It has been said above that the typical Salem door is solid. Very early in the history of the Colony, with the advent of square-paned sash, the entire upper half of a door was sometimes replaced by one of these sashes. A door in the ‘House of the Seven Gables’ possesses this feature, as did the house of Lewis Hunt, which was built about 1698 and razed in 1863. To admit a little light into the tiny entries of the early houses, sometimes the two upper panels of the door were replaced by panes of glass. Top-lights--narrow windows running across just above the door--soon followed, and these again were improved upon by the introduction of the beautiful and elaborate fanlights, with their delicate leaden tracery, balanced by side-lights of similar design, which so artistically embellish the doorways of the best period of Salem architecture, and in the designing of which Samuel McIntire especially distinguished himself. The earliest Salem door, as we have seen, was fastened by means of a bar, or, if it possessed perhaps a rude wooden latch, this was operated by means of the latch-string, which by day hung outside through a hole in the door, and was drawn in at night. ‘The latch-string is out’ has become a proverbial expression denoting the spirit of hospitality. The oaken bar was followed by the huge bolt of brass or iron, this again by clumsy locks with enormous keys. The latch-string was supplanted by the quaint thumb-latch, and very late in the Colonial period glass door-knobs and bell-pulls made their appearance. Outside the door, double blinds with shutters faced on the inner side with screen cloth were commonly used. Thus the tiny stuffy entries and hallways managed to receive something of the breath of life. Too many old Salem doorways, beautiful otherwise, have been spoiled by the addition of modern ugly or inappropriate doors. It is to be hoped that a revival of the old-time Colonial taste may correct this fault. CHAPTER V OLD SALEM HOUSES AND THEIR DOORWAYS THE REBECCA NURSE HOUSE [Illustration: THE REBECCA NURSE HOUSE]