at least a foot above the chamber floor, should be
inserted an earthen or iron thimble, to receive the stovepipe and guard
against fire; unless a flat stone, 14 to 16 inches square, and 2 to 4
inches thick, with a pipe-hole--which is the better plan--should rest on
the floor immediately over the pipe. This stone should be, also, the
foundation of the chimney, which should pass immediately up through the
ridge of the roof, and, for effect, in the center longitudinally, of the
house. Such position will not interfere with the location of the stove,
which may be placed in any part of the room, the pipe reaching the
chimney by one or more elbows.