But we are astonished at the excellent appearance of the floors, for by this time the things that are good are more surprising than the things that are bad. Then it occurs to us that of course the floor would be good, for this is part of the house which is visible and helps to catch the buyer’s eye. But later, when we go up-stairs, we notice that the floors are not so fine, but are the common flat-grained boards which sliver off and catch in your shoe if you scuffle. The owner also points out the kitchen as one of the biggest fakes he has seen. It has an oak floor, and when he had bought the house he had been deeply impressed with the luxury of having an oak floor not only in the dining-room but also in the kitchen. But he is not so keen now, for with constant scrubbing the cheap varnish and filler had come off and the pores of the oak have been exposed, so that now the floor is the greatest catch-dirt ever invented, and to make matters still worse the oak had been poorly seasoned, the boards had shrunk, the cracks opened, and there is no underflooring below to prevent the dust and dirt from sifting through these cracks from the hollow space between the floor-joists. The owner says he is about to install a new floor. He also admits that the varnish which gave such a fine surface to the dining-room and living-room floors when he first saw the house was so poor, and scratched so badly, that he had to have the floors completely done over. [Illustration: THE DEFECTIVE PLASTER] Glancing around at the walls of the living-room and the dining-room we notice that the wall-paper has cracked in a number of places, pulled up, and curled away. It is extremely ugly and unkempt, and we remark about it to the owner. He says that he is completely discouraged about it, that he has tried everything to make the wall-paper stay down, but that as soon as the winter comes on, the steam-heated air on the inside and the cold air on the outside seem to draw the paper up and away, pulling the surface of the plaster with it. He has glued large pieces of paper which have curled up in this manner back into position again, but the plaster was so weak that as soon as the paper began to peel off, the top layer of plaster pulled away with the paper. In fact, examining one example of this, we observe that the paper which had sprung loose from the wall has underneath it a thin coat of plaster about a sixteenth of an inch thick, showing that the glue had fastened the paper to the plaster, but the plaster itself had given way. This type of plastered wall is the result of using cheap materials, and it is another evidence of the extremes to which contractors will go to save money and deceive the buyer.