House: Some Instructions

If you have a house you must think about it all the time as you reside in the house so it must be a home in your mind you must ask yourself (wherever you are) have I closed the front door and the back door is often forgotten not against thieves necessarily but the wind   oh   if it blows either door open   then the heat the heat you’ve carefully nurtured with layers of dry hardwood and a couple of opposing green brought in to slow the fire as well as the little pilot light in the convenient gas backup all of that care will be mocked because you have not kept the house on your mind but these may actually be among the smallest concerns   for instance the house could be settling   you may notice the thin slanting line of light above the doors   you have to think about that luckily you have been paying attention the house’s dryness can be humidified with vaporizers in each room and pots of water on the woodstove   should you leave for the movies after dinner   ask yourself have I turned down the thermometer and moved all wood paper away from the stove the fiery result of excited distraction could be too horrible to describe now we should talk especially to Northerners of the freezing of the pipe   this can often be prevented by pumping water continuously through the baseboard heating system allowing the faucet to drip drip continuously day and night   you must think about the drains separately   in fact you should have established their essential contribution to the ordinary kitchen and toilet life of the house digging these drains deep into warm earth if it hasn’t snowed by mid-December you must cover them with hay   sometimes rugs and blankets have been used   do not be troubled by their monetary value as this is a regionally appreciated emergency you may tell your friends to consider your house as their own   that is if they do not wear outdoor shoes when thumping across the gleam of their poly- urethaned floors they must bring socks or slippers to your house as well   you must think of your house when you’re in it and when you’re visiting the superior cabinets and closets of others   when you approach your house in the late afternoon in any weather   green or white   you will catch sight first of its new aluminum snow-resistant roof and the reflections in the cracked windows its need in the last twenty-five years for paint which has created a lovely design in russet pink and brown   the colors of un- intentioned neglect   you must admire the way it does not (because of someone’s excellent decision sixty years ago) stand on the high ridge deforming the green profile of the hill but rests in the modesty of late middle age under the brow of the hill with its back to the dark hemlock forest looking steadily out for miles toward the cloud refiguring meadows and mountains of the next state   coming up the road by foot or auto the house can be addressed personally House!   in the excitement of work and travel to other people’s houses with their interesting improvements we thought of you often and spoke of your coziness in winter   your courage in wind and fire   your small airy rooms in humid summer   how you nestle in spring into the leaves and flowers of the hawthorn and the sage green leaves of the Russian olive tree   House!   you were not forgotten