WCP10

[1]

Parkstone, Dorset.

Feb^y. 22nd. 1891

My dear Will¹

At last the stairs are finished but only yesterday, as it took another whole week to finish up all the nosings & mouldings, and fittings where the old stairs were taken away & odd bits of skirting, & the balusters and handrails, till I thought it would never be done.

The whitewasher has been at work & has whitewashed your ceiling & the hall passages & kitchen,— & Charles has been here again adding the little [2] bit of tiling under the new stairs. They have put up part of the frame of the Greenhouse, but the painters are away doing some outdoor work this fine weather & so our bath room is not finished staining & varnishing, but the water seems to work all right at last & we have hot water in kitchen bath and lavatory basin.

I have moved the water heater into the Greenhouse, & have laid the pipes in the garden so that they can be emptied in winter. I have now 5 taps in the garden where I can connect the hose. [3] The ventilating pipes from the drains are now taken up to the roofs so that I hope we shall be free from smells.

The stairs are a great improvement on the old ones and to give the final touch I have ordered a handrail to be fixed to the wall so that a persons can keep their hands on all the way down. That will be put up I expect this week.

Mr. Sharpe² is a trifle better but is not out of bed yet.

One more little improvement has been done, the hearth [4] in the study has been tiled so that as soon as we shift the furniture &c. I shall get a new fender & show a nice hearth. We went to the factory at Poole & choose the pattern. They have an immense stock of all sorts — mostly ugly. That exhausts the news this week.

Your affectionate Papa | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]