The house has a sharp pointed gable and is three storeys high. The windows are provided with balconies, and a larger verandah runs along above the blue stone stoop. On each side of the rounded door embellished with iron-work are small windows supplied with trellises, as are likewise the four windows above the verandah that light the little office or “_comptoir_.” As we tap the iron knocker, a man or maid servant opens the door, and we notice that the little windows dimly divined through the creeper-shaded trellis are set in lead and supply but little light. The front hall runs on the left-hand side directly through the house, opening into a little yard that communicates with some smaller apartments and the kitchen. On the right hand side is a small apartment, called the “little _comptoir_,” the favourite room of the mother and her daughters when the housework is done, for they can see through the trellis and “watch the street.” In the hallway, a narrow staircase leads to the second floor, “the best part,” where the “show” and “guestrooms” are situated, while on the third floor are the bedrooms, and in the garret, the drying-room, mangle-room, brass and tin rooms. Here also the peat and firewood are kept. Passing up the stairway, we enter the living-room, which looks upon the front hall, and from which, when the door is open, a view of the street is obtained. This arrangement is familiar in many Dutch pictures, notably in that of _The Sick Lady_ (Plate XXXVII). The living-room is rather sombre. The white walls are partly covered with pictures, and the floor is strewn with fine sand in a pattern resembling a carpet. Three large pieces of furniture are conspicuous, two oak cupboards standing on heavy ball feet, their broad flat tops ornamented with handsome beakers and vases of porcelain; the third piece is a large _sacredaan kas_ hung with green curtains. In this the library is contained, consisting of a few books of travel, atlases, poetry by Cats, Vondel, Godewijck, Antonides, a number of religious works, commentaries on the catechism, hymn-books, the medical works of Battus and Beverwijck, and a few translated novels (for in this day there was but little Dutch fiction). In the centre of the room there stands a large and heavy oak table, with low chairs of the same, and covered with leather seats arranged symmetrically around it. In one corner of the room we note a reading-desk on which rests an enormous Bible bound in leather, with great brass mounts. The chimneypiece is enormous; if it is winter, a tremendous peat and wood fire is perpetually burning; if summer, the fireplace is ornamented with large, handsome faïence, or porcelain vases. This is the room in which the family gathers for breakfast, dinner and supper, and passes the winter evenings pleasantly enough.