Figure 1.-- Not uncommonly a fire is maintained in a large fireplace in the main hall or popular room. Some of the fire places are real pieces of art in their own right. Often the fire places become popular gathering points at various times of the day. |
Many of these stately old houses are not well suited for use as schools in a structly phsical sence. But many provide a much more comfortable atmosphere than the more sterile felling of many purpose-built facilities. The large, poorly insulated rooms generally prove uncomfortable and expensive to heat during the winter. Heating can be a major problem at some of the schools. Fuel costs have greatly increased the cost of these often poorly insulated structures. Not uncommonly a fire is maintained in a large fireplace in the main hall or popular room. Some of the fire places are real pieces of art in their own right. Often the fire places become popular gathering points at various times of the day. At one school a beautiful old fire place was popular for the boys to play board games before bed time. Here the fire place was not just a source of warmth, but really provided a homey, comfortable atmodphere. Rooms in these stately old homes often do not make for ideal classrooms. One can imagine how daunting some of these old houses must have been for wide eyed 7 and 8 year old children finding themselves away from home for the first time and bewildered by the huge rooms and maze of halls and cubbyholes in these houses
