avoidance can scarcely be made complete.



PROTECTION

A very useful light may be provided for the veranda, just outside the
door, illuminating the front steps and path to the sidewalk. This
light may be turned off and on by a switch key inside the door. It is
particularly comforting when some stranger rings the doorbell late at
night and one does not feel overpleased to be called upon to open the
door to an invisible person. Other switch arrangements make it
possible to turn on the upper hall lights from below, or the lower hall
lights from above, and the lights in each room from the hall. When
there are unseemly noises downstairs in the wee sma' hours it is much
more agreeable to gaze over the balustrade into a bright hall than to
go prowling about in the darkness for the bulb or gas jet, with the
chance of grasping a burglar instead. Some burglars are very sensitive
about familiarities on the part of strangers, and it is always better
to permit them to depart in a good humor. The basement lighting, too,
should be regulated from above, and the dark corners should be well
looked after. At best, the basement is a breeder of trouble. If the
light is in the center, and must be turned off at the bulb, the return
to the stairway from the nocturnal visit to the furnace is likely to be
productive of bruised shins and objurgative English; if the light
operates from above, one either forgets to turn it off and leaves it to
burn all night, or becomes uncertain about it just as he is beginning
to doze off, necessitating a scramble downstairs to make sure. Perhaps
it would be well to have a choice of systems.