Details of combined door-knob and wooden latch.
The principal thing to the surprise den, however, is the doorway. The outside of the door—that is, the side seen from the main part of the house—should be as formal as its surroundings and give no indication of what might be on the other side. If it opens from the most formal room in the house, so much the better. [Fig. 321] shows the outside of the door of the surprise den; I do not mean by this outside of the house but a doorway facing the dining-room, library, drawing-room, or parlor. [Fig. 321] shows one side of the door and [Fig. 322] the other side of the same door. In this instance one side of the door is supposed to have a bronze escutcheon and a glass knob (Figs. [315] and [316]). Of course, any other sort of a knob ([Fig. 313]) will answer our purpose, but the inside, or the surprise-den side, of the door must have
A Wooden Latch
After some experiments I discovered that this could be easily arranged by cutting a half-round piece of hardwood (F, [Fig. 312]) to fit upon the square end G of the knob (Figs. [311] and [313]) and be held in place with a small screw ([Fig. 314]). When this arrangement is made for the door and the knob put in place as it is in Figs. [315] and [316], a simple wooden latch ([Fig. 317]) with the catch K ([Fig. 319]) and the guard ([Fig. 320]) may be fastened upon the den side of the door as shown by K, L, ([Fig. 317]). When the door is latched the wooden piece F fits underneath the latch as shown by [Fig. 317.] When the knob is turned, it turns the half disk and lifts the latch H as shown in [Fig. 318]; this, of course, opens the door, and the visitor is struck with amazement upon being ushered into a pioneer backwoods log cabin, where after-dinner coffee may be served, where the gentlemen may retire to smoke their cigars, where the master of the house may retire, free from the noise of the children, to go over his accounts, write his private letters, or simply sit before the fire and rest his tired brain by watching the smoke go up the chimney.
The "surprise den." A log house inside a modern mansion.
Here also, over the open fire, fish, game, and chickens may be cooked, as our grandams and granddaddies cooked them, and quaint, old-fashioned luncheons and suppers served on earthenware or tin dishes, camp style. In truth, the surprise den possesses so many charming possibilities that it is destined to be an adjunct to almost every modern home. It can be enclosed within the walls of a city house, a suburban house, or added as a wing to a country house, but in all cases the outside of the surprise den should conform in material used and general appearance to the rest of the house so as not to betray the secret.
