WCP176

[1]

Broadstone, Wimborne

Oct^r. 18th. 1902

My dear Will¹

We still go on, hard at work apparently, and yet still with an endless amount of work to do — partly because of continually having to do work twice over. The very day you left I found two things — the windows in front mid. bedroom & west room only had alternate ones to open, & therefore could not be cleaned without a ladder outside. I had told Percy long ago that they must be all made to open — that was before they were glazed. Now, he said that they could not be altered without taking the glass out, or it w^d. be broken, as the nails must be punched through. So I said — have the glass taken out for they must be done. So it took 2 carpenters 2 or three days to do this. Then I & Ma² found to our horror [2] that the West window in her room did not open at all! was nailed up! Nothing but the balcony door to ventilate the room. Reason given = — "the windows cannot open much because they are above the eaves of the dormer"!! This was worse than the other. So they had to be unglazed & taken out — a cross transom put in below level of eaves, and window cut down dotted lines show alteration. [A sketch showing the window alteration is given here] 2 days more work for 2 men! A full week’s work of 2 men lost. Then the pantry door had to be taken off & hung to open outwards instead of inwards — Then I found for the first time that four panes of [3] plate glass for top lights of drawing-room had all been ordered ¾ inch too small, & were wasted — these had been measured by the painter, but the size given wrong to Percy by leaving out the ¾ inch!

Then finding no locks on the door to Study &c. Percy said they were ^{a little} too large for the cross bars of the doors, & would they do? He had forgotten they required smaller ones. [A sketch of the lock with the markings "a" and "b" is given here] The lock goes in this leaving only ¼ inch between top and bottom of the transom (a) and (b.) He said they would do — though it might weaken the door a little. So we had them put in! [4] Then, having bills of about £.120 this month besides about £.25 owing to Clark, & being thus nearly bankrupt I determined we must have no more wood bought except absolutely necessary, & therefore must use up the wood in the shed workshop — about 1000 feet of good ¾ in boards, and several hundred feet run of good 4x2 & 3x2 timber. During a storm this had leaked so through the roof that Percy & mate could not work there & had moved into the Dining room to make the Bathed tops of Teak. So I told him he could stay there & finish the work, as the door to the balcony ^verandah was convenient detaching it from house. The shed will be pulled down next week (partly) & the boards &c. used for shelves, not one of which are yet up, & so we can put away nothing. But on [5] (5) Friday at last, having had the room cleared ^{& cleaned} on Wednesday ^Tuesday by Kerley, & sized on Wednesday — the floor stained round on Thursday — we got the bookcases all in place in the Study, properly fixed up & patched by help of the Carpenter, and unpacked some of the books, & this morning, emptied all the packing cases of books, had them taken into the Cellar, and packed away & partly arranged the books; and they will look very nicely when we get them finally arranged. We also today got the Piano moved temporarily into my bedroom as being the warmest ^{& driest} room in the house, and the rest of the furniture in the dining room taken upstairs, — but there are still 3 huge crates there, 3 more in the kitchen, 3 in my bedroom, and one or 2 in coal-cellar but it is hopeless to begin to unpack there till shelves are up every where. [6] The drains & rain-water pipe, being now in I am beginning to put arrange the levels of the back yard so as to carry away surface-water and this is rather difficult. In order to build up the retaining wall of Verandah (the backing) and the shed at back of greenhouse with the partition between heating-stove & cellar we have had 1000 more common bricks, & a load of lime & sand. In the hollow behind the furze hedge where the overflow of rain water is carried we have found about a foot thick of very fair peat which is all being cleared out to form soil for trees, shrubs, &c. & then putting some of the clay into it and a little [7] surface peat it will make an excellent rough bog-bed. The 80 sheep having now been here 3 weeks, have eaten pretty nearly all the grass & nibbled a few of the shrubs, and pulled up some of the bulbs, they are not coming any more, and I do not think I shall have such a lot again.

The cattle & horses in the top field have begun to put their heads through the wire fence and nibble the privet &c. so we shall have to use the sheep wire to protect against them.

I find we have 4 or 5 apple trees of the same sort as those you gathered. We finished those on your tree & another above it, & they were so good in puddings and pies that I sent two to "The Garden" to be named. They are [8] the "Manx Codlin’", and they are almost as good as the very best cooking apples. The tree at the very top of the orchard above the cesspool, is a very green apple we have not tried yet — named "Northern Greening" — also said in the Lists to be a very good apple — so I shall give these a little manure in the winter and spring & we have a good crop next year.

Percy has begun the front door & frames of "massive teak" — & I think it will be rather fine in appearance and very heavy & strong looking.

The Parrot has recovered its health & has taken to talking. To day it went on for nearly half an hour in a very gruff harsh voice exactly like a "bosun" slanging a cabin-boy or sailor. We could only make out a word here & there, but it was very life-like & expressive.

Your affectionate Pa | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]