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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Home, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Complete Home
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Clara E. Laughlin
+
+Release Date: September 4, 2005 [EBook #16650]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMPLETE HOME ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: A $3,400 House.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The COMPLETE HOME
+
+
+
+EDITED BY
+
+CLARA E. LAUGHLIN
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
+
+NEW YORK
+
+1907
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1906, by
+
+D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+_Published November, 1906_
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+CHOOSING A PLACE TO LIVE
+
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+
+Taste and expedience--Responsibilities--Renting, buying or
+building--Location--City or country--Renunciations--Schools and
+churches--Transportation--The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick
+maker--The home acre--Comparative cost in renting--The location
+sense--Size of lot--Position--Outlook and inlook--Trees--Income and
+expenditure--Style--Size--Plans for building--Necessary rooms--The sick
+room--Room to entertain--The "living room"--The dining room and
+kitchen--The sleeping rooms--Thinking it out
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+FLOORS, WALLS, AND WINDOWS
+
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+
+The necessity of good floors--Material and cost of laying--Ornamental
+flooring--Waxed, varnished, and oiled floors--Carpets, linoleum, and
+mats--The stairway--Rugs--Oriental rugs--Kitchen and upper
+floors--Matting and cardoman cloth--Uses of the decorator--Wood in
+decoration--Panels and plaster--The beamed ceiling--Paint, paper, and
+calcimine--Shades and curtains--Leaded panes and casements--Storm windows
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+LIGHTING AND HEATING
+
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+
+Necessity of sunlight--Kerosene--Gas and matches--Electric
+light--Pleasing arrangement--Adaptability--Protection--Regulated
+light--The two sure ways of heating--The hot-air furnace--Direction of
+heat--Registers--Hot water and steam heat--Indirect heating--Summary
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+FURNITURE
+
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+
+The quest of the beautiful--Ancient designs--The Arts and Crafts--Mission
+furniture--Comfort, aesthetic and physical--Older models in
+furniture--Mahogany and oak--Substantiality--Superfluity--Hall
+furniture--The family chairs--The table--The
+davenport--Bookcases--Sundries--Willow furniture--The dining
+table--Discrimination in choice
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HOUSEHOLD LINEN
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+Linen, past and present--Bleached and
+"half-bleached"--Damask--Quality--Design--Price and size--Necessary
+supply--Plain, hemstitched, or drawn--Doilies and table
+dressing--Centerpieces--Monograms--Care of table linen--How to
+launder--Table pads--Ready-made bed linen--Price and quality--Real
+linen--Suggestions about towels
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE KITCHEN
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+The plan--Location and finish--The floor--The windows--The sink--The
+pantry--Insects and their extermination--The refrigerator and its
+care--Furnishing the kitchen--The stove--The table and its care--The
+chairs--The kitchen cabinet--Kitchen utensils
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE LAUNDRY
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+Laundry requisites--The stove and furnishings--Irons and
+holders--Preparing the "wash"--Removing stains--Soaking and
+washing--Washing powders and soap--Washing woolens--Washing the white
+clothes--Starch--Colored clothes--Stockings--Dainty laundering--How to
+wash silk--Washing blankets--Washing curtains--Tidying up and
+sprinkling--Care of irons--How to iron
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+TABLE FURNISHINGS
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+Dining-room cheer--Stocking the china-cupboard--The groundwork--Course
+sets--Odd pieces--Silver and plate--Glass--Arrangement--Duties of the
+waitress--The breakfast table--Luncheon--Dinner--The formal dinner--The
+formal luncheon--Washing glass--Washing and cleaning silver--How to wash
+china--Care of knives
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE BEDROOM
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+Light and air--Carpets versus rugs--Mattings--Wall covering--Bedroom
+woodwork--Bedroom draperies--Bedroom furnishing--Careful
+selection--Toilet and dressing tables--Further comforts--The
+bedstead--Spring, mattress, and pillows--Bed decoration--Simplicity--Care
+of bedroom and bed--Vermin and their extermination
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE BATH ROOM
+
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+
+Plumbing--Bath room location and furnishing--The tub--The lavatory--The
+closet--Hot water and how to get it--Bath room fittings
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+CELLAR, ATTIC, AND CLOSETS
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+The cellar floor--Ventilation--The partitioned cellar--Order in the
+cellar--Shelves and closets--The attic--Order and care of
+attic--Closets--The linen closet--Clothes closets--The china
+closet--Closet tightness--Closet furnishings--Care of closets and contents
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HANGINGS, BRIC-A-BRAC, BOOKS, AND PICTURES
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+The charm of drapery--Curtains--Portières--Bric-a-brac--The growth of
+good taste--Usefulness with beauty--Considerations in
+buying--Books--Their selection--Sets--Binding--Paper--Pictures--Art
+sense--The influence of pictures--Oil paintings--Engravings and
+photographs--Suitability of subjects--Hanging of pictures
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE NICE MACHINERY OF HOUSEKEEPING
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+Monday--Tuesday--Wednesday--Thursday--Friday--Saturday--House
+cleaning--Preparation--Cleaning draperies, rugs, carpets--Cleaning
+mattings and woodwork--Cleaning beds
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+HIRED HELP
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+The general housemaid--How to select a maid--Questions and
+answers--Agreements--The maid's leisure time--Dress and personal
+neatness--Carelessness--The maid's room--How to train a maid--The daily
+routine--Duties of cook and nurse--Servant's company
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+A $3,400 House. . . . . . . . Frontispiece
+
+A Unique Arrangement of the Porch
+
+A Homelike Living Room
+
+An Attractive and Inexpensive Hall
+
+An Artistic Staircase Hall
+
+An Oriental Rug of Good Design: Shirvan
+
+Good Examples of Chippendale and Old Walnut
+
+A Chippendale Secretary
+
+The Dining Room
+
+The Kitchen
+
+The Laundry
+
+Wedgwood Pottery, and Silver of Antique Design
+
+A Collection of Eighteenth-century Cut Glass
+
+The Bedroom
+
+The Bathroom
+
+The Drawing-room
+
+
+
+
+THE COMPLETE HOME
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+CHOOSING A PLACE TO LIVE
+
+Blessed indeed are they who are free to choose where and how they shall
+live.  Still more blessed are they who give abundant thought to their
+choice, for they may not wear the sackcloth of discomfort nor scatter
+the ashes of burned money.
+
+
+
+TASTE AND EXPEDIENCE
+
+Most of us have a theory of what the home should be, but it is stowed
+away with the wedding gifts of fine linen that are cherished for our
+permanent abode.  We believe in harmony of surroundings, but after
+living, within a period of ten years or so, in seven different
+apartments with seven different arrangements of rooms and seven
+different schemes of decoration, we lose interest in suiting one thing
+to another.  Harmony comes to mean simply good terms with the janitor.
+Or if (being beginners) we have some such prospect of nomadic living
+facing us, and we are at all knowing, we realize the utter helplessness
+of demonstrating our good taste, purchase any bits of furniture that a
+vagrant fancy may fasten upon, and give space to whatever gimcracks our
+friends may foist upon us, trusting that in the whirligig of removals
+the plush rocker, the mission table, and the brass parlor stand may
+each find itself in harmony with something else at one time or another.
+Some day we shall be freed from the tyranny of these conditions and
+then----!
+
+
+
+RESPONSIBILITIES
+
+But when the time comes to declare our independence of landlord and
+janitor, or at least to exchange existence in a flat for life in a
+rented cottage, we find that freedom brings some perplexing
+responsibilities as well as its blessings.  Even if our hopes do not
+soar higher than the rented house, there is at least the desire for a
+reasonable permanency, and we have no longer the excuse of custom-bred
+transitoriness to plead for our lack of plan.  Where the home is to be
+purchased for our very own the test of our individuality becomes more
+exacting.  A house has character, and some of the standards that apply
+to companionship apply to it.  In fact, we live with it, as well as in
+it.  And if we have a saving conscience as to the immeasurability of
+home by money standards we are not to be tempted by the veriest bargain
+of a house that does not nearly represent our ideals.  To blunder here
+is to topple over our whole Castle of Hope.
+
+
+
+RENTING, BUYING OR BUILDING
+
+But the test is most severe of all when good fortune permits us to
+choose locality, site, and building plans, and to finish and furnish
+the house to suit our tastes, even though less in accordance with our
+full desires than with our modest means.  Now we may bring out our
+theory of living from its snug resting place.  It will need some
+furbishing up, maybe, to meet modern conditions, but never mind!
+
+Whether we mean to rent, to buy, or to build, the problem of where and
+what and how is before us.  As folk of wholesome desires, we insist
+first of all upon good taste, comfort, and healthfulness in our
+habitats; and since we may agree upon the best way to attain these
+essentials without ignoring our personal preferences in details, we may
+profitably take counsel together as to what the new home should be.
+
+
+
+LOCATION
+
+Thought of a location should begin with the birth of the home idea,
+even if the purchase-money be not immediately available.  We should not
+only take sufficient time to study conditions and scheme carefully for
+the home, but must sagaciously bear in mind that where real estate is
+in active demand anxiety to purchase stiffens prices.  To bide one's
+time may mean a considerable saving.  However, life, as we plan now to
+live it, is short enough at most, and we should not cheat ourselves out
+of too much immediate happiness by waiting for the money-saving
+opportunity.
+
+The question of neighborhood, if we decide to remain within city
+limits, is a difficult one.  In most of the larger places no one can
+accurately foretell the future of even the most attractive residence
+district.  Factories and business houses may not obtrude, but flats are
+almost sure to come.  Few cottages are being constructed in cities,
+partly because of lack of demand, but principally because they do not
+pay sufficient income on the investment.  Consequently the houses that
+are to be had are seldom modern.  Sometimes they pass into the hands of
+careless tenants and the neighborhood soon shows deterioration.  Still,
+if we are determined to remain in the city and take our chances, it is
+possible by careful investigation to discover congenial surroundings.
+Many of the essential tests of the suburban home that we shall discuss
+hereafter will apply also to the house in a strictly residence district
+of a large city; practically all of them to the house in a smaller town.
+
+
+
+CITY OR COUNTRY
+
+The chances are, however, that we shall choose the suburb.  But before
+we desert J 72, or whatever our shelf in the apartment building may be,
+we may well remind ourselves that we are also to desert some of the
+things that have made city life enjoyable.  For one thing, with all our
+growling at the landlord, we have been able to cast upon him many
+burdens that we are now to take upon ourselves.  Some of our sarcasms
+are quite certain to come home to roost.  The details of purchasing
+fuel, of maintaining heat, of making repairs, are now to come under our
+jurisdiction, and we shall see whether we manage these duties better
+than the man who is paid a lump sum to assume them.
+
+
+
+RENUNCIATIONS
+
+Living in a flat, or even in a city house, we do not know, nor care to
+know, who the people above or next door to us may be; and they are in
+precisely the same position with regard to us.  Mere adjacency gives us
+no claim upon their acquaintance, nor does it put us at the mercy of
+their insistence.  Our calling list is not governed by locality, and we
+can cut it as we wish without embarrassment.  Choice is not so easy in
+the suburb.  There, willynilly, we must know our neighbors and be known
+by them.  Fortunately, in most instances they will be found to be of
+the right sort, if not fully congenial.
+
+The theater, too, must become rather a red-letter diversion than a
+regular feature of our existence, if it has been so.  Whatever
+enthusiasm we may possess for the opera, an occasional visit, with its
+midnight return, will soon come to satisfy us.  Our pet lectures, club
+life, participation in public affairs, frequent mail delivery,
+convenience of shopping, two-minute car service, and freedom from time
+tables--these suggest what we have to put behind us when we pass the
+city gates.
+
+It is also the part of wisdom not to forget that, though the country is
+alive with delights for us when all nature is garbed in green and the
+songbirds carol in the elms and maples, there cometh a time--if we are
+of the north--when fur caps are in season, the coal scoop is in every
+man's hand, the snow shovel splintereth, and the lawn mower is at rest.
+Then it is that our allegiance to country life will be strained, if
+ever--particularly if we have provided ourselves with a ten-minute walk
+to the station.  Wading through snow against a winter wind, we see the
+"agreeable constitutional" of the milder days in a different light.
+
+We should think of all these things, and of some sacrifices purely
+personal.  It is better to think now than after the moving man's bill
+has come in.  Reason as we may, regrets will come, perhaps loneliness.
+But the compensations, if we have chosen wisely, will be increasingly
+apparent, and we shall be the very exceptions of exceptions if, before
+the second summer has passed, we are not wedded beyond divorce to the
+new home.
+
+Once determined upon forswearing urban residence, a multitude of
+considerations arise.  First of these is "Which place?"  Our suburban
+towns have been developed in two ways.  Some are "made to order," while
+others were originally rural villages but have come under metropolitan
+influence.  Living in the latter is likely to be less expensive, and
+local life may have more of a distinctive character; but the husk of
+the past is almost certain to be evident in the mixture of old and
+modern houses and in a certain offish separation of the native and
+incoming elements.  The "made-to-order" town is likely to exhibit
+better streets and sidewalks, to be more capably cared for, to be freer
+from shanties, and to possess no saloons.  Land and living may demand
+greater expenditure, but they will be worth the difference.
+
+
+
+SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES
+
+With ninety-nine out of a hundred families the deciding argument in
+favor of going to the suburb has just got into short dresses and begun
+to say "Da-da."  Already we see pointings to the childish activities
+that we would not check.  No one who stops to think about it chooses to
+have his children play in the city streets or be confined to a flat
+during the open months.  For the children's sake, if not for our own,
+we turn to the country, and one of our first thoughts is for the
+children's school.
+
+I called on a young business acquaintance recently and found him
+engrossed in examining a pile of college catalogues.  "Going in for a
+post-grad?" I inquired.  "Why, haven't you heard?" he responded.  "It's
+a boy--week ago Saturday.  Er--would you say Yale or Harvard?"
+
+This was preparedness with a vengeance, to be sure; but almost before
+we realize that infancy is past, the boy and girl will be ready for
+school, and it is important to know that the right school will be ready
+for them.  Happily, the suburban school is usually of special
+excellence, and the chief thought must be of distance and whether the
+children will need to cross dangerous railroad tracks.
+
+We shall, of course, wish to be where there are strong churches, with a
+society of our chosen denomination, if possible.  It may be that the
+social life which has its center there will provide all the relaxation
+we require; if we seek outside circles, it is desirable to know whether
+we are likely to please and be pleased.  Always there is the suburban
+club; but not always is the suburban club representative of the really
+best people of the town.
+
+
+
+TRANSPORTATION
+
+On the practical side a question of large importance is that of
+transportation.  The fast trains may make the run in twenty minutes,
+but we shall not always catch the fast trains, and the others may take
+forty.  Morning and evening they should be so frequent that we need not
+lose a whole hour on a "miss."  In stormy weather we must find shelter
+in the station, comfortable or uncomfortable.  On the husband's monthly
+ticket the rides may cost only a dime; when the wife and her visiting
+friends go to the matinée each punch counts for a quarter, and four
+quarters make a dollar.  To the time of the train must be added the
+walk or ride from the downtown station to the office, and the return
+walk from the home station.  A near-by electric line for emergencies
+may sometimes save an appointment.  None of these things alone will
+probably give pause to our plans, but all will weigh in our general
+satisfaction or disagreement with suburban life.
+
+
+
+THE BUTCHER, THE BAKER, AND THE CANDLE-STICK MAKER
+
+Not every suburb is blessed with a perfectly healthful water supply.
+We must make sure of that.  We want to find stores and markets
+sufficient to our smaller needs, at least, and to be within city
+delivery bounds, so that the man of the house shall not be required to
+make of himself a beast of burden.  We hope, if we must employ a cook,
+that the milkman, iceman, and grocery boy will prove acceptable to her,
+for the policeman is sure to be a dignified native of family.  We want
+the telephone without a prohibitive toll, electric light and gas of
+good quality at reasonable rates, streets paved and well cared for,
+sidewalks of cement, reasonable fire and police protection, a
+progressive community spirit, and a reputation for our town that will
+make us proud to name it as our place of abode.
+
+
+
+THE HOME ACRE
+
+All these things may be had in scores of American suburbs and smaller
+cities.  But when we have selected the one or more towns that may
+please us, and get down to the house or lot, our range of choice will
+be found rather narrow.  In the neighborhoods we would select, it is
+probable that few houses are to be rented.  Most of them have been
+built for occupancy by their owners, who, if forced to go elsewhere,
+have preferred selling to renting.  There is no prejudice against
+renters, but the sentiment is against renting, and this sentiment is
+well grounded in common sense.  Still, some families find it advisable
+to rent for a year or so, meanwhile studying the local conditions and
+selecting a building site.  This plan has much to commend it, though it
+makes a second move necessary.  Others, who do not feel assured that a
+change in business will not compel an early removal, wisely prefer to
+rent, if a suitable house can be found for what they can afford to pay.
+
+
+
+COMPARATIVE COST IN RENTING
+
+The proportion of income that may be set aside for rent depends on what
+that payment covers.  In a steam-heated city flat with complete janitor
+service, for instance, the rent at $40 is really no higher than the $25
+suburban house, for heat and water rent are included.  With the former,
+perhaps as much as a third of one's income could be spared for the
+fixed charge of rent; but in the country the proportion cannot with
+safety be greater than a fifth.  Few satisfactory suburban houses can
+be rented under $35, and to this must be added the cost not only of
+coal and water, but of maintenance.  On the whole, we are pretty sure
+to decide that it is better and cheaper to buy than to rent.
+
+
+
+THE LOCATION SENSE
+
+There is some advantage in being able to secure a lot in a square
+already built up.  If present conditions are satisfactory we may feel
+reasonably sure that they will remain so.  We know who our neighbors
+are to be, the sort of houses and other improvements that will affect
+the sightliness and value of our own property, and the surroundings
+that should in some degree govern the style of our abode.  There is
+little of the speculative in such a choice, but we shall have to pay
+something extra for our assurances.
+
+In a well built-up town, however, we are likely to find a more eligible
+natural site at less cost if we are not too insistent upon being close
+to the railway station.  The best sites in the older sections are
+already occupied or are held at a premium.  If we have an eye for
+location and the courage of our convictions, we may chance upon an
+excellent lot that can be had for a comparatively small price because
+of its detachment.  It may be so situated that the approach is through
+the choicest part of the village, affording us much of the charm of
+suburban life without additional cost.  Provided sewer, water, light,
+sidewalks, and paving are in, a little greater distance from the center
+may be well repaid by the beauty of the site, and after the family
+becomes accustomed to it the distance is scarcely noticed.  Where there
+are telephones and local delivery of mail and groceries, occasions for
+going uptown are not frequent.
+
+
+
+SIZE OF LOT
+
+The lot should have at least 50 foot frontage; and be from 150 to 200
+feet in depth.  Many subdivisions are now platted without alleys, which
+are not desirable unless scrupulously maintained.  The site should, if
+practicable, be on a plateau or elevation that gives an outlook, or at
+least make natural drainage certain.  A lot below street level means
+expensive filling to be done.
+
+
+
+POSITION
+
+There can be little question as to the special desirability of an east
+frontage.  With this exposure the morning sunlight falls upon the
+living room when least in use, while the afternoon glare finds the
+principal work of the kitchen accomplished.  The indispensable veranda
+on the east and south is also usable for a maximum portion of the day,
+while the more solid side of the structure, being opposed to the
+prevailing winter winds, makes the heating problem easier.
+
+[Illustration: A unique arrangement of the porch.]
+
+
+
+OUTLOOK AND INLOOK
+
+Though we should not pay too much premium for an east front, it is
+always most salable, and the difference will come back if we should
+dispose of the property later.  Outlook and protection against being
+shut in should be assured.  Our own property may be "gilt edge," but if
+the man across the way has backed up a barn or chicken yard in front of
+us our joy in life will be considerably lessened.  Our home is both to
+look at and to look out from, and we do more of the latter than of the
+former.  There are only two ways to make sure of not being shut in,
+unless the adjacent lots are already improved.  These are to buy enough
+ground to give space on either side, or to secure a corner.  Sometimes
+a corner at a higher price is the cheaper in the end.
+
+Certainly it is advisable, even though our own house be not
+high-priced, to discover if there is a building restriction to prevent
+the erection of cheap structures near by.  This is regulated usually by
+a stipulation in the deeds from the original subdivider.  Without this
+guaranty even a high price for lots does not insure that some fellow
+who has put most of his money into the ground may not put up a woodshed
+next door and live in it until he can build a house.  We shall not find
+it amiss either, to know something of the character of the owners of
+the adjoining property, for if they are real-estate men there is a
+probability of their putting up houses built to sell.  Non-resident
+owner may be expected to allow their vacant lots to remain unkempt and
+to object to all improvement assessments.
+
+
+
+TREES
+
+Trees on the lot are a valuable asset, though dislike for sacrificing
+them, if carried too far, may result in shutting out the sunlight that
+is more essential than shade to health.  Cottonwood, willows, and even
+the pretty catalpa are to be shunned in the interest of tidiness.  On a
+50- or even 100-foot lot we cannot have many trees without
+overshadowing the house.  A few away from the building, not crowded
+together, will give more satisfaction than a grove and be less a
+detriment to health.  Ordinarily grass will not grow to advantage where
+there is much shade; and a beautiful lawn, though open to the sunlight,
+is not only more attractive but much more serviceable than ground in
+heavy shadow and covered with sparse grass.
+
+
+
+INCOME AND EXPENDITURE
+
+Prices of vacant property in different sections vary so greatly that
+one cannot safely approximate the cost of a building lot.  It is safe
+to say, though, that if values are figured on a proper basis, a
+satisfactory site for a moderate-priced home can be purchased for
+$1,000 in the town of our choice.
+
+We have made it clear to ourselves that a home--anyone's home--should
+be much more than a house plumped down upon any bit of ground that will
+hold it.  When we come to consider the house itself, we are confronted
+by the knowledge that here the tastes and habits, as well as the size
+and resources of the family, must govern the decision of many problems
+considered.  Numbers alone are not always a fair guide, for sometimes
+the man or the woman of the house, or the baby, counts for much more
+than one in figuring space requirements.
+
+We have in mind here that we are a family of four, that we have an
+income of from $1,500 to $2,500, and that we are prepared to spend or
+obligate ourselves to spend from $2,000 to $3,500 for a house to go on
+a lot to cost $1,000.  The house we think of would be not too large for
+two and certainly would comfortably accommodate five or even six,
+depending upon their relations to one another.  The extremes of income
+mentioned would scarcely affect our plans, and the difference in cost
+is accounted for by the choice of nonessentials and not by differences
+in the principal features of the house.
+
+
+
+STYLE
+
+Now, if we have already set our hearts upon having a house just like
+that "love of a place" we saw in Wayout-on-the-Hill the other day, we
+shall have to reconsider the entire lot proposition.  We may as well
+face the fact that the house which is everything appropriate and
+artistic in one place may in another be simply grotesque.  In this
+phase of the selective work we will profit by the advice of the
+architect, if he be something of an artist and not simply a
+draughtsman.  At any rate, if we have the lot, let us decide what style
+of house should be on it; if we are surely settled upon the house, then
+by all means let us get a lot it will fit--and have a care, too, with
+regard to the style of architecture (or lack of it) in our prospective
+neighbors' houses.
+
+There have been two extremes in later American home
+architecture--overornamentation and absolute disregard for appearance.
+The first arose from a feeling that every dollar spent in the interest
+of art (!) should be so gewgawed to the outer world that all who passed
+might note the costliness and wonder.  The second extreme had its birth
+in an elementary practicality that believes anything artistic must be
+both extravagant and useless.
+
+None of us can afford to build a house merely for its artistic
+qualities.  Yet we feel that we owe it to our neighbors and to the
+community to make the house sightly.  Most of all, we owe it to
+ourselves, for the product of our plans will be the concrete expression
+of our personality.  Fortunately showiness is neither necessary nor
+desirable; while artistic qualities are not so much a matter of money
+as of thought.  A few days ago, in a suburb of a Western city, I passed
+two houses recently constructed.  One was simply an enlarged drygoods
+box with a few windows and doors broken into its sides--altogether a
+hideous disfigurement to the charming spot on which it was erected.
+Across the way stood the other cottage, with the same number of rooms
+as its _vis-à-vis_, but really exquisite in its simple beauty.  And the
+latter, I was told, though equally spacious, cost less than the
+monstrosity across the way!  Into the one, there was put thought; into
+the other none.  Can we resist an opinion as to which home will be
+happier?
+
+
+
+SIZE
+
+Should we be somewhat limited in funds, we may have to make a selection
+between a large house finished in cheaper materials and a small house
+of the best quality all through.  Doubtless much of the "hominess" that
+attaches us to some houses is due to their snugness, but not all of it.
+Size is secondary to adaptation to the family requirements.  Waste
+space is an abomination, because it adds unnecessarily to the burden of
+the housekeeper; yet to be so cramped that everything must be moved
+every day is not a satisfactory alternative.  There should be some
+reserve not only for emergencies but for future needs that may be
+foreseen.  As the children grow up they will demand more room, and we
+shall want to give it to them.  If we do not care to maintain surplus
+space for possible needs, the house should at least be planned with a
+view to making additions that will be in keeping with the general
+effect and will readily fall in with the practical arrangement of the
+house.
+
+What is said about emergency space applies principally to the sleeping
+apartments.  There is an altogether happy tendency in these days to
+simplify the living rooms and to plan them for constant use.  We of the
+East have something to learn from the Californians, whose bungalows and
+cottages are so often models of simplicity without the crudeness of
+most small houses in other sections.  Our coast brethren have
+demonstrated that a four- or five-room cottage will satisfactorily
+house a considerable family, and that it may be given the
+characteristics that charm without increasing the cost.
+
+
+
+PLANS FOR BUILDING
+
+The simplest and in many instances the prettiest cottages are of only a
+single story.  But more than four rooms in one story makes a
+comparatively expensive house, besides using up a great deal of ground.
+With the foundation, first story, and roof provided for, the second
+story adds little to the cost compared to the space gained.  Where
+ground and labor are cheap the single story is to be considered; but in
+most places it would not be practicable for us.
+
+In planning the house due regard must be had for the dispositions of
+the respective members of the family.  In any event we shall not please
+all of them, but the less the others have to complain about the happier
+the rest of us shall be.
+
+
+
+NECESSARY ROOMS
+
+If paterfamilias is accustomed to depositing his apparel and other
+belongings rather promiscuously about, expecting to find things where
+they were left on his return in the evening, it may be better to plan
+his room where it may stand undisturbed rather than to attempt the
+breaking of a habit which shows that he feels at home in his own house.
+Likewise, some place there should be where the mistress may conduct her
+sewing operations without wildly scrambling to clean up when the
+doorbell rings; the children should have at least one place in the
+house where they may "let loose" on a rainy day, and the master should
+have somewhere a retreat safe from interruption, as well as a workroom
+in the basement in which the tools and implements that quickly
+accumulate in a country home may be secure.
+
+
+
+THE SICK ROOM
+
+Sickness, too, may come, and the questions of privacy without an
+unwholesome curb upon both children and adults, of convenience to hot
+water and the bathroom, of saving steps for the nurse, should be
+thought of.  An upstairs chamber is likely to be best on account of the
+ventilation, lighting, and distance from ordinary noises; but frequent
+journeys to the kitchen mean an excess of stair climbing.  Whether
+there be sickness or not, there should be somewhere provision for
+individual privacy, where absolute rest may be gained.
+
+A large indulgence in entertaining must have its influence in settling
+both size and arrangement.  Ordinarily, however, we may expect to be
+reasonably hospitable without enlarging our home into a clubhouse.  If
+we do not consider this matter in building, propriety must compel us
+afterwards to limit our company to numbers that we can comfortably care
+for.
+
+
+
+ROOM TO ENTERTAIN
+
+A good many of us who have contrived very nicely to live in a six-room
+city flat seem to think that we cannot get along with that number of
+rooms in a suburban house, though the latter would be considerably more
+spacious, not taking the basement into account.  So far, however, as
+absolute essentials go, a six-room house, carefully planned, will
+provide for a family of four very comfortably, and it can be built in
+an artistic and modern style for $2,500 near Chicago, about ten per
+cent. more in the vicinity of New York, and probably for a less sum in
+smaller cities.  An eight-room house would cost about a third more, and
+is, of course, in many ways more desirable.  But, generally speaking,
+we demand more room than we really need, and then put ourselves to
+additional expense filling up the space with unnecessary furniture.
+
+
+
+THE "LIVING ROOM"
+
+In small houses there cannot be great variation in the proportioning of
+space, but it is important that the use of each room should be well
+understood and that it should be planned accordingly.  If that is not
+done our decorative and furnishing schemes later on will be misapplied.
+Families differ as to their dispositions toward rooms.  Most of us
+would not think of calling for an old-fashioned parlor in a small house
+nowadays, but merely to change the name from "parlor" to "living room"
+doesn't change our habits.  The living room is meant to take the place
+of parlor, library, reception hall, and sitting room.  If the family
+adjust themselves to it a great saving of space is effected, and the
+home life is given added enjoyment.  Not all of us, however, can fit
+ourselves to new ideas, and it is better to suit ourselves than to be
+uncomfortable and feel out of place in the home.
+
+[Illustration: A homelike living room.]
+
+The living-room plan in a small house reduces the reception hall to
+something little more than a vestibule, but where six rooms are
+exceeded the reception hall may be enlarged and made serviceable.  The
+first impression counts for much, not only with our guests but with
+ourselves, and if the hall be appropriately finished and fitted it
+seems fairly to envelop one with its welcome.  One thing that must be
+insured, whatever form the entrance may take, is that it shall not be
+necessary to pass through the living room to reach other parts of the
+house.
+
+
+
+THE DINING ROOM AND KITCHEN
+
+Vastness is not essential to the dining room.  Under usual conditions
+we are not likely to seat more than a dozen persons at our table, and a
+dinner party exceeding that number is too large for common enjoyment.
+Connection with the kitchen should be convenient without having the
+proximity too obvious.  City kitchens are now usually made just large
+enough to accommodate required paraphernalia and to afford sufficient
+freeway for the cook.  Many families do no home baking, and where fruit
+and vegetables are preserved the basement is utilized.  Compactness in
+the kitchen saves hundreds of steps in the course of a day, and though
+it is difficult for us to forget the spacious room thought necessary by
+our parents, we may well learn, for our own comfort, to profit by the
+modern reasoning that opposes waste space.  Still, it is better to defy
+modern tendencies and even to pain the architect than that the faithful
+house-keeper who clings tenaciously to the old idea should be made
+miserable.  Some persons feel perpetually cramped in a small room,
+whereas others only note the snugness of it.
+
+
+
+THE SLEEPING ROOMS
+
+The general well-being of the family is more directly affected by the
+character of the bed chambers than by any other department of the
+house.  However we may permit ourselves to be skimped in the living
+rooms, it is imperative that the sleeping apartments should be
+large--not barnlike, of course--well lighted, dry, and airy.  Three
+large rooms are in every way preferable to four small ones.  It is, to
+be sure, sometimes difficult to put the windows where they will let in
+the sunlight, the registers where they will heat, and the wall space
+where it will permit the sleeper to have fresh air without a draught.
+But marvels in the way of ingenious planning have been evolved where
+necessity, the mother of invention, has ruled; and assuredly there is
+no greater necessity than a healthful bedroom.
+
+The children's bedroom in the house of six to eight rooms is likely to
+be utilized as a nursery or playroom on rainy days or in winter.  It
+should have an abundance of sunlight.  The largest and best room of all
+should be used by the heads of the household.  To reserve the choicest
+apartment for the chance guest is an absurdity that sensible people
+have abandoned.  If we must, we may surrender our room temporarily to
+the visitor, but the persons who live in a house twelve months of the
+year are entitled to the best it affords.  Flat living has taught us to
+make use of all our rooms, and perhaps its influence is against
+hospitality; but we need not neglect that very important feature of a
+happy home in doing ourselves simple justice.
+
+
+
+THINKING IT OUT
+
+If we would be quite sure of it--to use a Hibernianism--we should live
+in our house at least a year before it is built.  We need an
+imagination that will not only perceive our castle in all its stages of
+construction but will picture us in possession.  Advice is not to be
+disdained, and a good architect we shall find to be a blessing; but the
+happiness of our home will be in double measure if we can feel that
+something of ourselves has gone into its creation.  And this something
+we should not expect to manifest genius, or even originality, but
+tasteful discrimination.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+FLOORS, WALLS, AND WINDOWS
+
+Tradition has established the condition of her floors as the prime test
+of a good house-keeper, and the amount of effort that faithful
+homemakers have had to waste upon splintery, carelessly laid cheap
+boards would, if it could be represented in money, buy marble footing
+for all of us.
+
+But we don't want marble floors.  We are not building a palace or a
+showplace, but a house to live in.  We are not seeking magnificence,
+but comfort and durability (which are almost always allied), as well as
+sightliness (which is not always in the combination).
+
+
+
+THE NECESSITY OF GOOD FLOORS
+
+Happily, when we come to floors we find that those which may be
+depended upon to endure and to give their share of home comfort are
+also the best to look upon.  It would be agreeable to say, further,
+that they cost least, but that would be misleading.  This book fails to
+say not a few things that would be interesting but which wouldn't be of
+much real use to the homemaker, because they aren't so.
+
+Leaving the everlastingly pestiferous question of cost aside, what is
+the best all-around flooring?  Well, so far no one has been able to
+suggest anything that seems so appropriate as a good quality of hard
+wood--which means oak or maple, or both--properly treated and, above
+all, laid down as it should be.  The flooring is a permanent part of
+the house, or, if it isn't, we'll certainly wish it had been.  As it is
+subject to harder and more constant usage than any other part of the
+structure, it must be strong, and it must have a surface that will
+resist wear, or we shall simply store up trouble for the future.  It is
+also a part of the decorative scheme, and as such must help to furnish
+the keynote of our plans.  All these requirements are met by hard wood.
+
+It is possible, we may admit, to have a happy and comfortable home with
+cheaper flooring; but the price that is not paid in money will be
+afterwards collected with interest in effort and sacrifice of
+satisfaction.  Doubtless it is not wise, as some one suggests, to put
+so much money into our floors that we cannot afford to buy anything to
+put on them; but in many instances the appearance of our house
+interiors would be much more pleasing if fewer pieces of superfluous
+furniture were brought in to cover the floors.  At any rate, the
+longed-for furniture may be "saved up for" and bought later; a mistake
+in floors to start with is hard to rectify.
+
+
+
+MATERIAL AND COST OF LAYING
+
+Oak flooring comes in narrow, thin strips of plain- or quarter-sawed.
+At this writing the plain-sawed costs, laid, usually 16 cents per
+square foot.  It will never be cheaper.  Where quarter-sawed is
+desired, a cent per foot must be added.  Borders, which are by no means
+essential, cost from 20 to 45 cents per lineal foot (laid).  In a
+country house, where local artisans do the laying, the expense may be
+somewhat less for labor.  But it must be remembered that fine floor
+laying is a trade of itself, and that the time to make sure of the work
+being properly done is when the wood is put in.  If the building is
+properly constructed, a bulging or cracked floor is unnecessary.  At
+all events, if we are in doubt as to the village carpenter's skill, we
+would do well to pay the few dollars extra for the expert from the
+city.  Careful measurements are also important, especially with borders
+and parquetry.
+
+
+
+ORNAMENTAL FLOORING
+
+The hall, if large, will permit of rather more elaborate treatment than
+the rooms which are to be constantly occupied.  No part of the house
+that is in use for hours at a time should be at all over-elaborated,
+particularly in its unchangeable features.  Care must be taken even in
+the hall to avoid any freakish combination that will either stand out
+conspicuously or demand a like treatment of the walls.
+
+[Illustration: An attractive and inexpensive hall.]
+
+Some folk like tiling in the hall, and if we have little more than a
+vestibule, tiling is quite satisfactory.  It is durable and can be
+easily cleaned.  But if the hall be of the medium or generous size,
+parquetry will be found more approvable if the expense can be afforded.
+The designs are richer without being so glaring as many of the tile
+effects, and the wood seems to have less harshness.  Rubber tiling,
+however, has been found useful in places where there is frequent
+passing in and outdoors, and has been developed in some pleasing
+designs.
+
+The additional cost for parquetry is not formidable in a moderate-sized
+hall.  Prices range from 20 to 40 cents per square foot, according to
+design.  We shall be wisely guided in choosing a simple square
+arrangement that will not protest against any passable decoration of
+the walls.  Unless the hall is spacious borders would better be
+omitted.  They need to have the effect of running into hearths and
+stairways, and in a narrow passage the center will be too crowded.
+
+Dining room and living room suggest the quarter-sawed flooring, the
+former admitting perhaps the stronger border, unless the two rooms are
+in such direct connection that they require continuous treatment.
+Upstairs, plain-sawed will do nicely for the hall and chambers, and
+also for the bathroom if it is not tiled.  Borders, of course, may be
+dispensed with here, as there should be no suggestion of
+over-ornamentation in the permanent features of a sleeping room.
+
+For the kitchen hard maple is found to serve well.  One may not find it
+amiss to inquire into the merits and costs of composition and rubber
+tiling, but they are not essential to comfort and cleanliness.  Here we
+are concerned with essentials; it is fully understood that we have our
+own permission to go farther afield in pursuit of more costly things if
+we choose.
+
+
+
+WAXED, VARNISHED, AND OILED FLOORS
+
+Unless there are small children, expert opinion and the demands of
+beauty favor waxed floors.  Ordinarily the floor must he rewaxed about
+every three months, but a pound of wax, that will cover two ordinary
+sized rooms, costs only 50 cents, and it may be applied by anyone.  To
+keep the floors in best condition the wax brush should be passed over
+them every fortnight.
+
+Varnish floors scratch but are not affected by water, and on the whole
+are rather more popular than oil or wax.  They cost something less to
+maintain, and are less conducive to embarrassing gyratics on the part
+of dignified persons wearing slippery shoes.
+
+If we may not demand oak or maple floors, well-laid Georgia pine,
+carefully oiled or varnished, would be our next choice.  There is a
+large saving in initial expense, and perhaps some one else will be
+using them five years from now!  Though we cannot expect to get
+anything like equal satisfaction from the cheaper wood as compared with
+oak, if we do feel bound to adopt it we shall have less cause for
+complaint later if we view very carefully the material and the
+operations of laying and finishing.  Poor workmanship can spoil the
+best of materials; what it can do with cheaper stuff is absolutely
+unmentionable.  Paint may be used on the upper floors and even limited
+to a border in the bedrooms.
+
+
+
+CARPETS
+
+The floors would not be quite so important if we were planning to
+entirely cover up their beauties or their uglinesses with another kind
+of beauty or ugliness in the form of carpets.  But experience has long
+since made it clear to all of us that rugs are not only more healthful
+and in better taste, but, taken by and large, give less trouble to the
+housekeeper than carpets.  Owing to the fixed position of the latter
+they are, too, quality for quality, less durable.  It is true that in
+some parts of the house a rug or carpet fastened down may be desirable,
+but with good floors no such thing will suggest itself in the living
+rooms at least.
+
+
+
+LINOLEUM AND MATS
+
+Where a very small vestibule is substituted for the reception hall a
+parquetry or tile flooring would be left uncovered.  Over a cheap floor
+a good quality of linoleum, costing about 50 cents per square yard, may
+he placed.  A small mat of neat design, if such can be found, will take
+care of those persons who have the foot-scraping habit, regardless of
+what they scrape upon, though the mat outside should do the important
+work.  Serviceable mats are seldom things of beauty.  As they come
+under the head of floor coverings, it may be well to note that the best
+quality leather mat, guaranteed to last twenty years, costs $1.25 a
+square foot.  A fair imitation may be had for less than half that
+figure, and has the same proportion of value.  The open-steel mat that
+serves best with tenacious mud costs 50 cents per square foot, and for
+rubber we must add a half or double the price, depending on whether we
+demand the made-to-order article or are content with stock.  The old
+reliable cocoa mat may be had from 35 cents per square foot up, and is
+quite as useful and scarcely uglier than the others.
+
+
+
+THE STAIRWAY
+
+For appearance' sake, if our stairway is well constructed of good
+woods, we should forbear to hide it.  But there is no place in the
+house where little Willie can more effectively proclaim to all the
+household world his possession of double-nailed heels than on the
+unprotected rises of the stairway.  Even the tiny heels of the mistress
+of the home seem to clump like the boots of a giant in their numberless
+journeys up and down.  So the hall runner must have a place.  Perhaps
+the carpet will be of red or green, depending on the walls, but it need
+cost little more than $1 per yard for a fair quality.  It is put down
+with stair pads ($1 per dozen) and ordinary tacks, and the expenditure
+of 10 cents per yard for a professional layer will not be regretted.
+The amateur who can do a really good job on a stair carpet is a rarity.
+
+[Illustration: An artistic staircase hall.]
+
+
+
+RUGS
+
+The Biglow Bagdad domestic rug in 27 by 54 and 36 by 63-inch sizes is
+inexpensive but looks and wears well in the hall.  The first size costs
+about $4 and the second $7.  A little better quality in Anglo-Indian or
+Anglo-Persian costs a dollar or so more per rug.  Where there is
+constant direct use in the hall we will do wisely to get either a
+moderate-priced article that may be renewed or something expensive that
+will wear indefinitely.  Sometimes the latter is the more economical
+plan.  Very often halls are so shaped that a rug must be made to order.
+It is better to do this and have a good-sized rug that will lie well
+than to risk tripping and slipping with smaller ones.
+
+For the living room a variety of choice in rugs is offered.  Attempts
+to utilize a number of small rugs are not usually joyous in their
+outcome; besides, the floor space is too badly broken up.  The large
+center rug holds its own, with some reenforcement in the alcove or
+perhaps before the hearth.
+
+What quality the rug shall be depends largely upon the length of our
+purse; yet sagacity and a modest fund will sometimes do more than
+plethora and no thought.  Design selection is a task to vex the most
+patient, but we must not be drawn into a hurried decision.  If we are
+near enough to the business house with which we are dealing, it is
+advisable to have a selection of rugs sent out for inspection on the
+floors.  Seen in the salesroom and in our house they may present
+different aspects.
+
+Generally speaking, the showiest designs are in the cheaper goods, and
+the showier a cheap article is the quicker its shoddy qualities will be
+made manifest.  Therefore, if we must count the pennies on our
+living-room rug, let us select a simple design with a good
+body--something that will be unobtrusive even when it begins to appeal
+for replacement.
+
+There is a considerable range of Wiltons, from the so-called Wilton
+velvet to the "Royal" Wilton.  They are by no means the cheapest,
+though one may go fabulously beyond them in price; but their popularity
+shows them to be a good average quality, suited to the home planned on
+a modest scale.  Body Brussels, although not affording such rich
+effects, also has many friends, and tapestry Brussels may be
+considered.  There are names innumerable for rugs and carpets, some of
+which have little real significance.  If one knows a good design when
+it is seen, a little common-sense observation of weights and weave and
+a thoughtful comparison of prices will help to secure the best
+selections.  Here are some specimen sizes and prices quoted by one
+establishment:
+
+     SIZE.      Body Brussels.   Biglow Bagdad.   Anglo-Indian.
+  6.0 x  9.0....... $18.00          $25.00           $30.00
+  8.3 x 10.6.......  22.50           30.00            45.00
+  9.0 x 10.6.......  25.00           35.00            50.00
+ 10.6 x 12.0.......  32.50           45.00            65.00
+ 10.6 x 13.6.......  35.00           52.50            75.00
+ 11.3 x 15.0.......  42.50           60.00            80.00
+
+Saxony Axminster, 9 by 12, is priced at $45, and is considered to be
+more serviceable than most grades of Wilton.
+
+For the dining room the problem is about the same as for the principal
+apartment.  The rug need not be so expensive as the one in the living
+room, but it must assuredly be of the enduring sort.
+
+The Scotch Caledon rugs sometimes solve the difficulty here.  Indeed,
+they are not out of place in a really "homey" living room or elsewhere
+in the house.  They are made of wool, woven like an ingrain, with no
+nap, and are especially pleasing for their artistic soft colorings,
+mostly in green or blue two-tone effects.  They are, strictly speaking,
+not reversible, but some designs will permit use on both sides.  While
+they do not wear quite so well as a Wilton, they come at least a fifth
+cheaper.  Prices range from $9 for a 4.6 by 7.6 to $45 for a 12 by 15.
+
+The sizes we have mentioned are standard.  If our rooms have been
+planned in such wise as to require rugs to order we shall have to add
+ten per cent to our expenditures.
+
+
+
+ORIENTAL RUGS
+
+The subject of oriental rugs, to be intelligently discussed, would
+require an entire book, and there are books that may be and should be
+studied by those who can afford orientals.  Most of us cannot.  There
+are, indeed, good reasons for the high cost of the genuine oriental, in
+its superior coloring, wide range of design, and wonderful durability.
+The right sort grows richer with age.  But our plans are not so much
+for posterity as for present uses, and we can get along very well
+without testing our wits in the oriental rug market.  It is a test of
+wits, for there are no standards of size or price, and spurious goods
+sometimes get into the best of hands.  Small Daghestans and
+Baloochistans may be had even lower than $20, but anything we would
+care to have in living room or dining room would take $150 to $200 from
+our bank account.
+
+[Illustration: An oriental rug of good design: Shirvan.]
+
+
+
+KITCHEN AND UPPER FLOORS
+
+In the kitchen, and perhaps in a rear vestibule, unless the floor is of
+a sort to be easily wiped up, linoleum may be demanded.  The upper hall
+will require a continuation of the stair runner, with perhaps a rug if
+it broadens out at the landing.  For the bed chambers the question of
+individual use must be thought of.  Brussels rugs will do in most
+cases.  A large rug means considerable shifting to get at the floor,
+but is the more comfortable.  Smaller rugs will permit sweeping under
+the bed without moving it far, and should be placed under the casters,
+which will injure the hard-wood floors if allowed to rest directly
+thereupon.
+
+
+
+MATTING AND CORDOMAN CLOTH
+
+Next in choice would be to spend 25 or 30 cents a yard for matting and
+cover the entire floor, adding one or two rugs to head off the shivery
+feeling that arises from a contact of bare feet with cold matting on a
+winter morning.  The casters will cut the matting, too; we must look
+out for that.  A border of flooring, painted or not, may be left; but
+generally, if anything is to be fastened down, it should cover the
+entire space, avoiding the ugly accumulation of dust that otherwise
+gathers under the edges.
+
+More expensive than matting, but likely to be quite satisfactory, is
+cordoman cloth, a floor covering that comes in plain colors and may be
+easily swept and wiped up.  It costs from 45 to 55 cents per yard, and
+the wadded cotton lining that goes with it is very cheap.  Considering
+its greater durability than matting, cordoman is really the more
+economical, and the homemaker will do well to investigate its merits.
+
+
+
+CHILDREN'S ROOM AND "DEN"
+
+For the children's room linoleum will probably stand the wear and tear,
+prove more hygienic, and do as much toward deadening noise as anything
+short of an impossible padding could do.  On the porch a crex-fiber rug
+or two--the sort that stand rain and resist moths--may be desired, but
+they can wait until we are settled and have found our bearings.  The
+"den," if there is to be one, or the separate library, may in the one
+instance be left to individual caprice, in the other to good judgment
+in suiting it to the prevailing thought.
+
+
+
+USES OF THE DECORATOR
+
+If we have not done so before, when we take up consideration of the
+walls we will, if we can afford it, call in a professional decorator.
+First, of course, we will make sure that he really may be of service to
+us, for his duty is to give practical and artistic development to the
+more or less vague ideas of which we have become possessed, and if he
+seems, from examples of previous work, to be wedded to a "style" of his
+own that would not jibe with our aspirations, we would better try to
+struggle along without him.
+
+But it is possible to secure the services of a decorative artist for a
+sum not necessarily tremendous, and if we get hold of a sensible fellow
+his advice will be, in the end, worth much more than the extra outlay.
+If he is a sincere artist, he will plan just as carefully for a modest
+six-room cottage as for a mansion, and he will be able to take the good
+points of our own schemes and adapt them to expert application without
+making us feel too insignificant.
+
+Explicit advice as to decoration, where there are thousands of us, each
+in different circumstances and with variant tastes, would be rather an
+absurdity.  We may emphasize to ourselves, however, a few phases of the
+decorative problem in which lack of thought would lose to us some of
+the joys of a house perfected.
+
+If we are not to employ a decorator we must study out the problem for
+ourselves.  To leave it for the painter and paperhanger to settle would
+be a fatal error.  Much knowledge may be gained by the study of books
+and magazine articles, provided they are very recent.  It will be
+advisable to weigh this knowledge in the scales of practical
+observation, however, in houses of late date.  This is not so much
+because of changes in fashion as for the reason that improvements in
+process are always being made, and even the omnipresent folk who write
+books sometimes overlook a point.  Concerning fashion, which of course
+has its sway in decoration, we will remember that the simplest
+treatment survives longest.
+
+
+
+WOOD IN DECORATION
+
+It seems that with the steady increase in cost of lumber we have grown
+more and more to appreciate the beauty of our woods.  At any rate, wood
+is being used more extensively than ever in interior finishing.  This
+is in some ways a healthy tendency, as it makes for simplicity and
+admits of artistic treatment at a reasonable cost.
+
+Hall, living room, and dining room, for instance, may be treated with a
+high or low wood wainscoting and wooden panels extending to a wooden
+cornice at the ceiling.  The wood may be a weathered oak, and between
+the panels is a rough plaster in gray or tinted to suit the house
+scheme.  Friezes and plastic cornices are somewhat on the wane, in
+smaller houses at least; though, of course, they will never go out of
+use altogether.
+
+
+
+PANELS AND PLASTER
+
+This plaster effect is less expensive than 40-cent burlap or ordinary
+white calcimine or paper.  The picture molding may be at the bottom of
+the cornice.  Sometimes the cornice is dropped to a level with the tops
+of the doors and windows (usually about seven feet), leaving a frieze
+of two or three feet, the molding then going to the top of the cornice.
+Ceilings and friezes of ivory or light yellow are usually in good taste.
+
+The living room may carry out the panel and plaster effect, but is more
+likely to demand a simple paper of good quality with no border.  Here,
+as in the hall, the wooden (or plastic) cornice with no frieze is
+suggested.  Grilles are discarded, and portières are avoided where
+possible.
+
+
+
+THE BEAMED CEILING
+
+In the dining room the beamed ceiling has been found so appropriate
+that it continues popular.  It is simple, easily maintained, and has
+the broad, deep lines that put one at ease.  Here it is advisable to
+carry a wooden wainscoting up to about 3 1/2 feet, the panels
+continuing to the ceiling.  Tapestry, burlap, or plaster may show
+above.  Plate shelves are somewhat in disfavor, partly because of abuse
+and partly because the tendency is to eliminate all dust-catchers that
+are not necessities.  Where doors and windows are built on a line (as
+they should be), shelves are sometimes placed over them.  But there
+should not be too many broken lines if we would preserve the
+comfortable suggestion of the beamed ceiling.
+
+
+
+PAINT, PAPER, AND CALCIMINE
+
+For the kitchen, painted walls, which can be easily wiped off, and
+resist steam, are preferable to calcimine.  Tiling halfway up will be
+found still better, but tiling paper, which costs more than painting,
+is scarcely to be chosen.  For the bedrooms the professional decorators
+are disposed to over elaboration.  A simple paper, costing 15 to 35
+cents per roll, is best, or even plain calcimine, which many persons
+consider more healthful.  The latter costs only $3 or $4 a room and may
+be renewed every year or two.  Very nice effects are had in a
+Georgia-pine panel trimming running to a wood cornice, and in natural
+wood or painted white.  With this the ceiling should be plain white,
+and if bright-flowered paper is used, pictures should be discarded.
+Lively colors, if not too glaring, give a cheerful aspect to the room,
+but the safer plan is to stick to simplicity.
+
+In the children's room a three-foot wood wainscoting is desirable.
+Part of this may be a blackboard without costing more, and at the top a
+shelf can be placed for toys.  Figured nursery papers cost, per roll,
+from 35 to 75 cents, and will be a never-ceasing source of delight.  If
+the walls are not papered they should be painted, for reasons that need
+not be suggested.  Isn't it wonderful how far a three-foot boy or girl
+can reach?
+
+
+
+SHADES AND CURTAINS
+
+We have not advanced much in the production of window shades that will
+let in light and air, shut out the gaze of strangers, hold no shadows,
+match interior and exterior, fit properly, work with ease, cost little,
+and last forever.  The ordinary opaque roller shade still has no
+serious rival, and usually the best we can do is to see to it that we
+get a good quality which is not always reliable, rather than a poor
+quality, which never is.
+
+The good old lace curtains that were the pride of the housekeeper's
+heart and the jest of the masculine members of the household seem to
+have had their day.  It has been a long one, and any article that holds
+sway for so lengthy a period must have had some merit.  But the soft
+chintz, linen, madras, or muslin is now the vogue, and there is much
+good sense in the innovation.  No lace curtain ever made could be both
+artistic and serviceable; some persons go so far as to say that they
+never were either, but we have too much reverence for tradition to be
+so iconoclastic.  However, they certainly were expensive if they were
+good enough to have, were difficult to wash, and usually caused a dead
+line to be drawn about the very choicest part of the room.  Linen
+curtains, costing from 50 cents to $1.25 a yard, may be had in a set or
+conventional design or plain appliqué.  Chintz and muslin cost less,
+and some remarkably pretty effects in madras are obtainable.  Curtains
+now sensibly stop at the bottom of the window instead of dragging upon
+the floor.
+
+Besides shades and curtains the window question involves not only
+light, ventilation, and artistic relations, but such details as screens
+and storm windows.  These latter matters come under the jurisdiction of
+the architect and should not be carelessly settled upon.  Each room has
+its uses, to which the window must conform as nearly as may be, and
+then the outward appearance of the house must not be forgotten.  It is
+often made or marred by the character and placing of the windows.
+
+
+
+LEADED PANES AND CASEMENTS
+
+Leaded or art glass is attractive if not overdone.  Small panes are
+difficult to keep clean, of course; but we can probably endure that if
+all else be equal.  In living rooms the upper sash should be made
+smaller than the lower, so as to get the median rail above the level of
+the eye.  In some parts of the house a horizontal window gives a fine
+effect, besides affording light and air without affecting privacy.
+Casement windows have their points of excellence, and are additionally
+expensive chiefly in hardware.  The frames are really cheaper, but they
+must be very accurately fitted to avoid leaks.
+
+Casement windows seriously complicate the screen and storm-window
+problem, and expert planning is necessary.  The durability of screens
+depends mostly upon their care or abuse, but if it can be afforded,
+copper wire will usually last sufficiently longer to repay its
+additional cost.  Metal frames are not so essential.  The best form is
+that which covers the entire window and permits both sashes to be
+freely opened; but this costs practically twice as much as the
+half-window screen.
+
+
+
+STORM WINDOWS
+
+Storm windows should be carefully fitted or they will come far from
+serving their purpose.  If they are of the right sort they will soon
+repay their cost in easing up the furnace.  Preferably they should be
+swung from the top, both for ventilation and washing and to avoid a
+check upon egress in case of fire.  Some persons object to storm
+windows on account of the supposed stoppage of ventilation, but that
+rests entirely with the occupants of the house.  They can get plenty of
+fresh air without letting the gales of winter have their own sweet will.
+
+With floors, walls, and windows determined upon, we have a good start
+on the interior of our house.  But we may only pause to take breath,
+for we now have to give most careful consideration to two decidedly
+important factors in our comfort--lighting and heating.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+LIGHTING AND HEATING
+
+If common sense has governed our proceedings to date, the new house we
+are building, or the ready-built one we have chosen, will have full
+advantage of the one perfect light--that afforded by the sun.
+
+
+
+NECESSITY OF SUNLIGHT
+
+The health-giving properties of sunlight are so well known to all of us
+that we wonder why so many otherwise sensible folk seem to shun it,
+with trees and vines, awnings and blinds denying access to that which
+would make the house wholesome.  When possible, every room in the house
+should have its daily ray bath, and our apartments should utilize the
+light of the sun as early and as late as may be.
+
+Perhaps nature intended all creatures to sleep through the hours of
+darkness.  If we had followed that custom we might be a race of
+Methuselahs; who knows?  Why some one has not established a cult of
+sleepers from sunset to dawn is really inexplicable.  But mankind in
+general has persisted in holding to a different notion, and since the
+sun declines to shine upon us during all the hours of the twenty-four,
+and we insist upon cutting the night short at one end, we have had to
+devise substitutes for the sunlight.
+
+Of course the sunlight does not always leave us in unbroken darkness.
+Few of us are so far departed from the days of mellow youth as to
+forget certain summer evenings, linked in memory with verandas or
+bowered walks, when moonlight--and even that in a modified form--was
+the ideal illumination.  But even if we could employ the good fairies
+to dip them up for us, we should find the soft moongleams of the summer
+evening a rather doubtful aid in searching for the cat in the dark
+corners of the basement.
+
+Omitting pine knots, which are rather out of vogue, modern home
+lighting includes four forms--candles, oil lamps, gas, and electricity.
+The first-named are not, it is true, used to any extent for what may be
+called the practical purposes of lighting; but in many ways their light
+is most beautiful of all.  Some charming candelabra suited to the
+dining table are found in the better shops, and an investment in a
+choice design is a very justifiable extravagance.  Candle illumination
+is of all varieties the one least trying to the eyes and to the
+complexion, though its effect upon the temper of the person tending the
+candles is not so sure to be happy.  However, the sort with a hollow
+center, called Helion candles, require little attention, and the
+patented candle holders, which work automatically, give no trouble at
+all.
+
+
+
+KEROSENE
+
+Notwithstanding there are some points in favor of the old reliable
+kerosene lamp, even when put in the scale with other illuminants, few
+people of the younger generation regard it as other than something to
+be endured.  In view of the facts that an oil lamp requires a great
+deal of attention, usually leaves its trail of oil and smoke, is
+ill-smelling, disagreeably hot in summer, and always somewhat
+dangerous, it is strange that those who cling to it as to a fetich are
+usually the ones who have longest struggled with its imperfections.
+The pretext for this conservatism, whether it be spoken or reserved, is
+economy.  If we are of this class, we may be shocked to discover that,
+after all, kerosene lighting is really no cheaper than gas or electric
+light, if sufficient illumination is afforded, and insufficient
+lighting is surely ill-judged economy.
+
+
+
+GAS AND MATCHES
+
+Few communities of respectable size are now without gas or electricity,
+and even in the country the latter is almost everywhere obtainable.  If
+not, an individual gas plant, of which there are several makes, may be
+installed at a moderate cost.  Properly placed, such a plant is safe
+and easily regulated and will furnish light for somewhat less than the
+usual charge of the gas companies.
+
+Gas has never fully supplanted kerosene, even where it is readily
+obtained.  Why this is true we need not pause to discuss; perhaps a
+fairly well-founded suspicion of the meter has had something to do with
+it.  But certainly no one building a house in these days would fail to
+pipe it for gas if the supply were at hand, even if it were to be used
+only for kitchen fuel.  Gas has its virtues as an illuminant also, and
+is favored by many on account of the softness of the light.
+
+But while gas is preferable to kerosene, electricity is with equal
+certainty preferable to gas.  It is more adaptable, is in many places
+quite as reasonable in cost, and is cleaner and safer.  In numerous
+country communities where gas is not to be had electricity is
+available, as frequently a large region embracing several towns is
+supplied from a single generating plant.
+
+Gas is subject to fluctuations in quality, sometimes becoming quite
+dangerous in its effect upon the atmosphere.  Water gas, which is very
+generally manufactured, is said to carry four or five times as much
+carbon monoxide per unit of bulk as retort gas.  It has for the
+hemoglobin of the blood four hundred times the affinity of oxygen, and
+a proportion of only two tenths of one per cent may produce heart
+derangement.  While we are wondering that we are alive in the face of
+such dreadful facts, we may note further that gas is rather variable in
+its qualities as an illuminant.  We have mentioned the suspicious gas
+meter, whose vagaries doubtless have caused more virtuous indignation
+with less impression upon its object than anything ever devised.  An
+open flame is always a menace; and then there is the burnt match.  Most
+housekeepers, I am sure, would testify to their belief that matches
+were not made in heaven.  Is there anything that so persistently defies
+the effort for tidiness as the charred remains of a match, invariably
+ignited elsewhere than on the sandpaper conspicuously provided, and
+more likely to be tossed upon the floor or laid upon the mahogany table
+than to find its way into the receptacles that yearn for it?
+
+For cooking, however, gas must still be a main dependence, and for this
+reason, as well as to provide for remote emergencies, the house should
+be piped for gas.  At least it should be brought into the house, even
+if the piping is not continued farther than the kitchen.
+
+
+
+ELECTRIC LIGHT
+
+In seeking to secure sufficient light we often go to the extreme of
+providing a glare that is trying to the eyes and would test the beauty
+of the loveliest complexion that ever charmed in the revealing light of
+day.  We go further, mayhap, and concentrate the glare upon the center
+of the room, with a shade of bright green which gives an unearthly but
+not a heavenly cast to all the unfortunate humans who come under its
+belying influence.
+
+Objection is sometimes made to electric light that it is too powerful,
+and that it is difficult to modify and control.  This impression is due
+to the tendency of which we have spoken--the working out of the thought
+that proper lighting is a question of quantity.  For some persons the
+ideal arrangement would seem to be a searchlight at each corner of the
+room, with a few arc lights suspended from a mirrored ceiling.
+
+Electric light, to furnish the most agreeable effects, must be softened
+and properly diffused.  If the light units that so perfectly illumine a
+room during the day were concentrated they would make a blinding glare,
+but diffused they are properly tempered to the eye.  The common thought
+seems to be to put all the lights of the living room in the center, and
+to make them so powerful that they will penetrate every corner of the
+room and make it "light as day."  In consequence the center is
+overlighted, and instead of a similitude of daylight we have unreality.
+
+
+
+PLEASING ARRANGEMENT
+
+For the dining-room and library table some form of drop light is
+essential.  There are arrangements that will transform the banquet or
+student lamp into an electric drop light, or the special outfits for
+this use may be had in some very artistic designs.  For general
+lighting, wall sconces, lanterns, or brackets are preferable.  Some of
+these are very beautiful, though there is a tendency to
+overelaboration.  Design, of course, should be in keeping with the
+general decoration and outfitting of the room.  Instead of four
+sixteen-candle-power lights in a center chandelier, eight of
+eight-candle power will "spread" the illumination better and add little
+to the expense, except for fixtures.  In beamed ceilings which are not
+too high, the effect of lights placed upon the beams is pleasing,
+though the effect upon the monthly bill may not have the same aspect.
+Electric lamps at the sides should be at a fair height and throw their
+light downward, instead of wasting it upon the ceiling.
+
+The pretty lanterns of antique design are expensive, the simplest sort
+costing $4 or $5 apiece.  There are numerous artistic brackets,
+however, that may be had for smaller amounts.  Bulbs are made in all
+sorts of shapes to fit recesses or for special purposes, and the
+designs in shades and candelabra are legion.
+
+
+
+ADAPTABILITY
+
+Electricity's strong card is its adaptability.  It can go wherever a
+wire may be carried, and into many places where gas or oil lights would
+not be safe or practical.  The only thing lacking is to make it
+wireless, and perhaps invention sooner or later will be equal to that
+demand.  Early installations were rather carelessly made, but municipal
+and underwriters' rules are now so strict that practically all danger
+of fire has been eliminated.  The householder in the country should
+make sure that the underwriters' prescriptions are fully observed, as
+his insurance may be affected.  In the city, official inspection
+usually guarantees correct wiring.
+
+Probably only in the hall, dining room, and living room will we be
+greatly concerned with the decorative phase of lighting.  Elsewhere the
+question is largely one of practical use, though considerations of
+taste are not to be neglected.  Careful study should be given to the
+adaptation of lighting to the future uses of the rooms.  This will
+perhaps avoid the use later of unsightly extension cord, though this
+avoidance can scarcely be made complete.
+
+
+
+PROTECTION
+
+A very useful light may be provided for the veranda, just outside the
+door, illuminating the front steps and path to the sidewalk.  This
+light may be turned off and on by a switch key inside the door.  It is
+particularly comforting when some stranger rings the doorbell late at
+night and one does not feel overpleased to be called upon to open the
+door to an invisible person.  Other switch arrangements make it
+possible to turn on the upper hall lights from below, or the lower hall
+lights from above, and the lights in each room from the hall.  When
+there are unseemly noises downstairs in the wee sma' hours it is much
+more agreeable to gaze over the balustrade into a bright hall than to
+go prowling about in the darkness for the bulb or gas jet, with the
+chance of grasping a burglar instead.  Some burglars are very sensitive
+about familiarities on the part of strangers, and it is always better
+to permit them to depart in a good humor.  The basement lighting, too,
+should be regulated from above, and the dark corners should be well
+looked after.  At best, the basement is a breeder of trouble.  If the
+light is in the center, and must be turned off at the bulb, the return
+to the stairway from the nocturnal visit to the furnace is likely to be
+productive of bruised shins and objurgative English; if the light
+operates from above, one either forgets to turn it off and leaves it to
+burn all night, or becomes uncertain about it just as he is beginning
+to doze off, necessitating a scramble downstairs to make sure.  Perhaps
+it would be well to have a choice of systems.
+
+Some houses have been so wired that one can illuminate every room from
+the hall or from the master's bedroom.  This necessitates complicated
+wiring and will not be found necessary by most of us.  Neither will we
+desire to spend our hardly won cash in wiring our four-poster bed for
+reading lights, or to put lights under the dining table for use in
+searching for the lost articles that always by some instinct seek the
+darkest spots in the room.  If there be a barn or shed on the lot, an
+extension carried there will be found convenient and comparatively
+inexpensive.  In the kitchen and pantries the lights should be
+considered in detail so that all the various operations may be served.
+Shadowed sinks and ranges and dark pantries are not necessary where
+there is electric light.
+
+
+
+REGULATED LIGHT
+
+In halls, closets, and bathroom lower-power lamps, or the "hylo," which
+may be alternated from one- to sixteen-candle power, will prove an
+economy.  The "hylo" is also useful in bedrooms where children are put
+to sleep, affording sufficient light to daunt the hobgoblins without
+discouraging the approach of the sandman.  Some persons cannot sleep
+without a light; for them, and for the sick room, the low-power light
+is eminently preferable to the best of oil lamps.
+
+There are numerous conveniences to be operated by electricity, such as
+chafing dishes ($13.50), flat irons ($3.75 up), curling-iron heaters
+($2.25 up), electric combs for drying hair ($4), heating pads, in lieu
+of hot-water bags ($5), and many articles for the kitchen.  These are
+operated from flush receptacles in baseboards or under rugs, or from
+the ordinary light sockets.
+
+
+
+THE TWO SURE WAYS OF HEATING
+
+There is only one efficient and healthful method of heating a house,
+and that is with a hot-air furnace.  I have that on the authority of a
+man who sells hot-air furnaces, and he ought to know.
+
+Substitute "steam or hot water" for "hot-air furnace," and we have the
+assurance of the man across the way who sells boilers and radiators.
+
+The beauty of it is that each proves his case to one's entire
+satisfaction--not only that his own system is a marvel of perfection,
+but that the other systems are dangerous to health and breeders of
+unhappiness and really ought (though he wouldn't like to say so) to be
+prohibited by law.
+
+So we shall have to decide the question for ourselves.  If we err, we
+can still abuse the dealer, or the architect, or the contractor, for
+letting us make a mistake.
+
+
+
+THE HOT-AIR FURNACE
+
+The hot-air furnace costs least to install.  (We leave stoves out of
+consideration.)  It is also supposed to be easiest to manage.  That, in
+a sense, is true.  A good furnace will act pretty well even under
+indifferent direction; a bad one cannot be made much worse by the
+greatest of stupidity.
+
+However, the average person can run the average furnace with a fair
+degree of satisfaction to the household, if not to himself.  For a
+house of six to eight rooms the furnace may be considered an efficient
+means of heating.  It requires more fuel than some other apparatus, but
+there are compensations.
+
+Since ventilation and heating are inevitably associated, the argument
+that the furnace provides for ventilation is a strong one.  If the air
+is taken from outdoors, passed over the radiating surface into the
+rooms, and then sent on its way, something like perfect ventilation is
+assured.  If the air is simply taken from the basement--a poor place to
+go for air--heated, passed through the rooms, returned, and heated over
+again, we may well pray to be delivered from such "ventilation."  The
+success of the furnace depends not upon ability to keep up a rousing
+fire but upon a proper regulation of air currents.  Many a first-class
+furnace, properly installed, fails to work satisfactorily because the
+principle of heating is not understood.  Even with the best of
+knowledge, the air is hard to regulate, and the very principle that
+gives the furnace its standing as a ventilator must prevent it from
+being a perfect heater.
+
+Unless some artificial moisture is provided, not only will the air be
+too dry for comfort and health, but an excessive degree of heat must be
+attained in order to warm the rooms, thus increasing the consumption of
+coal.  A water pan is usually provided in the furnace, but too often it
+is neglected.
+
+
+
+DIRECTION OF HEAT
+
+If any mistake in selection of size is to be made, it should be in
+favor of excess.  Most authorities urge the choice of at least a size
+above that indicated by the heating area.  A chimney with suitable
+draught is imperative.  The furnace should be placed in a central
+location and should be set sufficiently low to permit the essential
+rise of the heat ducts.  If the basement is low the furnace should be
+depressed.  While the heat conveyors should not ascend directly from
+the furnace, they should not be carried any farther than necessary in a
+horizontal position.  The velocity of heat is diminished in carrying it
+horizontally, increased vertically.  Crooks and turns add to the
+friction and decrease heating power.  Therefore the pipes should be as
+short and direct as possible.  It is not necessary to carry the
+register to a window on the farther side of the room, say some
+authorities, as the warm air rises to the ceiling anyway, and the
+greater length of carry involves a loss in warmth.
+
+Pipes for the first floor should he large.  Those for the upper rooms,
+having a longer vertical range, may be smaller.  All the pipes should
+be double, with an inch air space between, as a protection against
+fire.  Asbestos paper on a single pipe is not regarded as a sufficient
+precaution, as it is easily torn and quickly wears out.
+
+
+
+REGISTERS
+
+There are arguments in favor of side-wall registers.  They save floor
+space and obviate some dust.  On the other hand, they are not quite so
+effective in heating as the other sort, since the pipes for floor
+registers may be of larger diameter and as a rule require fewer bends.
+Each register should have a separate pipe from the furnace.  Where
+direct heat is not desired, a register opening in the ceiling of a
+downstairs room will sometimes carry enough heat to the upper chamber
+to make it comfortable for sleeping purposes.
+
+Since furnace efficiency is largely dependent upon air control, a
+strong wind sometimes makes it difficult to heat portions of the house.
+To meet this emergency there is a combination hot-air and hot-water
+heater which supplies radiators on the upper floors, or elsewhere if
+desired.  The additional cost is practically all in the installation,
+as the same fire furnishes both forms of heat.
+
+For an eight-room house or smaller, a first-class steel-plate furnace,
+securely sealed against the escape of gas and smoke, costs free on
+board about $150.  Each two rooms additional raises the price about
+$25.  Other furnaces may be had as low as $50.  Cost of tin work, brick
+setting, etc., depends upon locality.
+
+
+
+HOT WATER AND STEAM HEAT
+
+Hot water and steam heat cost more for installation, but have many
+advantages over the furnace.  Their chief drawbacks are the space
+usurped by radiators, lack of ventilation, and the possibility of an
+occasional breakdown.  The ingenuity of the makers, however, is partly
+overcoming these difficulties, mainly by the device called the indirect
+system.
+
+We need not fret ourselves here with a technical elucidation of either
+form of heating.  We may, however, consider some of the claims made for
+hot water, which is apparently coming to be considered the preferable
+arrangement for dwelling houses.  There is not a great deal of
+difference between the essential features of steam and hot-water
+systems.
+
+It is declared that water will absorb more heat than any other
+substance, hence will take from the boiler practically all the heat
+produced in the combustion of fuel.  As the temperature of the water is
+automatically controlled, the atmosphere of the rooms may be kept at
+the desired degree, the presence of radiators in each room, all of the
+same temperature, giving an even heat over the entire house.
+
+There can be no sudden drop in temperature, as the water in the pipes
+continues to distribute warmth even after the fire has been checked or
+has been allowed to go out.  The fuel required for an ordinary stove,
+it is asserted, will warm an entire house with hot water.  An engineer
+is not required.  Inexperienced persons have no difficulty in operating
+the ordinary boiler, and there is no danger whatever, because, the
+makers adduce, for steam heat the maximum pressure is about five
+pounds, while with hot water there is practically no pressure at all.
+Very little water is used, and a connection with the street water
+system is not imperative, though convenient.
+
+
+
+INDIRECT HEATING
+
+Indirect heating is provided by passing air over radiators attached to
+the ceiling of the basement, thence to the upper rooms.  In the
+"direct-indirect" system the radiators are placed in the partition
+walls of the rooms they are to heat, the cold air being brought through
+a duct and, being heated, passing into the rooms.  These two systems
+are economical of space and afford provision for excellent ventilation.
+They are considerably more expensive, however, than the direct system,
+which involves exposed radiators.
+
+Radiators are now constructed in many different forms, to fit under
+windows, in corners, in fireplaces, under cabinets, and so on.  Much
+effort has been directed also toward relieving their painful ugliness,
+and if of a neat design appropriately colored they need not be a
+serious blot upon the decorative scheme of a room.
+
+Radiators, in the direct system, should be placed far enough from the
+walls to permit free circulation over the heating surfaces, and should
+not be directly covered at the top.  Ordinarily there are good reasons
+for putting them near the more exposed places, such as windows and
+outer doors.  As both steam and hot water furnish a dry heat, provision
+should be made in every room for evaporation of water.
+
+
+
+SUMMARY
+
+With no prejudice against good furnaces, it may be said that hot water
+apparently affords the greatest possibilities for comfort and
+regularity of heating, and that there are usually no reasons why it
+cannot be utilized in country houses.  A hot-water installation is
+likely to cost twice as much as a furnace, but if we are to live in the
+house it is better to make our estimates cover ten or twenty years
+rather than to bear too strongly on first costs.
+
+The following table, while it must not be taken as fully conclusive,
+gives at least a basis of consideration:
+
+
+                               HOT AIR.      STEAM.         HOT WATER.
+ First cost..................  Small.        Higher.        Highest.
+ Comparative coal
+     consumption ............  18 1/2 tons.  13 1/2 tons.   10 tons.
+ Average durability..........  12 years.     35 years.     *Indestructible
+ Heat distribution...........  Uneven.       Regular.       Even.
+ Temperature.................  Variable.     Fair.          Regular.
+ Ventilation.................  Good, if      Good, with     Good, with
+                               properly      indirect       indirect
+                               managed.      system.        system.
+ Quality of heated air.......  Ditto.        Ditto.         Ditto.
+ Dust and dirt...............  Much.         Little.        None.
+ Danger of fire..............  Moderate.     None.          None.
+ Danger of explosion.........  Slight.       None.          None.
+ Noise.......................  None.         Occasional.    Almost none.
+ Management.................. *Delightful.  *Pleasure.     *Joy.
+ Relative cost of apparatus..  9             13             15
+ Ditto, plus repairs and
+     fuel for five years.....  29 1/2        29 2/3         27
+ Ditto, plus repairs and
+     fuel for five years.....  81            63             52 1/2
+
+ * Makers' statement.
+
+
+These comparisons are probably, on the whole, somewhat unfair to the
+high-grade furnace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+FURNITURE
+
+Much of good sense and more that is nonsensical has been written about
+furniture.  Observation tends to justify belief that in general effect
+the nonsense has proved more potent than its antithesis.
+
+
+
+THE QUEST OF THE BEAUTIFUL
+
+Originality has been preached, and we have seen the result in
+abnormalities that conform to no conception of artistic or practical
+quality ever recognized.  Antique models have been glorified, with a
+sequence of puny, spiritless imitations.  Simplicity has been extolled,
+and we find the word interpreted in clumsiness and crudity.  Delicacy
+of outline has been urged, and we triumph in the further
+accomplishments of flimsiness and hopeless triviality.
+
+And yet through all that has been preached, through all that has been
+executed, there runs a vein of truth.  Each age should express itself,
+not merely the thought of centuries past; still, it can expect to do
+little more than take from antecedent cycles those features that will
+best serve the present, adding an original touch here and there.  So
+far, then, as we find in the furniture of the Georgian period, or of
+Louis Quinze, or even of the ancient Greeks, such suggestions as will
+help us to live this twentieth-century life more comfortably and
+agreeably, we may with good conscience borrow or imitate.
+
+
+
+ANCIENT DESIGNS
+
+Some "very eminent authorities" assure us that many of the objects of
+our admiration in museums and in private collections are remnants of
+the furnishings of the common households of the olden times.  If the
+breadth of knowledge of the "eminent authorities" is indicated by this
+assertion, they must have touched only the high places in history, so
+far as it records social conditions.  The truth is that the household
+appurtenances which have survived to our time are mostly those of the
+few and not of the many, of the palace and mansion and not of the cot.
+These articles were costly then and they would be costly now, and very
+often quite as useless as costly.  They were not found in the cottage
+of the older days, and they do not belong in the cottages of the
+present.
+
+Nevertheless, many of these old designs exemplify the elementary
+essentials of furniture--good materials, gracefulness, and thorough
+workmanship.  These are qualities that are to be sought for the cottage
+as well as for the mansion; and while they may add to the purchase cost
+of the separate articles, it is possible to secure them at no great
+increase for the whole over the cheaper goods, provided we guard
+against the common error in housefurnishing--overpurchasing.
+
+[Illustration: Good examples of Chippendale and old walnut.]
+
+
+
+THE ARTS AND CRAFTS
+
+What is known in America as the arts and crafts movement has, in its
+sincere developments, sought to adapt the better qualities of the old
+designs of furniture to the demands of modern conditions, artistic and
+practical.  Not always, however, has it been possible to distinguish
+between the honest effort to enforce a better standard and the various
+forms of charlatanry under which clumsy and unsightly creations have
+been and are being worked off upon an ingenuous public at prices
+proportioned to their degrees of ugliness.  In colonial times many an
+humble carpenter vainly scratched his noggin as he puzzled over the
+hopeless problem of duplicating with rude tools and scant skill the
+handiwork that graced the lordly mansions of merrie England; to-day
+some wight who can scarcely distinguish a jackplane from a saw-buck
+essays to "express himself" (at our expense) in furniture, repeating
+all the gaucheries that the colonial carpenter could not avoid making.
+
+
+
+MISSION FURNITURE
+
+Others have set themselves to reproducing the so-called mission
+furniture which the good priests of early California would have
+rejoiced to exchange for the convenient modern furniture at which the
+faddist sniffs.  But most of us who stop to think, realize that there
+is no magic virtue in antiquity of itself.  The average man, at least,
+cannot delude himself into the belief that there is comfort to be found
+in a great deal of the harsh-angled stuff paraded as artistic.
+
+Let us not be understood, however, as hinting that artistic qualities
+must be disregarded.  Though furniture should not be chosen for its
+beauty or associations alone, it must not be considered at all if
+beauty is absent.
+
+
+
+COMFORT, AESTHETIC AND PHYSICAL
+
+The first consideration of the home is comfort.  Let no one dispute
+that fact.  But there is such a thing as being aesthetically as well as
+physically comfortable.  Conceptions of physical comfort differ with
+individuals, but are usually well defined; some of us actually have no
+conception whatever of aesthetic comfort.  That is no reason why we
+should not seek it.  Probably we had a very faint idea of what good
+music or good painting was like until we came to an acquaintance with
+the masters; but we are surely not sorry to have progressed in
+experience and feeling.  And so it is that though we may not feel
+specially urged to insist upon tasteful surroundings, the higher
+instincts within us that persuade us to make the most of ourselves
+demand that we shall not be content with mere physical comfort.
+Therefore we may need to look a bit beyond our definite inward
+aspirations, and we should not disdain to follow others so far as they
+adhere to certain well-authenticated canons of good taste.
+
+
+
+OLDER MODELS IN FURNITURE
+
+Study of the older models of furniture is bound to prove suggestive,
+and it is better to secure from the library or bookseller a book by
+some authority than to depend upon dealers' catalogues, which are not
+always edifying.  English models affecting present-day outfitting date
+back as far as the Elizabethan period, approximately 1558-1603.
+Following there came the Early Jacobean, the Early Queen Anne, and the
+Georgian.  The last includes the work of Chippendale, Heppelwhite,
+Sheraton, and the Adams, all of whom executed some beautiful designs.
+The so-called colonial furniture belongs also to the Georgian period,
+as does the "Debased Empire," corresponding to or following the Empire
+styles in France.  In the latter country the periods of vogue are known
+as Francis Premier, Henri Deux, Henri Quatre, Louis Treize, Louis
+Quatorze, Louis Quinze, and Louis Seize.  Under the designation of the
+"Quaint style" W. Davis Benn groups the "Liberty," Morris, and arts and
+crafts designs.  Mr. Benn's "Styles in Furniture" will be found helpful
+in both text and illustration to those who would learn to distinguish
+between the products of the various periods.
+
+[Illustration: A Chippendale secretary.]
+
+
+
+MAHOGANY AND OAK
+
+Mahogany and oak are the best materials for furniture.  The former is
+cleverly imitated in a mahoganized birch, which presents a pleasing
+appearance and sometimes deceives those who are not familiar with the
+beautiful rich tones of the genuine article.  Mahogany adapts itself to
+almost any sensible style of interior decoration, is likely to be of
+careful manufacture, and is almost invariably cherished for its beauty.
+Like other highly finished woods it takes on a bluish tint in damp
+weather, and if not well protected, will demand attention more
+frequently than other materials.  But if its purchase can be afforded
+the care given it will scarcely be begrudged.  The eggshell (dull)
+finish requires less attention than the higher polish.
+
+Next in degree to mahogany, oak in the golden, weathered, or fumed
+effect is handsome and durable, while it is somewhat less expensive.
+The moment one drops below genuine mahogany, however, a wary eye must
+be kept upon construction.  There are shifts innumerable to make cheap
+furniture that has an alluring appearance, and the variety of design in
+the moderate-priced materials will lead to confusion for those who do
+not exert a Spartan discrimination.
+
+
+
+SUBSTANTIALITY
+
+To insure satisfaction there must first of all be substantiality--a
+quality which affects both comfort and appearance.  A chair may be
+beautiful, it may be comfortable, at the time of purchase, but if it be
+not substantial its glories will soon depart.  A superficial view
+cannot be conclusive.  The carefully made article built upon slender
+lines is often quite as strong as a more rugged creation hastily put
+together.  The chair that is properly constructed may be almost as
+solid as if it were of one piece, and still not require a block and
+tackle to move it.  The strongest article is made entirely of wood, and
+we find some of the old models so sturdily built that no rounds were
+required between the legs.  In chiffoniers, dressers, or side-boards a
+handsome exterior should not blind us to cheaply constructed drawers.
+The latter should be of strong material, properly fitted, and well
+sealed.  There need be no sagging, jamming, or accumulation of dust in
+drawers that are well constructed.
+
+
+
+SUPERFLUITY
+
+California, with its pretty little bungalows, not only has pointed out
+to us the possibility of living satisfactorily in a small number of
+rooms, but has shown us something in the way of simple furnishings.
+Not until we see what may be "done without" do we realize how much that
+is superfluous crowds our floors.
+
+A pretty good rule is to test everything first by its usefulness; if it
+is not useful, we may dispense with its purchase.  Even at that, it may
+be necessary to demand that the article shall be not only useful but
+absolutely indispensable, for between the beguiling advertisement and
+the crafty salesman, almost anything that is manufactured may be proved
+necessary.  At the best we shall probably purchase a-plenty, and the
+question of when a house reaches the point of overfurnishing is a
+difficult one to settle.  Let one of us, for instance, venture at
+midnight into a dark room--be the apartment ever so large--with nothing
+but a rocker in it, and the impression may be gained that the place has
+been turned into a furniture warehouse.  And some persons--none of us,
+to be sure!--are never happy while any of the floor or wall space is
+unoccupied.  So the world goes.  But if nine out of ten persons bought
+only what they could not do without, what they did purchase could be of
+a great deal better quality.
+
+No bit of furniture should be purchased for which there is not a
+suitable place in the house.  A piece may be very attractive in the
+salesroom, and its practical qualities may appear irresistible, while
+on our own floors it may be perfectly incongruous and perhaps, on
+account of its enforced location, almost useless.
+
+If for no other reason, we should go slow with our purchases because we
+cannot know the real needs of our home until we have lived in it.
+Experience will make some articles superfluous and substitute what we
+had not thought to want.  There should be a regular saving fund or
+appropriation for keeping up the house fittings, and usually it is
+found that this fund grows more steadily if we have some definite
+purchases in view.  Leave some things to be "saved up for"; there will
+be less likelihood then of your being included in that large class to
+which the newspaper "small ads" appeal--"those who wish to trade what
+they don't want for what they do want."
+
+
+
+HALL FURNITURE
+
+In a hall of the simpler sort the only requirements are a high-backed
+chair or settee, a table for _cartes de visite_, an umbrella
+receptacle, and a mirror wall hanger with hooks for the use of guests.
+The time-honored halltree is no more, and long may it rest in peace.
+If there had been no other reasons for its passing, its abuse in the
+average household made it an eyesore.  Intended only for the
+convenience of the transient guest, its hooks were usually preëmpted by
+the entire outer wardrobe of the family.  A good plan is to have a coat
+closet built in, under the stairway or elsewhere near the place of
+egress, leaving the few inconspicuous hooks in the hall to afford ample
+provision for visitors.  An appropriation of $50 to $100 will fit up a
+small hall very satisfactorily.  A pretty hanging lantern of hammered
+copper, with open bottom and globe of opalescent glass, will add more
+than its cost of $12.50 to the good impression the hall is to make upon
+those it receives.
+
+
+
+THE FAMILY CHAIRS
+
+Some good folk would banish the rocker unceremoniously from the living
+room, and we might not miss it so much as we think.  It is the
+adaptability of the rocker to comforting positions, rather than a love
+of rocking, that endears the chair to the majority, and when the same
+qualities are found in the reclining or easy chair we can well spare
+the projections that menace skirts and polished furniture, not to speak
+of the space they take up.
+
+As a general thing it is the man of the house whose comfort is most
+sedulously looked after.  For him the easy chair, the slippers, the
+reading lamp, the smoking outfit, the house jacket, the evening paper.
+This fact is mentioned in no carping spirit.  Far be it from one of the
+less worthy sex to quarrel with the fate that has been ordained for us
+by our helpmeets; the latter should not be deprived of a whit of the
+joy that comes from viewing the lord of the household agreeably
+situated, and in that blissful state which breeds a kindly spirit
+toward all human kind, including milliners and ladies' tailors.
+
+But too frequently the mistress of the household is supposed to pick up
+her comfort at odd times, or more likely there isn't any supposition at
+all.  For her, for the master, and for the other members of the family,
+there must be a personal interest in the living room, and this is best
+represented by the most comfortable chair to be had.  As persons are
+built of different heights and breadths, so the chairs should be.
+While the slender chap can snuggle down in the most capacious easy
+chair, the stout lady may be embarrassed when she finds the one single
+seat at hand proffering only a scanty breadth.  One may well provide
+for these contingencies, for of course it is not always possible to
+select our acquaintances in accordance with the capacity of our
+furniture.  Heights, too, should be varied somewhat, though it must be
+confessed that the joy of life (for others) is much increased by the
+sight of a six-foot (tall) gentleman of dignity gradually unfolding
+himself from the chair that was purchased for the particular use of
+Gwendolyn Ermyntrude, aged six.
+
+
+
+THE TABLE
+
+If the living room, among its other uses, takes the place of the
+library, the selection of a suitable library table will be a good test
+of the homemaker's discrimination.  The quality of this table should be
+at least equal to the best we have to show.  Whether it shall be
+squared, or oblong with oval ends, depends upon tastes; by all means it
+should be get-at-able.  That's what a library table is for.  Good
+designs in "arts and crafts" may be had as low as $16.50 in a small
+size; 72-inch, about $50.  Golden oak costs less, mahogany considerably
+more.
+
+
+
+THE DAVENPORT
+
+The davenport in mahogany or oak, in a plain or striped velour
+tapestry, felt filled, with good springs, built on straight lines with
+claw feet, broad arms, and heavy back, is a good article and will not
+leave much change out of a $50 bill.  That represents a fair price for
+a fair quality, and it would be better to do without the davenport than
+to go in for something too cheap.  The sort that have detached cushions
+in soft leather are very nice and practically dustless.  The same is
+true of easy chairs so provided.  A handsome weathered-oak davenport
+with cushions of this kind will be found marked somewhere about $65,
+while half that price pays for an easy chair of the same style.  The
+cushions are filled with felt.  Springs and fillings in davenports,
+easy chairs, and couches should be most thoroughly investigated.  If
+there are carvings they must be subjected to the severest tests of
+appropriateness, and in no event should they be where they will come in
+frequent contact with other articles or with persons.
+
+
+
+BOOKCASES
+
+Bookcases in weathered oak, with the top sections of the doors in
+leaded glass, seem worth the prices at $28 for 30-inch, $43.50 for
+4-foot, and $47.50 for 5-foot; yet a simple 30-inch golden oak case
+"made in Grand Rapids," and of which no one need be ashamed, costs but
+$14.  Sectional cases are very convenient, and are now being designed
+in artistic styles, but are not yet altogether approvable for the
+parlor or living room.  For the library simply, they are to be
+recommended.  Bookcases and other heavy pieces should either set
+solidly upon the floor or have sufficient open space beneath them to
+permit cleaning.  Unless their contents are (mistakenly) hidden by
+curtains, the bookcases should not be placed in too strong sunlight, as
+some bindings fade rapidly.  Nor should they be near the heat
+radiators, or against a wall that may possess moisture.  The piano,
+too, must be protected against too great heat or moisture, and in a
+stone or brick house should be placed against a partition rather than
+the outside wall.
+
+
+
+SUNDRIES
+
+Useful, but not life-or-death essentials, are a tabouret at, say,
+$3.25, a footrest for a little less, and a magazine rack for $5 or $10.
+The problem of keeping periodicals in easy reach without too much of a
+"litter'ry" effect has not yet been solved.  The open rack is the best
+compromise between sightliness and utility, because it is more apt to
+be used than the more ambitious arrangements with doors.  In the
+general treatment of the living room the piano and its case are not to
+be overlooked, and the presence of a piano also suggests the music
+cabinet, with its problem similar to that of the magazine rack.  As
+music is not kept so well "stirred up," however, the cabinet with a
+tight door is "indicated."
+
+
+
+WILLOW FURNITURE
+
+Willow furniture is used extensively in some country homes.  It is made
+of the French willow, and is not so cheap but is stronger than rattan.
+Best rockers in this material sell at about $20.  They are hardly to be
+considered in the permanent furnishings of the home, though there is no
+denying their cleanliness, coolness, and comfort, especially in summer.
+
+
+
+THE DINING TABLE
+
+For the dining room the sensible preference seems to be for a round
+table with straight lines of under construction.  The pillar base gives
+least interference with personal comfort, but even at that seems to be
+unescapable.  What has been said elsewhere about the choice of woods
+applies here also.  The high cost of a large-size mahogany table,
+however, will probably enable us to see some of the special beauties of
+golden oak.  A six-foot round table in the latter wood is priced at
+about $20.  Medium height chairs, with cane seats, $2.75; leather,
+$3.25.  Sideboards are now usually built in; otherwise the buffet
+table, free from excessive ornamentation, is given preference.
+
+[Illustration: The dining room.]
+
+
+
+DISCRIMINATION IN CHOICE
+
+A great deal of the factory-made furniture of the day is the veriest
+trash.  The best feature of it is that it cannot last long and will not
+survive to disgrace us in the eyes of a later and perhaps more
+discriminating generation.  For those who reside in flats, and are
+deprived of the inducement to plan for permanence, small blame can
+attach for hesitancy in making investments in the better sort of
+furniture that their tastes would lead them to choose.  This is the
+penalty they pay for evading the responsibilities of genuine home life
+in a house.
+
+But good furniture is being built in these days.  It is not confined to
+hand work, or to the products of long-haired folk who set up a religion
+of cabinet-making.  In every city there are several grades of furniture
+dealers.  At the one extreme there is the house that handles nothing
+but trash; at the other the house that handles no trash at all.  The
+latter is the obvious choice; and if we pay a bit more for
+safety--well, do we not pay for our insurance against fire, and
+burglars, and other things?
+
+If our house has been planned on a scale commensurate with our means,
+we shall find it no extravagance to complete the larger work of
+outfitting with articles that will bring pleasure and not vexation,
+that will need no apologies.  Surely no employment could be more
+interesting than the choice of these belongings which shall in many
+ways influence ourselves and those about us.
+
+There is such a range of styles and costs that if we approach the
+problem intelligently we may "express ourselves" quite as accurately as
+though we were amateur craftsmen.  Indeed, we must express ourselves,
+whether we determine to do so or not; for if we simply follow our
+cruder instincts, as the child selects its toys, do we not reveal the
+absence of any real artistic self whatever?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HOUSEHOLD LINEN
+
+Most of us "women folk" have some one dear pet hobby which we love to
+humor and to cater to, and which variously expresses itself in china,
+bric-a-brac, books, collections of spoons or forks, and other things of
+beauty and joys forever.  But whatever our individual indulgences may be,
+one taste we share in common--the love of neat napery.  Her heartstrings
+must indeed be toughly seasoned who feels no thrill of pride as she looks
+upon her piles of shining, satiny table linen, and takes account of her
+sheet, pillowcase and towel treasure.  They are her stocks and bonds,
+giving forth daily their bounteous, beauteous yield of daintiness and
+comfort, and paying for themselves many times over by the atmosphere of
+nicety and refinement which they create.  For it is these touches,
+unobtrusive by their very delicacy, which introduce that intangible but
+very essential quality known as _tone_ into the home harmony.
+
+Though this is true of all household linen, it is, especially so of table
+linen, which seems to weave into its delicate patterns and traceries all
+the light and sunshine of the room, and to give them back to us in the
+warming, quickening good cheer which radiates from a table daintily
+dressed.  Its influence refines, as all that is chaste and pure must
+refine, and helps to make of mealtime something more than merely
+mastication.  Human nature's daily food seems to lose something of its
+grossness in its snowy setting, and to gain a spiritual savor which finds
+an outlet in "feasts of reason and flows of soul."  When we have
+immaculate table linen we dine; otherwise we simply eat, and there are
+whole decades of civilization between the two.
+
+
+
+LINEN, PAST AND PRESENT
+
+Linen is a fabric with a past: it clothed the high priests of Israel for
+their sacred offices, and comes as a voice from the tombs of Egypt, where
+it enwraps the mummies of the Pharaohs, telling of a skill in weaving so
+marvelous that even our improved machinery of to-day can produce nothing
+to approach it.  And then it comes on down through the centuries to those
+nearer and dearer days of our grandmothers, when it was spun and woven by
+gentle fingers; while the halo of romance hovers over it even now as the
+German Hausfrau fills the dowry chest of her daughter in anticipation of
+the time when she, in turn, shall become a housewife.  Small wonder that
+we love it, and guard jealously against a stain on its unblemished
+escutcheon.
+
+
+
+BLEACHED AND "HALF-BLEACHED"
+
+Belfast, Ireland, is the home of linen and damask.  There are
+manufactories in both Scotland and France, but it is in Belfast that the
+fabric attains to the highest perfection, and "Irish linen" has come to
+be synonymous with excellence of design and weaving and luster--a most
+desirable trilogy.  The prospective purchaser of table linen should go to
+her task fortified with some information on the subject, that she may not
+find herself totally at the mercy of the salesman, who often knows little
+about his line of goods beyond their prices.  First of all she will
+probably he asked whether she prefers bleached or unbleached damask.  The
+latter--called "half-bleach" in trade vernacular--is made in Scotland and
+comes in cheap and medium grades alone.  Though it lacks the choiceness
+of design and the beauty and fineness of the Belfast bleached linens, it
+is good for everyday wear and quickly whitens when laid in the sun on
+grass or snow; while the fact that its cost is somewhat less than that of
+the corresponding quality in the bleached damask, and that it wears
+better, recommends it to many.  Occasionally the chemicals used in the
+bleaching process are made overstrong to hasten whitening, with the
+result that the fibers rot after a while and little cut-like cracks
+appear in the fabric.  This is not usual, but of course the unbleached
+damask precludes all possibility of such an occurrence.  One firm in
+Belfast still conscientiously employs the old grass-and-sun system of
+bleaching, and their damask is plainly marked "Old Bleach."  The
+half-bleach is sold both by the yard and in patterns.
+
+
+
+DAMASK
+
+Damask, by the way, takes its name from the city of Damascus where the
+fabric was first made, and is simply "linen so woven that a pattern is
+produced by the different directions of the thread," plain damask being
+the same fabric, but unfigured.  The expression "double damask" need
+occasion no alarm; it does not imply double cost, a double cloth, or
+double anything except a double, or duplicate, design, produced by the
+introduction of an extra thread so woven in that the figure appears
+exactly the same on both sides of the cloth, making it reversible.
+
+
+
+QUALITY
+
+The next thing will be to decide between buying by the yard and buying a
+pattern cloth in which the border continues without a break all the way
+around, adding about ten per cent to the price.  The designs in both
+cloths are the same in corresponding qualities.  We are knights and
+ladies of the round table these days, and cloths woven specially for use
+thereon, with an all-round center design, come only in patterns.  Cloths
+of this description are used also on square tables, as the wreath effect
+is very decorative.  As to the quality of damask, it depends not so much
+upon weight--for the finest cloths are by no means the heaviest--as upon
+the size of the threads and the closeness and firmness with which they
+are woven.  Avoid the loosely woven fabric; it will neither wear nor look
+so well as the one in which the threads are more compact.  In the better
+damasks the threads are smoother and finer in finish.
+
+
+
+DESIGN
+
+Styles in table linens change from time to time and render it difficult
+to say what may or may not be used with propriety, except that the
+general principle of coarse, heavy-looking designs being in poor taste
+always holds good.  One pattern alone has proven itself, and stood the
+test of time so satisfactorily that it is as high as ever in the good
+housekeeper's favor, with no prospect of falling from grace--our old
+friend the dainty, modest snowdrop, a quiet, unobtrusive little figure in
+a garden array of roses, English violets, lilacs, tulips, irises, and
+poppies--for these are flowery times in linens.  Occasionally we meet
+with a scroll or fern design, though the latter is gradually falling into
+disuse as being too stiff to twine and weave into graceful lines.  So
+true to nature and so exquisitely woven are these posy patterns that they
+form in themselves a most charming table decoration.  In order to secure
+perfect reproduction a manufacturer in Belfast has established and
+maintains a greenhouse where his designers draw direct from the natural
+flower.  This care is but the outgrowth of the more refined living which
+demands that beauty shall walk hand-in-hand with utility.
+
+
+
+PRICE AND SIZE
+
+Before our housekeeper starts a-shopping she must lock up her zeal for
+economy lest it lead her away from the straight and narrow way of good
+taste into that broader path which leads to the bargain counter.  She may
+as well make up her mind at once that desirable table linen is not cheap,
+the sorts offered at a very low price being neither economical nor
+desirable, and that a cheap cloth which cheapens all of its surroundings
+is dearly bought at any price.  Occasionally the experienced shopper can
+pick up at a sale of odd-length or soiled damasks something which is
+really a good offering, particularly during the annual linen sale which
+falls in January.  But as a rule beware of bargains!  The fabric is
+liable to be a "second" with some imperfection, or to contain a thread of
+cotton which gives it a rough look when laundered, and there is generally
+a shortage in width--which suggests the advisability of measuring the
+table top before buying, for cloths come in different widths, and one
+which is too narrow looks out-grown and awkward and--stingy!  The average
+table is about 4 feet across, and requires a cloth 2 yards square, though
+in buying by the yard it is safe to allow an extra quarter for
+straightening the edges and hemming.  The cloth should hang at least a
+foot below the edge of the table, with an increase of half a yard in
+length for each additional table leaf.  A cloth 2 yards square will seat
+four people; 2 by 2 1/2, six; 2 by 3, eight; 2 by 3 1/2, ten; and 2 by 4,
+twelve.  A wider table calls for a half or a quarter of a yard more in
+the width of the cloth, at some little additional cost, as fewer cloths
+in extra widths are made or called for.  Usually a good pattern runs
+through three qualities of table linen, with napkins in two sizes to
+match--22-inch for breakfast and luncheon use, and 24-inch for dinner.
+These are the standard sizes most generally used, though napkins are to
+be had both larger and smaller.  A napkin should be soft and pliable, and
+large enough to cover the knees well.  Prices on all-linen bleached satin
+damask pattern cloths, with accompanying napkins, are about as appear in
+the list on the opposite page:
+
+
+
+ CLOTHS.
+
+                           GOOD QUALITY.   BETTER.   EXTRA GOOD.
+
+ 2     x 2     yards, each  $2.00-$2.75     $3.50   $4.50-$5.25
+ 2     x 2 1/2   "     "     2.50- 3.50      4.50    5.75- 6.75
+ 2     x 3       "     "     3.00- 4.25      5.25    6.75- 8.00
+ 2     x 3 1/2   "     "     3.50- 4.85      6.25    8.00- 9.25
+ 2     x 4       "     "     4.00- 5.50      7.00    9.00-10.75
+ 2 1/4 x 2 1/4   "     "     2.90- 3.75      4.50    6.00- 7.75
+ 2 1/2 x 2 1/2   "     "     4.25- 4.50      5.25    7.50- 8.75
+ 2 1/2 x 3       "     "     5.00- 5.50      6.25    9.00-10.50
+ 2 1/2 x 3 1/2   "     "     6.25- 6.50      7.50   10.50-12.25
+ 2 1/2 x 4       "     "     7.00- ....      8.50   12.00-14.00
+ 2 1/2 x 4 1/2   "     "     ..........      ....   13.50-14.75
+ 2 1/2 x 5       "     "     ..........      ....   15.00-17.50
+ 2 3/4 x 2 3/4   "     "     ..........      ....   11.00-13.00
+ 3     x 3       "     "     ..........      ....   15.00-16.00
+
+ 86    x  90   inches, "     3.50
+ 86    x 108     "     "     4.25
+ 86    x 136     "     "     5.00
+ 86    x 144     "     "     5.75
+
+
+ NAPKINS.
+
+ 22    x 22   inches, dozen $2.50-$3.00     $3.75   $5.00-$5.50
+ 23    x 23      "      "    3.00  ....      5.25    7.00- 7.50
+ 24    x 24      "      "    3.00- 3.75      ....
+ 25    x 25      "      "    3.50  ....      5.25
+ 27    x 27      "      "    6.25- 7.50      ....
+
+
+
+The 3x3 yards cloth is called a banquet cloth, and is one for which the
+average housekeeper would have little use.
+
+
+
+NECESSARY SUPPLY
+
+The amount of table linen to be bought for the first "fitting out"
+depends upon the fatness of the pocketbook and the room available for
+stowing it away.  Since there are so many other expenses at this time the
+best way will probably be to buy all that will be needed for a year, and
+then add to it one or two cloths with their napkins each succeeding year.
+Three cloths of the right length for everyday use, and one long
+"family-gathering" cloth, with a dozen napkins to match each, will be a
+good start.  If the special-occasion cloth seems to be too costly, two
+short cloths of duplicate pattern can be substituted for it, the
+centerpiece and a clever arrangement of decorations hiding the joining.
+If table linen is to be stored away and not used for some time after its
+purchase, the dressing which it contains must be thoroughly washed out,
+else the chemicals are liable to rot the fabric.  It is advisable, too,
+to put not-to-be-used damask away rough-dry, otherwise it may crack, in
+the folds.  The use of colored table linens is in the worst possible
+taste, except on the servants' table.  Those flaming ferocities known as
+"turkey-red" cloths, which seem to fairly fly at one, are not only
+inartistic but altogether too suggestive of economy in laundering to be
+appetizing table companions.
+
+
+
+PLAIN, HEMSTITCHED, OR DRAWN
+
+Cloths bought by the yard must be evened at the ends by drawing a thread,
+and hemmed by hand, never stitched on the machine.  The inch hem of a few
+years ago has been superseded by the very narrow one which is always in
+good taste, regardless of style.  Napkins come by the piece and must be
+divided and hemmed on two sides, rubbing well between the hands first to
+remove the stiffness.
+
+There is nothing handsomer or more elegant than the fine, hemmed table
+linen, but if a hemstitched cloth is desired, or one containing some
+drawn-work design, it is better to buy the material and do the work
+oneself; otherwise; the expense goes into the work, not the linen, and
+the cost is usually about double that of the same cloth plainly finished.
+Hemstitching and fancy work are appropriate only on cloths for the
+luncheon table, which may be of either plain or figured damask, or of
+heavy linen, which is often effectively combined with Battenberg and
+linen laces.  Neither drawn work nor hemstitching wears well, drawing the
+threads seeming to weaken the fabric.  Very pretty luncheon cloths can be
+purchased in different sizes for $1.50, $1.75, $2.00, $2.75, etc.,
+according to size, material, and elaboration, with accompanying napkins,
+18 by 18 inches, for $2.50 or more a dozen.  A cloth just the size of the
+table top is a convenient luncheon size.  These cloths save much wear on
+the large cloths, and laundry work as well.
+
+
+
+DOILIES AND TABLE DRESSING
+
+The pretty present-day fashion of using individual plate doilies on a
+polished table at breakfast and luncheon is also labor-saving.  The plate
+doilies, either square, oval, or round, and of plain damask or smooth,
+closely woven, rather heavy linen, are hemstitched or finished with a
+padded scallop worked with white cotton.  The round doily is most used,
+and offers a delightful field to the worker in over-and-over embroidery
+for the display of her skill.  Linen lace combinations are also used, but
+they are rather for dress-up than for daily use.  The plate doilies
+should be at least 9 inches wide, with smaller corresponding ones on
+which to set the glass of water or the hot cup, and an extra one or two
+for small dishes for relishes and the like that may be kept on the table,
+etc.  They can he bought for 25 cents a piece and upward, but the average
+housekeeper enjoys making her own, taking them for "pick-up" work.  Small
+fringed napkins are also used in the same way, and for tray covers, but
+fringe soon grows to look "dog-eared," and mats in the laundering.  Still
+another dressing for the bare table is the long hemstitched linen strip,
+12 inches wide, which runs the length of the table, hanging over the end,
+and is crossed at the middle by a second strip extending over the sides,
+two strips thus seating four people.  When six are to be seated the
+cross-piece is moved to one side and a third corresponding strip placed
+about 18 inches from it.
+
+The list of table linen is incomplete without a damask carving cloth to
+match each tablecloth, which it protects from spatterings from the
+platter.  This also may be fashioned of plain linen, should be about
+three-quarters of a yard wide and a yard long, and either hemstitched or
+scalloped--embroidered, too, if one cares to put that much energy into
+work which will show so little.  And then there must be some doilies to
+overlay the Canton-flannel-covered asbestos mats for use under hot dishes.
+
+
+
+CENTERPIECES
+
+Styles in centerpieces are fleeting; just now all-white holds sway, and
+of a surety there is nothing daintier.  Although pretty centers can be
+purchased all the way up from $1, here again the mistress's industrious
+fingers come into play, for there is a certain unbuyable satisfaction in
+working a little of one's very self into the table adornment, and really
+handsome centerpieces are quite expensive.  They run in sizes from 12 to
+45 inches.  The center with doilies to match is pretty and desirable.  It
+is quite as easy to arrange them in this way as to gather in an
+ill-assorted, mismated collection.  Those for daily use should be rather
+simple and of a quality which will not suffer from frequent intercourse
+with the washtub.
+
+
+
+MONOGRAMS
+
+The fashion of embroidering monograms on table linen must be handled with
+care; the working over-and-over of the padded letters with fine cotton
+thread is a nice task which requires experience and skill.  The cloth
+monograms are from 2 to 3 inches high and are placed at one side of the
+center, toward the corner.  Either the full monogram or an initial is
+appropriate in the corner of the napkin, and to be in the best taste
+should never be more than an inch high.  These letters are either plain,
+in circlets, or surrounded with running vines, and add that distinction
+to the napery which handwork always imparts.
+
+
+
+CARE OF TABLE LINEN
+
+Table linen, like friendship, must be kept constantly in repair.  Look
+out for the thin places and darn before they have a chance to wear
+through.  Ravelings from the cloth should be kept for this purpose.  A
+carefully applied patch or darn is scarcely noticeable after laundering.
+The hardest wear comes where the cloth hangs over the edge of the table,
+at head and foot.  When it begins to be thin at these places cut off one
+end at the worn point, if the cloth is sufficiently long to warrant it,
+and hem the raw edge.  This draws the other worn place well up on the
+table where the friction is much less, considerably lengthening the life
+of the cloth.  The cut-off end may be converted into fringed napkins, on
+which to lay croquettes, fried potatoes, etc., doilies for bread and cake
+plates, children's napkins, or tray covers.  Old table linen passes
+through several stages of decline before it becomes absolutely useless;
+when too much worn for table purposes it enwraps our bread and cake and
+strains our jellies, and when at last it has won the well-earned rest of
+age, it still waits in neat rolls to bandage our cuts and bruises.
+
+
+
+HOW TO LAUNDER
+
+There is a saying that "Old linen whitens best," to which we might also
+add that it looks best, gaining additional smoothness and gloss with each
+laundering.  Table linen should never dry on the line, but be brought in
+while still damp, very carefully folded, and ironed bone-dry, with
+abundant "elbowgrease."  This is the only way to give it a "satin gloss."
+_Never_ use starch.  The pieces should be folded evenly and carefully,
+with but one crease--down the middle--and not checker-boarded with dozens
+of lines.  Centers and large doilies are best disposed of by rolling over
+a round stick well padded.
+
+
+
+TABLE PADS
+
+Much wear and tear on both table and cloth is prevented by the use of a
+double-faced Canton-flannel pad, which prevents the cloth from cutting
+through on the edges, gives it body, softens the clatter of the dishes,
+and absorbs liquids.  It comes in 1 1/2- and 1 3/4-yard widths and sells
+for 65 to 85 cents a yard.  Pads of asbestos are also used, but are far
+more expensive.  It is a good plan to have two if possible--one for use
+on the everyday table, and a longer one to cover the family-gathering
+table.  Covers for the sideboard and any small table used in the dining
+room are of hemstitched or scalloped linen, either plain or
+embroidered--never ruffled or fluffy.
+
+
+
+READY-MADE BED LINEN
+
+Buying bed linen is not so very serious a matter.  Drygoods stores offer
+sheets and pillowcases ready made to fit any sized bed or pillow at
+prices little, if any, greater than the cost of those made at home.
+Merchants say that they sell one hundred sheets ready made to one by the
+yard, which speaks well, not for their goods alone, but for the spirit of
+housewifely economy which maintains that labor saved is time and strength
+earned.  Moreover, the deluded seeker after bed beauty who wastes her
+precious hours in hemstitching sheets and pillowcases--cotton ones at
+that--is a reckless spendthrift, and needs a course in the economics of
+common sense.  Nothing is more desirable than the simple elegance of the
+plain, broad hem, nor more disheartening than hemstitching which has
+broken from its moorings while the rest of the sheet is still perfectly
+good--a way it has.  Hem-stitching may answer on linen sheets which are
+not in constant use, but ordinarily let us have the more profitable
+plainness.  Good sheets are always torn--not cut--and finished with a 2
+1/2- or 3-inch hem at the top and an inch hem at the bottom, the finished
+sheet measuring not less than 2 3/4 yards.  There must be ample length to
+turn back well over the blankets and to tuck in at the foot, for it is a
+most irritating sensation to waken in the night with the wool tickling
+one's toes and scratching one's chin.  Sheets are to be had in varying
+widths to suit different sized beds.
+
+
+
+PRICE AND QUALITY
+
+The 2 3/4-yard length in an average sheet of good quality costs 90 cents
+for a double bed, 75 cents for a three-quarter bed, and 45 cents for a
+single bed, with hemstitched sheets of corresponding quality at the same
+price.  It is hardly worth while to pay more than this, while very good
+sheets are to be had for 75 cents, with a decrease in price as the width
+decreases.  Half-bleach double-bed sheets of good quality cost 85 and 70
+cents, and so on, and are more especially for servants' beds.  They are
+popularly supposed to outwear the bleached, but are somewhat trying
+bedfellows until whitened.
+
+Plain or hemstitched pillowcases cost from 25 to 75 cents a pair, each
+additional width raising the price 5 cents.  The average or sleeping-size
+pillow is 22 1/2 by 36 1/2 inches, and calls for a case enough larger to
+slip on easily, but not loose nor long enough to hang over the sides of
+the bed.  If pillows of different sizes are in use their cases should be
+numbered.
+
+Bed linen should be firmly woven, with a thread rather coarse than fine.
+The amount purchased must be regulated by the number of beds to be
+furnished, allowing three sheets and three pairs of cases to each.  The
+supply can always be easily added to, but if expedient for any reason to
+buy in large quantities, set apart enough to supply all the beds and keep
+the rest in reserve, otherwise it will all give out at once.  If the
+housewife is so unfortunately situated that she is forced to make her own
+bed linen, she will do well to buy her material by the piece--40 to 50
+yards.  All hems can be run on the machine.
+
+
+
+REAL LINEN
+
+Though not everyone likes the "feel" of linen, most housekeepers are
+ambitious to include a certain amount with their other bed linens, for
+use in the summer or during illness, because of its non-absorbent
+qualities.  Sheets cost $3, $3.50, $4, $5, $6, and on up to $17, the more
+expensive ones being embellished with hemstitching, scallops, or lace.
+Pillowcases to correspond sell at from $1.25 up.  Linen for this purpose
+is always bleached, the 90-inch sheeting being $1 to $3 a yard, the
+45-inch pillowcasing 50 cents to $1.50 a yard, and 50-inch casing 75
+cents to $2 a yard.  Inch-high monograms or letters may be embroidered in
+white at the middle of sheets and pillowcases, just above the hem.  When
+sheets wear thin down the center, tear and "turn," whipping the selvages
+together and hemming the torn edges, which become the new edges of the
+sheet.  Old bed linen makes the finest kind of cleaning cloths, and
+should be folded neatly away for that purpose, sheets being reserved for
+the ironing board.
+
+
+
+SUGGESTIONS ABOUT TOWELS
+
+Towels are best purchased by the dozen, huck of Irish bleached linen
+being best for all-around use.  These have good absorbent qualities,
+plain or hemstitched hems, measure from 18 by 36 inches to 24 by 42
+inches, and cost from $2.50 to $6 a dozen.  Some of these are "Old
+Bleach" linen, and therefore both desirable and durable.  Pass by towels
+with colored borders; the colored part is always cotton, and is in poor
+taste anyway.  Some huck towels have damask borders; other towels are of
+all-damask, costing from $6 to $12 a dozen, but huck is the stand-by.
+Fringed towels, of course, are not to be considered for a moment.  Each
+member of the family should have his own individual towel, or set of
+towels, distinguished by some mark, particularly children, who find it
+hard to learn that towels are for drying, not cleansing, purposes.  Those
+for their use may be smaller and cheaper.  Turkish or bath towels are of
+either cotton or linen, the latter being more for friction purposes and
+costing $6 to $12 a dozen.  The cotton absorbs better and is most
+generally used for the bath.  Good values in towels of this kind are to
+be had for $2.50, $2.85, $3, and $4.50 a dozen.  Good crash face cloths
+cost 5 cents and even less.
+
+Household linens must include, too, the 6 barred-linen kitchen towels at
+10, 12, or 15 cents a yard, for drying silver and glass; and 6 heavier
+towels, either barred or crash, for china and other ware, at the same
+price, with 3 roller towels at 10 cents per yard; while last, but by no
+means least, come the dozen neatly hemmed cheesecloth dusters at 5 cents
+a yard, for men must work and women must sweep--and dust!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE KITCHEN
+
+The old condition of "Queen-Anne-in-the-front-and-Mary-Ann-in-the-back"
+in the home furnishing, when the largest outlay of money and taste was
+put into the "front room" and the kitchen took the hindermost, has
+gradually given way before the fact that a woman is known, not by the
+drawing-room, but by the kitchen, she keeps.  Given the requisite
+qualifications for the proper furnishing, care, and ordering of her
+kitchen, and it can usually be said of her with truth that she is
+mistress of the entire home-making and home-keeping situation.  If any
+one room in the home was conceived solely for the relief of man's
+estate, that room is the kitchen, and it has supplied the energy which
+has sent forth many a one to fight a winning battle with the world, the
+flesh, and the devil; and while it is, alas, too true that it is the
+rock upon which many a domestic ship has gone to pieces, it is the true
+foundation of the home and, therefore, of the nation.  Wherefore let us
+first look well to our kitchens and then live up to them.
+
+
+
+THE PLAN
+
+The kitchen of our grandmothers was a large, rambling affair, with
+numerous storerooms, closets, and pantries, the care of which involved
+a stupendous outlay of time and strength.  But the demands of our
+modern and more strenuous life necessitate strict economy of both, and
+the result is a kitchen sufficiently large for all practical purposes,
+with every space utilized and everything convenient to the hand.  The
+amount of woodwork is reduced to a minimum, since wood is a harboring
+place for insects and germs.  Where it must be used it is of hard wood,
+or of pine painted and varnished, the varnish destroying those
+qualities in paint which are deleterious to health.  The plumbing must
+be open, with no dark corners in which dust may hide.  Odors from
+cooking pass out through a register in the chimney, and ventilation is
+afforded by transom and window.  Blessed indeed is the kitchen with
+opposite windows, which insure a perfect circulation of air.  So much
+for the general working plan.
+
+
+
+LOCATION AND FINISH
+
+For some reason best known to themselves architects almost invariably
+give to the kitchen the location with the least agreeable outlook, sun
+and scenery being seemingly designed for the exclusive use of living
+and dining rooms; whereas the housekeeper realizes the great value of
+the sun as an aid to sanitation and as a soul strengthener, and wishes
+that its beneficent influence might be shed over kitchen, cook, and
+cookery.  But the frequent impossibility of this only increases the
+necessity for simulating sunshine within, and so we select cream white,
+warm, light grays or browns, Indian red, or bronze green--which is
+particularly good with oak woodwork--for walls and ceilings.
+Waterproof paper may be used, but is not particularly durable.  Far
+better is the enameled paint, requiring three coats, or painted burlap.
+Or our thoughts may turn with longing to a white-tiled kitchen, with
+its air of spotless purity, but, too often, "beyond the reach of you
+and me."  Why not substitute for it the white marbled oilcloth which
+produces much the same effect, and can be smoothly fitted if a little
+glue is added to the paste with which it is put on?  A combination of
+white woodwork with blue walls and ceiling is charming, particularly
+where the blue-enameled porcelain-lined cooking utensils are used, and
+the same idea can be carried out in the floor covering.  White with
+yellow is also dainty.  Calcimine is not desirable in the kitchen, as
+it cannot be cleaned and is, therefore, unsanitary.  Two tablespoonfuls
+of kerosene added to the cleaning water will keep woodwork, walls, and
+ceilings fresh and glossy.  A long-handled mopholder fitted with a
+coarse carriage sponge will facilitate the cleaning of the latter.
+
+[Illustration: The kitchen.]
+
+
+
+THE FLOOR
+
+Despite the fact that we are enjoined to "look up, not down," the floor
+seems to be the focal point to anyone entering the kitchen, and it
+becomes a source of pride or humiliation to the occupant according to
+its condition.  A beautiful, snowy hardwood floor, "clean enough to eat
+on," is a delight, but it has such an insatiable appetite for spots
+after the newness has worn off that it requires frequent
+scrubbing--twice a week at least--and on a dry day, if possible, with
+doors and windows opened during the operation, all of which means
+energy misapplied.  To be sure, the new "colonial" cotton-rag rugs,
+woven in harmony with the general color scheme, protect the floor and
+help to relieve the strain of much standing, and can he washed and
+dried as satisfactorily as any piece of cotton cloth; while raw oil,
+applied with a soft cloth or a handful of waste every two months, will
+keep the floor in good condition.  But the housekeeper who chooses the
+better part covers her floor with linoleum at comparatively small cost,
+a piece good both in quality and design selling at 60 cents a square
+yard.  In this, too, the color idea can be carried out, the smaller
+designs being preferable.  Neutral tints follow wood-carpeting designs,
+are neat, and less apt to soil than the lighter patterns.  It is a wise
+plan in buying to allow enough linoleum for three smaller pieces to be
+placed before stove, table, and sink, thus saving wear and tear on the
+large piece.  Thus covered, the floor is easily cleaned with a damp
+cloth.  It must be thoroughly swept once a day, followed by a general
+dusting of the room, with brushings up between times.
+
+
+
+THE WINDOWS
+
+Kitchen windows must he washed once a week--oftener in fly time.  A
+dainty valance, or sash curtains of muslin, dimity, or other summer
+wash goods, give an attractive and homey touch to the room.  Each
+window should have a shade with a double fixture, fastened at the
+middle of the casement and adjusted upward and below from that point.
+
+
+
+THE SINK
+
+The sink, unless it is porcelain-lined, should be kept well painted and
+enameled, white being preferable to any color.  Faucets can be kept
+bright by rubbing with whiting and alcohol, followed by a vigorous
+polishing with a bit of flannel.  It surely cannot be necessary to
+suggest the dangers arising from an untidy sink in which refuse of
+various kinds--tea leaves, coffee grounds, vegetable parings, and the
+like--is allowed to accumulate.  Unsanitary conditions about the sink
+not only are unsightly, but attract roaches and breed germs which are a
+menace to life and health.  The rinsing water from coffee and tea pots
+and cooking utensils should be poured into the sink strainer, which
+catches the odds and ends of refuse and keeps them from clogging the
+drain pipe.  Grease must never be poured into the sink, nor dish nor
+cleaning cloths used after they are worn enough to shed lint.  Boiling
+water and ammonia should be poured down the drain pipe once a day,
+which treatment must be supplemented once a week with a dose of
+disinfectant--chloride of lime, copperas, or potash in boiling water.
+An occasional inspection by a plumber makes assurance doubly sure that
+the condition of the drain pipe is as it should be.  All refuse ought
+to be burned at once or put into a covered garbage can and disposed of
+as soon as possible.  The can itself must be scalded every day with sal
+soda water, thoroughly dried, and lined with thick, clean paper.
+
+
+
+THE PANTRY
+
+The same treatment accorded the kitchen in decoration and care must be
+bestowed also upon the pantry, which should be dry and well ventilated.
+After a thorough scrubbing with soap and water, with the aid of a dish
+mop rinse the shelves with boiling water, dry carefully, and cover with
+plain white paper, using the ornamental shelf paper for the edges.
+White table oilcloth makes a good covering, and comes specially
+prepared with a fancy border for that purpose.  The convenient pantry
+is equipped with both shelves and drawers, the latter to contain the
+neatly folded piles of dish, glass, and hand towels, cheesecloth
+dusters, holders, and cleaning cloths.  There are usually four shelves,
+the top one being reserved for articles of infrequent use.  On the
+others are arranged the kitchen dishes, pans, and all utensils which do
+not hang, together with jars and cans containing food.  Leave nothing
+in paper bags or boxes to attract insects, soil the shelves, and give a
+disorderly appearance to an otherwise tidy pantry.  Glass fruit jars
+are desirable repositories for small dry groceries--tea, coffee, rice,
+tapioca, raisins, currants, and the like--though very dainty and
+serviceable covered porcelain jars in blue and white are made
+especially for this purpose, those of medium size costing 25 cents
+each, the smaller ones less, the larger more.  Jars or cans of japanned
+tin, designed for like use, are less expensive, but also less
+attractive, and in the course of time are liable to rust, particularly
+in summer, or where the climate is at all damp.  The shelves should be
+wiped off and regulated once a week, and crockery and utensils kept as
+bright and shining as plenty of soap and hot water can make them.  The
+pantry requires special care during the summer, when dust and flies are
+prone to corrupt its spotlessness.  A wall pocket hung on the door will
+be found a convenient dropping place for twine, scissors, and papers.
+
+
+
+INSECTS AND THEIR EXTERMINATION
+
+It is not just pleasant to associate cockroaches and ants with our
+kitchens and pantries, but where heat and moisture and food are, there
+insects will be also, for they seem to enjoy a taste of high life and
+to thrive on it.  Keep the house clean, dry, and well aired, and all
+dish and cleaning cloths sweet and fresh by washing and drying
+immediately after use, with a weekly boiling in borax water; dispose
+carefully of all food, and then wage a war of extermination.  This is
+all that will avail in an insect-infested house.  Hunt out, if
+possible, the nests or breeding places of ants and saturate with
+boiling water or with kerosene.  Wash all woodwork, shelves, and
+drawers with carbolic-acid water and inject it into any crack or
+opening where the pests appear.  It has been suggested that ants can be
+kept out of drawers and closets by a "dead line" drawn with a brush
+dipped in corrosive sublimate one ounce, muriate of ammonia two ounces,
+and water one pint, while a powder of tartar emetic, dissolved in a
+saucer of water, seems to be effective in driving them away.  Sponges
+wet with sweetened water attract them in large numbers, and when full
+should be plunged in boiling water.  Another successful "trap" is a
+plate thinly spread with lard, this also to be dropped into boiling
+water when filled.  In order to protect the table from an invasion
+stand the legs in dishes of tar water to a depth of four inches.  Ants
+have a decided distaste for the odors of pennyroyal and oil of cedar, a
+few drops of either on bits of cotton frequently sufficing to drive
+them away entirely.  As for cockroaches, there appear to be almost as
+many "exterminators" as there are housewives; but what is their poison
+in one home seems to make them wax and grow fat in another.  Borax and
+powdered sugar, scattered thickly over shelves and around baseboards
+and sink, is a favorite remedy with many, but it is an unsightly mess,
+particularly in summer, when the sugar melts and becomes sticky.  After
+all, experience has demonstrated that the one really effectual method
+of extermination is to besiege the roaches in their own bailiwick--the
+pipes and woodwork about the sink--with a large bellows filled with a
+good, reliable insect powder.  Exit roaches!
+
+
+
+THE REFRIGERATOR AND ITS CARE
+
+The refrigerator may or may not stand in the pantry, according to
+convenience, or as there is sewer connection for it.  Some authorities
+maintain that there is grave danger from sewer gas where the
+refrigerator is connected directly with the sewer, and that, therefore,
+the only safe way to dispose of the waste water is to catch it in a pan
+placed beneath the refrigerator, unless the house is so built that the
+waste pipe can be continued down into the cellar and there empty its
+contents into a sink.  A good, zinc-lined refrigerator, interlined with
+charcoal, with a hundred-pound capacity, a removable ice pan, which
+facilitates cleaning, and three shelves, is to be had for $16.50.  In
+selecting a refrigerator it is well to choose one of medium size, as a
+larger one entails waste of ice, while a smaller necessitates the
+placing near together of foods which should be kept apart, as butter
+and milk with fish, fruit, etc.  If one cares to invest in the
+higher-priced refrigerators, of course those lined with tile,
+porcelain, or enamel are very desirable, as they are easily kept clean
+and do not absorb odors.  But for the average income and use, a
+first-class zinc-lined refrigerator answers every purpose.  It should
+be thoroughly cleansed, on the mornings when the ice is to be renewed,
+with hot sal soda water followed by a cold bath and a thorough drying.
+The drain pipe must not be overlooked, but given the same sal soda
+treatment, otherwise it becomes coated and a fruitful source of germs.
+If, after this has been done, a musty odor still clings about the
+refrigerator, remove the shelves and boil in the clothes boiler for
+twenty minutes.  Pieces of charcoal placed in the corners of the
+refrigerator and frequently renewed will absorb much of the odor.
+Never place warm food in the refrigerator, nor food of any kind on the
+shelves, unless it is first placed on a plate or platter.  It is
+economy to keep the ice chamber well filled, and all ice should be well
+washed before being placed therein.  Some housekeepers cover the ice,
+with newspapers or carpet.  This no doubt helps to preserve it, but it
+also keeps the cold from the food chambers.  No food and nothing
+containing it should ever be placed directly on the ice.
+
+
+
+FURNISHING THE KITCHEN
+
+And now, having cleaned and decorated our kitchen and pantry, and
+provided for the refrigeration and partial disposal of our food,
+suppose we turn our attention to the fascinating task of selecting the
+different parts of the machinery which turns out that finished
+masterpiece--a perfect meal--bearing in mind in the meantime that the
+saying, "Art is the expression of joy in one's work," applies to
+nothing more truly than to the art of cookery, and that no tools
+necessary to its perfect success nor to her comfort and convenience
+should be denied that master artist, the cook, be she mistress or maid.
+
+
+
+THE STOVE
+
+Of paramount importance is, of course, the stove, and what kind it
+shall be, whether gas, coal, or oil.  Those of us who have grown
+accustomed to the immunity from those inevitable accompaniments of a
+coal range, ashes, soot, dust, and heat, afforded by the gas range,
+with its easily regulated broiler and oven, could hardly be persuaded
+to go back to first principles, as it were, and the coal range.  But
+when this is necessary, either for warmth or because there is no gas
+connection in the house, one has a wide choice of first-class stoves
+and can hardly go astray in selecting one.  Twenty-one dollars will buy
+a good, durable stove with all modern improvements and a large oven.  A
+stove with the same capacity but manufactured under a world-famous name
+sells for $32, while between the two in price is one at $28.  Two firms
+manufacture, in connection with their regular line of ranges, a
+three-plate gas stove which can be attached directly to the range, and
+sells for $6.  A portable steel oven, covering two burners, for use on
+gas and oil stoves alike, adds to the convenience of the gas plate, and
+sells for $2.  If a gas range is desired, an excellent one with a large
+oven, broiler, and all conveniences may be purchased for $18, one with
+a smaller oven for $15.  It might be well to suggest in passing that a
+small oven is poor economy.  Water backs, for both gas and coal ranges,
+are $3.50 each.  Where gas is unobtainable a three-burner wickless
+oil-stove plate will be found to give very good satisfaction, and can
+be placed on the coal range or on a table or box.  The range of the
+same capacity is $1 more, with an increase in price corresponding with
+the number of burners, until we have the five-burner stove at $11.  To
+do away with the odor which is apt to result from the use of oil as
+fuel, remove the burners, boil in sal soda water, dry thoroughly, and
+return to the stove.  In setting up a stove look carefully to it that
+the height is right, otherwise the cook's back is sure to suffer.  If
+too low, blocks can be placed under the legs to raise it to a
+comfortable height.  A whisk broom hung near the stove is useful in
+removing crumbs, dust, etc., and keeping it tidy.  A rack behind the
+stove, on which to hang the spoons and forks used in cooking, is a
+great convenience and a saving to the table top.
+
+
+
+THE TABLE AND ITS CARE
+
+The table should stand on casters and be placed in a good light as far
+from the stove as may be.  The latest product of the manufacturer's
+genius in this line contains two drawers--one spaced off into
+compartments for the different knives, forks, and spoons for kitchen
+use--a molding board, and three zinc-lined bins, one large one for
+wheat flour, and two smaller one for graham flour, corn meal, etc.
+When one considers the economy of steps between kitchen and pantry
+which it makes possible, its price, $6.75, is not large, while it
+obviates the necessity for purchasing bins and molding board.  Our
+friend, the white table oilcloth, tacked smoothly in place, gives a
+dainty top which is easily kept clean with a damp cloth--another
+labor-saving device, which stands between cook and scrubbing brush.  A
+zinc table cover is preferred by some housewives, as it absorbs no
+grease and is readily brightened with scouring soap and hot water.
+Separate zinc-covered table tops can be had for $1.50.  The
+marble-topped table is not desirable, for, though it undoubtedly is an
+aid to the making of good pastry, it stains easily, dissolves in some
+acids, and clogs with oils.  The easiest way to keep the table clean
+and neat is simply to--keep it so.  When the mixing of cake, pudding,
+etc., is in process, a large bowl should be near at hand, and into it
+should go egg beater, spoons, and forks when the cook is through using
+them, after which they, with all other soiled utensils, should be
+carried to the sink, washed, dried, and put away.  Never lay eggshells
+upon the table nor allow anything to dry on the utensils.  If, as
+occasionally happens even in the best-regulated kitchens, one is baking
+in too great a hurry to observe all these precautions, a heavy paper
+spread on the table will catch all the droppings and can be rolled up
+and burned.  Jars containing sugar, spices, etc., which have been in
+use, should be wiped with a damp cloth before returning to the pantry.
+
+
+
+THE CHAIRS
+
+The first aid to the cook should be at least one comfortable chair,
+neither a rocking chair nor one upholstered, both of which are out of
+place in the kitchen; but one low enough to rest in easily while
+shelling peas or doing some of the numerous tasks which do not require
+the use of the table.  A chair of this kind has a cane seat and high
+back and can be purchased for $1.25, the other chair to be of the
+regulation kitchen style at 55 cents.  The second aid is a 24-inch
+office stool at 85 cents, for use while washing dishes, preparing
+vegetables, etc.  This sort of a stool is light, easily moved about,
+and means a great saving in strength.  Though it has sometimes been
+dubbed a "nuisance" by the uninitiated, the woman who has learned its
+value finds it a very present help and wonders how she ever did without
+it.
+
+
+
+THE KITCHEN CABINET
+
+Occasionally it happens that a house is built with such slight regard
+for pantry room that we are constrained to wonder if, at the last
+minute, the pantry was not tucked into a little space for which there
+was absolutely no other use, and there left to be a means of grace to
+the thrifty housewife, whose pride it is to see her pots and pans in
+orderly array and with plenty of room to shine in.  At this point there
+comes to her rescue the kitchen cabinet, which not only relieves the
+congestion in the pantry, but adds in no small measure to the
+attractiveness of the kitchen.  These cabinets come in the natural
+woods, and should, as nearly as possible, match the woodwork of the
+kitchen.  Many have the satin finish which renders them impervious to
+grease, and all are fitted out with molding boards, shelves, cupboards,
+and drawers of various sizes.  So convenient is a cabinet of this kind,
+and so economical of steps, that it might well be called "the complete
+housewife."  First and foremost, it accommodates the kitchen dishes,
+plates, platters, and saucers, standing on edge of course, with cups
+hanging from small hooks, and pitchers, bowls, etc., variously
+arranged.  Then come the jars of spice, sugar, salt, tea, and
+coffee--all groceries, in fact, which are in most frequent use.  Where
+the decorative design in both jars and dishes is carried out in the
+blue and white, with a utensil or two of the same coloring, the effect
+is truly charming, though this is, of course, a matter of individual
+taste.  The cupboards are handy hiding places for the less ornamental
+bottles, brushes, etc., while the base, which is really nothing more
+nor less than a very complete kitchen table, usually has a shelf for
+kettles, stone jars, etc.  A good cabinet can be had for $10, a more
+commodious one for $16, and so on.  The cabinets without bases range
+from a tiny one, just large enough to hold six spice jars, at $1, to
+one, with five drawers, shelves, and cupboards with glass doors, for
+$6.  Any price beyond this simply means elaboration of design without
+additional increase of capacity or convenience.
+
+
+
+KITCHEN UTENSILS
+
+In selecting dishes and cooking utensils it is well to remember that
+cheapness does not always spell economy, and that one buys not alone
+for the present, but for the future as well.  Utensils which require
+scouring are not economical, either, for scouring is friction, and
+"friction means loss of energy."  Scouring has gone out with the heavy
+ironware which required it, in whose stead we have the pretty porcelain
+enamel ware and the less expensive agate ware, both of which need only
+a thorough washing in hot, soapy water, rinsing in boiling water, and
+careful drying.  Ware of this kind helps to produce the kitchen
+restful, and so, indirectly, the cook rested.  A well-cared-for kitchen
+is always more or less attractive, but why not make it rather more so
+than less?  Taste and harmony add nothing to the expense of furnishing,
+and there is a certain dignity and inspiration, as well as
+satisfaction, in being able to "bring forth butter in a lordly dish."
+Kitchen crockery is being rapidly supplanted by the porcelain enamel
+dishes, which, though rather more expensive in the beginning, are
+unbreakable, and so cheaper in the long run.  They are even invading
+the domain of the faithful yellow mixing bowl and becoming decidedly
+popular therein, being light in weight and more easily handled.  The
+complete equipment of the kitchen is a more costly operation than one
+is apt to imagine, individual items amounting comparatively to so
+little.  But the sum total is usually a rather surprising figure.  And
+so, remembering that Rome was not built in a day, carefully select
+those things which are really the essentials of every day, adding the
+useful non-essentials bit by bit.  The size and number of utensils must
+be governed by the size of the family in which they are to be used.
+Never buy anything of copper for kitchen use, as the rust to which it
+is liable is a dangerous poison.  There is one utensil only which is
+better to be of iron--the soup kettle--as it makes possible the slow
+simmering which is necessary for good soups and stews.  It is not worth
+while to buy knives of anything but wrought steel, which are best
+cleaned with pumice stone.  Cheesecloth for fish bags and strainers,
+and strong cotton for pudding bags must not be overlooked.
+
+And so, with kitchen complete, artistic, and satisfactory in every
+detail, it remains but to emphasize two facts--that perfect cleanliness
+is absolutely essential to health, and that she who looketh well to the
+ways of her kitchen eateth not the bread of idleness.
+
+The following list may be too extensive for some purposes, not suited
+to others, but out of it the new housekeeper can select what she thinks
+her establishment will need, and estimate the price of stocking her
+kitchen with those necessaries which make for good housekeeping:
+
+ 1 dozen individual jelly molds........................ $0.60
+ 1 griddle.............................................   .35
+ 1 small funnel........................................   .03
+ 1 large funnel........................................   .06
+ 1 gas toaster.........................................   .55
+ 1 coal toaster........................................   .08
+ 1 gas broiler.........................................   .65
+ 1 coal broiler........................................   .32
+ 1 six-quart iron soup kettle..........................  1.50
+ 1 skimmer.............................................   .14
+ 1 small ladle.........................................   .09
+ 1 porcelain enamel dipper.............................   .40
+ 1 porcelain enamel sink strainer......................   .40
+ 1 towel rack..........................................   .10
+ 1 clock...............................................  1.00
+ 1 purée sieve, with pestle............................   .18
+ 2 galvanized iron refrigerator pans...................   .50
+ 1 dozen dish towels...................................  1.20
+ 6 dishcloths..........................................   .30
+ 1 set of scales.......................................   .95
+ 1 vegetable slicer....................................   .25
+ 2 butter paddles......................................   .12
+ 1 can opener..........................................   .08
+ 1 potato ricer........................................   .25
+ 1 apple corer.........................................   .05
+ 1 chopping bowl.......................................   .15
+ 1 tea kettle..........................................  1.05
+ 1 ice pick............................................   .12
+ 1 pair scissors.......................................   .23
+ 1 scrub brush.........................................   .20
+ 1 sink brush..........................................   .08
+ 1 mop handle..........................................   .38
+ 1 oil can.............................................   .35
+ 1 whisk broom.........................................   .15
+ 1 small porcelain enamel pitcher......................   .26
+ 1 two-quart porcelain enamel pitcher..................   .55
+ 1 cake turner.........................................   .08
+ 1 porcelain enamel wash basin.........................   .28
+ 1 potato scoop........................................   .18
+ 1 towel roller........................................   .10
+ 1 rolling-pin.........................................   .15
+ 1 four-quart porcelain enamel saucepan, with cover....   .57
+ 1 eight-quart porcelain enamel bread bowl.............   .72
+ 1 gravy strainer......................................   .18
+ 1 nutmeg grater.......................................   .09
+ 1 spatula.............................................   .25
+ 1 egg beater..........................................   .10
+ 1 dish mop............................................   .05
+ 2 iron baking pans....................................   .20
+ 1 collander...........................................   .35
+ 1 ten-inch porcelain enamel bowl......................   .35
+ 2 eight-inch porcelain enamel bowls...................   .48
+ 3 five-inch porcelain enamel bowls....................   .33
+ 1 fryer and basket....................................  1.50
+ 4 bread pans..........................................   .60
+ 1 two-quart double boiler.............................   .95
+ 2 dish pans (agate)...................................  1.10
+ 1 omelet pan..........................................   .10
+ 1 porcelain enamel teapot.............................   .65
+ 1 porcelain enamel coffeepot..........................   .85
+ 6 porcelain enamel plates.............................   .78
+ 1 porcelain enamel platter............................   .40
+ 1 porcelain enamel platter (small)....................   .35
+ 6 porcelain enamel cups and saucers...................  1.14
+ Dredging boxes for salt, pepper, and flour............   .35
+ 3 pie tins. ..........................................   .12
+ 1 galvanized iron garbage can, with cover.............   .50
+ 1 large dripping pan..................................   .17
+ 1 small dripping pan..................................   .15
+ 1 lemon squeezer......................................   .05
+ 1 molding board.......................................   .40
+ 4 layer-cake tins.....................................   .16
+ 2 porcelain sugar jars................................   .50
+ 6 porcelain spice jars................................   .60
+ 1 half-pint tin cup...................................   .05
+ 1 six-quart milk pan..................................   .23
+ 1 four-quart milk pan.................................   .17
+ 3 wrought-steel knives................................   .48
+ 3 wrought-steel forks.................................   .48
+ 1 egg spoon...........................................   .08
+ 1 dozen muffin rings..................................   .46
+ 1 biscuit pan.........................................   .25
+ 1 round fluted cake tin...............................   .12
+ 2 basting spoons......................................   .24
+ 6 kitchen knives......................................   .50
+ 6 kitchen forks.......................................   .50
+ 6 kitchen teaspoons...................................   .48
+ 3 kitchen tablespoons.................................   .15
+ 3 asbestos mats.......................................   .15
+ 1 chopping knife......................................   .20
+ 1 wire dishcloth......................................   .12
+ 1 flour scoop.........................................   .19
+ 1 sugar scoop.........................................   .10
+ 1 meat grinder........................................  1.50
+ 1 soap shaker.........................................   .10
+ 1 flour sifter........................................   .25
+ 1 coffee mill.........................................   .50
+ 2 measuring cups......................................   .15
+ 1 meat fork...........................................   .09
+ 1 larding needle......................................   .10
+ 2 brooms..............................................   .60
+ 1 long-handled hair broom.............................  1.45
+ 1 dustpan.............................................   .12
+ 1 scouring box........................................   .50
+ 1 draining rack.......................................   .10
+ 1 bread knife.........................................   .25
+ 1 cake knife..........................................   .20
+ 1 meat knife .........................................   .55
+ 1 peeling knife.......................................   .10
+ 1 bread box...........................................   .70
+ 1 cake box............................................   .70
+ 1 three-quart porcelain enamel saucepan...............   .36
+ 1 oblong loaf-cake tin................................   .15
+ 1 jelly mold..........................................   .30
+ 1 wooden spoon........................................   .05
+ 1 salt box............................................   .25
+ 1 pepper box..........................................   .10
+ 1 graduated quart measure.............................   .16
+ 3 small vegetable brushes.............................   .15
+ 1 dozen glass fruit jars..............................   .60
+ 2 two-quart porcelain enamel saucepans................  1.00
+ 1 grater..............................................   .18
+ 1 paper scrub pail....................................   .25
+ 2 two-quart agate pans................................   .36
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE LAUNDRY
+
+What visions of dampness and disorder, of air malodorous with steam and
+soap, of meals delayed and hurriedly prepared, of tempers ruffled and
+the domestic machinery all disarranged and the discomforts of home
+prominently in the foreground, are called forth by that magic
+word--washday!  And yet, maligned though it be, it really is the day of
+all the week the best; for does it not minister more than any one other
+to our comfort and self-respect and general well-being?  It may be
+"blue Monday" or blue Tuesday or blue any-other-day, but we very soon
+come out of the azure when it is achieved and we find ourselves
+entering upon another week's enjoyment of that virtue which is akin to
+godliness.  In the brief interim of upheaval we may possibly wish we
+could hark back to the days of the "forty-niner," who solved his
+individual problem of personal cleanliness by simply dropping his
+soiled clothing into a boiling spring, where it was turned and churned
+and twisted and finally flung out, a clean and purified testimonial to
+Mother Nature's ability as a laundress.  Or perhaps the pretty pastoral
+of the peasant girl knee deep in the brook, rubbing her household linen
+on the stones, hath even greater charms.  But the trouble is that we
+are neither "forty-niners" nor peasants, but just plain, latter-day
+housekeepers with a laundry problem to face, and finding that it, like
+most other problems, is best solved by attacking it boldly,
+systematically, and according to certain fixed rules.
+
+[Illustration: The laundry.]
+
+
+
+LAUNDRY REQUISITES
+
+The home laundry must be well ventilated and lighted, and in the
+basement if possible, for obvious reasons, the chief being the relief
+thus afforded to the otherwise congested kitchen and overburdened
+kitchen stove, while at the same time one other menace to health--the
+steam generated by the washing and drying--is removed from the main
+part of the house.  It is highly essential that the laundry be properly
+and completely equipped for the work of washing, boiling, drying, and
+ironing.  Stationary tubs are much to be desired, those porcelain-lined
+being more sanitary than either soapstone, which has a tendency to
+absorb grease, or wood, which absorbs the uncleanness from the soiled
+linen.  It is especially necessary that the tubs be as impervious as
+possible when the linen is soaked overnight.  If tubs are to be bought,
+the paper ones have a decided advantage over the more well-known cedar
+ones in being much lighter and consequently more easily handled, with
+only a slight difference in price.  It seems so well worth while to
+minimize the strain of heavy lifting when and wherever one can, since
+washing at best involves much hard work and fatigue.
+
+
+
+THE STOVE AND FURNISHINGS
+
+The stove for laundry use may be either gas, oil, or coal, the latter
+being considered the most economical of fuel, while it often comes in
+very handy in the preparation of foods which require long stewing or
+simmering.  The wringer should be of medium size, either wooden or
+iron-framed, the former having the advantage of lightness, the latter
+of strength.  The screws must be loosened after each washing and
+thoroughly dried.  Any particles of rust can be removed with kerosene.
+The following list gives a very fair idea of the essentials of the
+well-furnished laundry, and their cost:
+
+ 2 paper tubs................................ $2.40
+ 1 wringer...................................  3.75
+ 1 block-tin boiler with copper bottom.......  2.15
+ 1 washboard.................................   .25
+ 1 paper pail................................   .25
+ 1 long-handled starch spoon.................   .08
+ 1 long-handled dipper.......................   .12
+ 1 set clothes bars .........................   .95
+ 1 wash bench ...............................   .75
+ 1 fifty-foot hemp line......................   .20
+ 1 ironing board, or ) ......................   .95
+ 1 skirt-board       ) ......................   .50
+ 3 Mrs. Potts' nickel-plated irons...........  2.85
+ 1 sleeve and ruffle iron....................   .35
+ 1 iron rest.................................   .08
+ 1 clothes stick.............................   .10
+ 1 clothes basket............................   .80
+ 5 dozen clothespins.........................   .10
+ 2 pieces beeswax............................   .05
+
+
+
+IRONS AND HOLDERS
+
+If the ordinary flatirons are preferred, they may be had at 5 cents a
+pound.  They require, of course, the use of a good, stout holder,
+asbestos covered with ticking affording the best protection to the
+hand.  Slip cases are nice for use of this kind, as they can be taken
+off and washed.  Pad the ironing board with Canton flannel or a coarse
+blanket, then draw tightly over it a white cotton cloth and fasten on
+the under side.  The padding must be absolutely smooth and without a
+wrinkle.  And there must be a piece of cheesecloth with which to wipe
+possible dust from the line, a scrubbing brush for the cleaning-up
+process which closes the washing drama, and the various preparations
+used to remove stains and assist in the cleansing of the linen and
+clothing--borax, starch, bluing, ammonia, oxalic acid, soda, kerosene,
+turpentine, etc.
+
+
+
+PREPARING THE "WASH"
+
+With all the "properties" in readiness, the fire burning well, and
+plenty of hot water to draw upon, the curtain rises on the laundress
+sorting the flannels, table linen, fine underwear, towels, and bed
+linen, colored clothes and stockings into separate piles, each to be
+disposed of in its turn, from fine articles down through to coarse,
+laying aside any which have stains.  These stains she removes in a
+variety of ways, according to their nature, but removed they must be
+before going into the tub, where, in most instances, the hot suds will
+render them ineradicable, although it has the reverse effect on dirt.
+It is a wise plan to mark, with a black thread before putting in the
+wash, any stains which are apt to be overlooked by the laundress, and
+those on large pieces, such as bedspreads.
+
+
+
+REMOVING STAINS
+
+The removal of stains from white goods is comparatively easy.  Fruit
+and wine stains are removed by stretching the fabric over a bowl and
+pouring boiling water through the stain, repeating until it disappears.
+Boiling milk is sometimes applied successfully to wine stains in the
+same way.  A thick layer of salt rubbed into the stained portion and
+followed with the boiling-water treatment is also effective.  Obstinate
+fruit stains yield to a thorough moistening with lemon, a good rubbing
+with salt (a combination which is to be found all prepared at the drug
+store under the name of Salts of Lemon), and the application of boiling
+water.  When nothing else avails, immerse the stained portion in a weak
+solution of Javelle water--one half cup to one pail of boiling
+water--allow it to soak a few minutes, and then rinse thoroughly.
+Javelle water can be procured of the druggist, but is as well prepared
+at home by dissolving four pounds of ordinary washing soda in one
+gallon of water, boiling ten minutes, and then adding to it one pound
+of chloride of lime.  It should be kept well corked, and resorted to in
+extreme cases alone, as it is violent in its action on the clothes.
+For this reason special care must be given to rinsing after its use.
+
+Tea and coffee stains usually surrender to boiling water, but if they
+prove obdurate rub in a little powdered borax and pour on more boiling
+water.  Chocolate stains can be removed in the same way.  Sprinkling
+the stain with borax and soaking first in cold water facilitates the
+action of the boiling water.
+
+Rub iron rust with lemon and salt, and lay in the sun, repeating until
+the spot disappears.  This is usually all that is necessary, but if the
+stain is very stubborn, spread over a bowl containing one quart of
+water and one teaspoonful of borax.  Apply hydrochloric acid, drop by
+drop, to the stain until it brightens, then dip at once into the water.
+
+If an ink stain is fresh, soak in milk, renewing the milk when it
+becomes discolored.  If very dry and well set use lemon and salt or the
+Javelle-water treatment.
+
+Mildew, which results from allowing damp clothes to lie in the basket
+for a length of time, is obstinate and difficult to remove.  Boil in
+salted buttermilk; or wet with lemon juice and stand in the sun.  If
+these treatments are ineffectual, resort to diluted oxalic acid or
+Javelle water, a careful rinsing to follow the application.  Grass
+stains may be treated in a like manner, or washed in alcohol.  Ammonia
+and water, applied while the stain is fresh, will often remove it.
+
+Remove paint stains with benzene or turpentine, machine oil with cold
+water and Ivory soap, vaseline with turpentine.
+
+Peroxide of hydrogen applied to blood stains while they are still moist
+causes them to disappear at once.  Soaking in cold water till the
+stains turn brown, then washing in warm water with soap is the usual
+treatment.  If the stain is on thick goods, make a paste of raw starch
+and apply several times.
+
+Pencil marks on linen should be rubbed off with an eraser, as hot water
+sets them.
+
+Soap and water is the best agent for removing stains from colored
+goods, _provided the color is fast_.  Moisten the article, soap the
+stain, and after a few minutes wash alternately with oil of turpentine
+and water.  If not satisfactorily removed make a mixture of yolk of egg
+and oil of turpentine, spread on the stain, allow to dry, scrape off,
+and wash thoroughly in hot water.  Tampering with stains on garments
+which are not warranted "fast color" is very risky, and often leaves
+the second state of the garments worse than the first.
+
+
+
+SOAKING AND WASHING
+
+The prologue of sorting the clothes and removing the stains being at an
+end, we are ready for the real "business" of the wash day--the washing
+itself--unless the laundress prefers to soak the clothes overnight.  If
+so, dampen, soap well, particularly the most soiled spots, roll up and
+pack in the bottom of the tub, pour over tepid water, and leave till
+morning.  Only the bed and body linen need be subjected to this
+treatment, as the table linen is rarely sufficiently soiled to require
+it, and the colored clothes and the stockings must never, under any
+circumstances, be allowed to stay in water beyond the time necessary to
+wash and rinse them.  The water, if only hard water be obtainable, may
+be softened by the addition of a little ammonia or borax.  Water which
+has been discolored by soil after heavy rains or by the repairing of
+water pipes, should be strained through Canton flannel before use.
+After soaking, the linen should be put through the wringer, which will
+take away much of the soil with the water, and then washed.  As to the
+way in which this should be done there are various opinions, most
+methods in use by experienced laundresses being reliable.  Each,
+however, usually has her favorite method of procedure which it is
+perhaps as well to allow her to follow.  Pity 'tis, 'tis true, that
+many housekeepers are so ignorant of how the wash-day programme should
+really be conducted that they are incapable of directing the
+incompetent laundress.  The mistress of the house needs also to be
+mistress of the laundry, guiding operations there as elsewhere, seeing
+to it that body and table linens are not washed together, flannels
+boiled, clothing rotted by overindulgence in sal soda, nor any other
+crimes committed against law and order in the laundry.
+
+
+
+WASHING POWDERS AND SOAP
+
+If bleaches of any kind are to be used--washing powders, sal soda,
+borax, and the like--it must be in either the soaking water or the
+boiler, and _very_ sparingly.  Indeed, the use of bleaches at any time
+is a custom more honored in the breach than the observance.  Though
+there is no hard-and-fast rule as to the order of precedence, it is
+well to wash the woolens first, after shaking them free from lint and
+dust.  Prepare two tubs of lukewarm suds, the second very light, adding
+a little borax dissolved in boiling water to each.  Never apply soap
+directly to the flannel, nor rub on a board, which mats the wool, but
+rub with the hands, squeezing and dipping up and down in the first
+water till clean, rinse in the second water, which should be of about
+the same temperature as the first, put through the wringer, shake well,
+pull into shape, and hang in the shade to dry.
+
+
+
+WASHING WOOLENS
+
+Woolens must never hang in the sun nor near the fire, as the too-quick
+drying causes them to shrink and harden.  When nearly dry, press on the
+wrong side with a moderately hot iron.  The rinsing water may be used
+for the first cotton wash.  If both colored and white flannels are to
+be washed, the former should be done first, thus avoiding the lint
+washed from the latter.  Drying can be accelerated by pressing
+repeatedly between soft cloths.  If the ordinary washing fails to
+remove any of the spots, spread on a smooth board and rub with a soft,
+wet, soapy brush.
+
+
+
+WASHING THE WHITE CLOTHES
+
+Next comes the washing of the table linen, then the body linen, and
+then the bed linen, the process for each being the same, though the
+table linen requires the least rubbing.  Wash in hot water in which the
+hand can be comfortably borne, soaping each piece well before it is
+rubbed, and paying particular attention to the hems of the sheets; drop
+into a second tub of clear, hot water, rinse, and wring into a boiler
+about half filled with cold water to which has been added one
+tablespoon of kerosene and sufficient soap chips to produce a good
+suds.  Bring the water to a boil and boil ten minutes, stirring
+occasionally with the clothes stick, Too long boiling yellows the
+clothes, and crowding the boiler is to be avoided.  From the boiler the
+clothes are lifted to a tub of clear, cold water, thoroughly rinsed,
+transferred to the tub of bluing water where they are well and evenly
+saturated, wrung out, and those which are not to be starched hung on
+the line where sun and breeze are most active.  The bluing must be
+thoroughly mixed with the water.  Clothes which have been carefully
+washed and rinsed need but little bluing.  Hang sheets and tablecloths
+out straight and stretch the selvages even.  Pillowcases should be hung
+by the seam opposite the hem.
+
+
+
+STARCH
+
+Prepare the starch by dissolving one half cup of starch in cold water,
+pour on this one quart of boiling water, and boil till clear and white,
+stirring constantly.  When nearly ready to take from the stove add a
+little borax, lard, butter, or white wax.  A teaspoonful of granulated
+sugar is believed by many to be the most desirable addition.  This will
+be of the right consistency for ordinary articles--skirts, aprons, etc.
+The same degree of strength in starch will not suit all kinds of
+fabrics, collars, cuffs, etc., requiring the stronger solution made by
+doubling the amount of starch; thin lawns and other fine materials the
+weaker produced by doubling the amount of water.  Dip each article in
+the hot starch, those requiring the most stiffening being dipped first,
+because it is necessary to thin the starch.  See that the starch is
+evenly distributed, press out as much as possible with the hands, put
+through the wringer, shake out all creases, and pin evenly on the line.
+Additional stiffness is given by dipping the already starched and dried
+article in raw starch, which is made by moistening a handful of starch
+in a quart of cold water and rubbing in enough Ivory or other fine
+white soap to produce a very slight suds.  Squeeze out the superfluous
+moisture, roll in a clean white cloth, and leave for half an hour.
+Iron while still damp.  In stiffening pillowcases dilute the starch
+until it is of the consistency of milk.  Mourning starch should be used
+for black goods.  Never hang starched things out in freezing, damp, or
+windy weather.
+
+
+
+COLORED CLOTHES
+
+Colored articles must be washed, starched, dried, and ironed as
+speedily as possible.  Prepare warm suds with Ivory or Castile soap and
+add to it a handful of salt to set the color.  Wash each piece through
+this, and rinse through two clear waters to which just enough vinegar
+to taste has been added, the latter to brighten the color, then stiffen
+in cool starch and hang in the shade.  When washing delicate colored
+fabrics a tablespoon of ox gall may be substituted for the salt.
+
+
+
+STOCKINGS
+
+Last come the stockings, which should be washed in clean water, first
+on the right side, then on the wrong, special care being bestowed upon
+the feet.  Rinse in clear water, with a final rinsing in hot water to
+soften the fiber, and hang on the line wrong side out, toes up.  Woolen
+stockings are washed in the same way as flannels.
+
+
+
+DAINTY LAUNDERING
+
+The dainty task of laundering centerpieces and doilies usually devolves
+upon their owner, unless the laundress has demonstrated her ability to
+cleanse and iron them properly.  Wash in warm Ivory or Castile
+soapsuds, squeezing, dipping, and rubbing between the hands until
+clean, rinse thoroughly--otherwise the soap will yellow--bluing the
+last rinsing water very slightly, squeeze out (never wring) as much
+moisture as possible, and hang on the line, in the shade if out of
+doors.  While still very damp lay face down on a thick flannel pad
+covered with a white cloth, and iron till dry.  If the piece is large
+it can be turned and ironed lightly on the right side where there is no
+embroidery.  Colored embroideries must never be sprinkled and rolled.
+Iron the linen of large lace-trimmed centerpieces, then lay on a bed or
+other flat surface, and stretch the lace by carefully pinning down each
+point.
+
+The cleansing of laces is best accomplished by basting on strips of
+cheesecloth, fastening down each point, and soaking for some time in
+warm, soapy water.  Squeeze out and put into fresh soapy water,
+repeating the process until the lace is perfectly clean, then rinse in
+clear boras water--four teaspoonfuls to one pint.  Place the
+cheesecloth, lace down, on a flannel or other soft pad, and iron until
+dry.
+
+
+
+HOW TO WASH SILK
+
+Put white and light-colored silks and pongees through strong, tepid
+white soapsuds, then through a second weaker suds, rinse, press out the
+water with the hands, shake out all wrinkles, spread on a clean sheet,
+and roll tight.  Cover with a cheesecloth and iron while still damp
+with a not too hot iron.  No portion of silk should be allowed to dry
+before ironing.  If this occurs do not sprinkle, but dampen by rolling
+in a wet cloth.  In laundering pure white silk, slightly blue the
+rinsing water.  A slight firmness can be imparted to any silk by the
+addition of one teaspoon of gum arabic to each pint of the rinsing
+water.  Silk hose are laundered just as other silk, except that instead
+of being rolled they must be dried as quickly as possible and ironed
+under a damp cloth.
+
+
+
+WASHING BLANKETS
+
+Do not allow blankets to become very much soiled before laundering,
+When this becomes necessary, put to soak for fifteen minutes in plain
+warm water--soft, if possible.  Then prepare a jelly with one pound of
+soap to each blanket, and boiling water, pour into a tub of warm water
+and lather well, wring the blankets from the soaking water into this
+and let soak for ten minutes, then rub between the hands, bit by bit,
+until as clean as possible, wring into the first rinsing water, which
+should be just warm, then rinse a second time in tepid water, and dry
+well without exposing to great heat.  Instead of being hung, blankets
+can be dried on curtain stretchers.  When dry rub with a piece of rough
+flannel; this makes them fluffy and soft.
+
+
+
+WASHING CURTAINS
+
+Curtains and draperies should be shaken and brushed free from all the
+dust possible, before washing.  Lace curtains, and especially those
+which are very fine or much worn, need dainty and careful handling.
+Soak for an hour or two in warm water containing a little borax, then
+squeeze out the water and drop into a boiler half filled with cold
+water to which have been added one half bar of soap, shaved thin, two
+tablespoonfuls of ammonia, and one of turpentine.  Bring to a boil and
+let stand at the boiling point, without boiling, for half an hour,
+stirring occasionally with the clothes stick, rinse thoroughly, starch
+well with thick boiled starch, and stretch on frames to dry.  If frames
+are not available, pin to a carpet which has been smoothly spread with
+a clean sheet.  When a pure white is desired, add a little bluing to
+the starch water.  Water tinted with coffee will produce an écru
+effect, while tea will give a more decided hue.  Muslin curtains are
+laundered like any other fine white goods.
+
+
+
+TIDYING UP AND SPRINKLING
+
+The last article being hung on the line, each implement used in the
+process of washing must be cleaned, dried, and put in its place, the
+laundry floor scrubbed, and everything made spick and span; then comes
+the sprinkling and rolling of the piles of snowy, sweet-smelling linen,
+all full of fresh air and sunshine, to make a little rest time after
+the vigorous exercise which precedes it.  It must be done with care as
+much depends upon it.  Table linen, unless taken from the line while
+still moist, should be sprinkled very damp, folded evenly, rolled and
+wrapped in a white cloth, and placed in the clothes basket, which has
+been previously lined with an old sheet.  Bed linen and towels require
+very little dampening; they, too, to be rolled and placed with the
+table linen.  Sprinkle body linen well, particularly the lace and
+embroidery trimmings, roll tight, wrap, and add to the growing pile in
+the basket.  The kitchen towels which have just come from the line may
+be utilized for wrapping purposes.  Handkerchiefs receive the same
+treatment as napkins in sprinkling, folding, and ironing.  Although
+everything irons more easily after being rolled for some time, thus
+evenly distributing the dampness, an exception must be made of colored
+clothing, which must not be sprinkled more than half an hour before it
+is ironed.  When the sprinkling is all done, cover the basket with a
+damp cloth, then with a dry one, and leave till ironing time.  If a
+coal range is in use, see that the fire is burning steadily,
+replenishing from time to time, first on one side, then on the other,
+brush off the top of the stove, wipe the irons, and put on to heat.  If
+they heat slowly, invert a large dish pan over them.
+
+
+
+CARE OF IRONS
+
+When not in use, irons can be protected from dampness and resulting
+rust by covering with mutton fat or paraffine, rubbed on while slightly
+warm.  It is easily removed when the irons are wanted for use.  Rust
+spots can be removed by applying olive oil, leaving for a few days, and
+then rubbing over with unslaked lime.  Scrub with soap and water,
+rinse, dry, rub with beeswax, and wipe off with a clean cloth.  The
+soap and water treatment, followed by a vigorous rubbing on brick-dust,
+should be given frequently, irrespective of rust.  Irons must neither
+be allowed to become red-hot nor to stand on the range between usings,
+or roughness will result.  When not in use, stand on end on a shelf.
+Rubbing first with beeswax and then with a clean cloth will prevent the
+irons from sticking to the starched things.
+
+
+
+HOW TO IRON
+
+Before beginning to iron have everything in readiness--beeswax, a heavy
+paper on which to test the iron, a dish of water, and a soft cloth or a
+small sponge for dampening surfaces which have become too dry to iron
+well, or which have been poorly ironed and need doing over.  Stand the
+ironing table in the best light which can be found, with the ironing
+stand at the right and the clothes at the left, and work as rapidly as
+consistent with good results.  There is no royal road to ironing, but
+with perseverance and care the home laundress can become quite expert,
+even though she cannot hope to compete with the work turned out by
+those who do nothing but iron six days in the week.  Give the iron a
+good, steady pressure, lifting from the board as little as possible,
+and then--iron!  Take the bed linen first, giving a little extra press
+to the hems of the sheets.  Many housewives have a theory that unironed
+sheets are the more hygienic; that ironing destroys the life and
+freshness imparted by the sun and air.  Such being the case, the sheets
+can be evenly and carefully folded and put through the wringer, which
+will give them a certain smoothness.  Towels may be treated in the same
+way, while flannels, knit wear, and stockings may, if one chooses, be
+folded and put away unironed.  Table linen must be smoothed over on the
+wrong side till partially dry, and then ironed rapidly, with good hot
+irons and strong pressure on the right side, lengthwise and parallel
+with the selvage, until dry.  This brings out the pattern and imparts a
+satiny gloss to the fabric, leaving it dainty, soft, and immaculate.
+Iron all embroideries on the wrong side.  Trimmings and ruffles must be
+ironed before doing the body of the garment, going well up into the
+gathers with a light, pointed iron, carefully avoiding pressing in
+wrinkles or unexpected pleats.  Iron frills, either plain or with a
+narrow edge, on the right side to give the necessary gloss.  Bands,
+hems, and all double parts must be ironed on both sides.  Iron colored
+clothes--lawns, dimities, percales, chambrays, etc.--on the wrong side,
+with an iron not too hot, otherwise the color is apt to be injured.
+The home laundress is usually not quite equal to the task of ironing
+shirts, which would far better go to the laundry; but when done at home
+from choice or necessity, plenty of patience and muscle must be
+applied.  Iron the body of the shirt first, then draw the bosom tightly
+over a board and attack it with the regular irons, wipe over quickly
+with a damp cloth and press hard with the polishing iron.  The ironing
+of very stiffly starched articles may be facilitated by covering with
+cheesecloth and pressing until partially dry; then remove the cloth and
+iron dry.  As each piece is ironed, hang on bars or line until
+thoroughly dried and aired.  A certain amount of moisture remains; even
+after the ironing, and must be entirely removed before the final
+sorting and folding and putting away.
+
+And so the wash-day drama comes to an end.  We survey with pride and
+complaisance the piles of clean linen, shining with spotless elegance,
+and as we read therein a whole sermon on the "Gospel of Cleanliness,"
+we conclude that it is decidedly worth while, and rejoice that
+fifty-two times a year this is a "washing-day world."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+TABLE FURNISHINGS
+
+The mistress no doubt has a housewifely taste for receipts, and may,
+perhaps, find the following formula of service to her in her
+home-making:
+
+
+
+DINING-ROOM CHEER
+
+One set of fine, spotless table linen sprinkled--not too thickly--with
+pretty glass, china, and silver, and well lightened with brightness
+tempered to the right consistency not to dazzle.  To this add a few
+sunny faces, some good conversation spiced with gayety--the
+unpalatable, distasteful portions having been previously eliminated.
+Then quietly and by degrees add food which has been carefully and
+daintily prepared and arranged.  Over all scatter little flecks of
+kindliness and courtesy till an inward glow is produced, and keep at
+this point from half an hour to an hour, or longer.
+
+This receipt may be depended upon to give satisfaction under any and
+all conditions, and is compounded of ingredients which exemplary home
+makers have always at hand.  If conscientiously followed failure is
+impossible.  "Its use is a good habit."
+
+
+
+STOCKING THE CHINA CUPBOARD
+
+Of its component parts the more substantial ones are perhaps the most
+easily acquired; not in hit-or-miss, anything-to-get-it-done fashion,
+but with a view to carrying out some definite idea of table adornment,
+which is quite the most charming part of the home building.  Dishes are
+more or less mixed up with poesy, which is full of "flowing bowls,"
+"enchanted cups," "dishes for the gods," "flagons of ale," and other
+appetizing suggestions; and it would be rather a good thing to keep the
+poetry in mind during the fitting out, that there may be nothing
+aggressively cheap nor loudly assertive, but each piece harmoniously
+congenial to its fellows.  There need be no hurry--that is one of the
+delights o' it--and the shopping may mean only "looking," for the good
+buyer believes that many dishes are to be examined but few chosen--a
+meat set here, a salad set there, a piece of cut glass somewhere
+else--here a little and there a little, with time to get acquainted
+with and enjoy each added treasure as it comes.  It is a rare
+experience, this stocking the china cupboard; one likely to be
+prolonged through one's entire housekeeping experience, thanks be!
+
+
+
+THE GROUNDWORK
+
+There is so much exquisitely patterned and inexpensive china, glass,
+and porcelain turned out these days that one cannot wander very far
+afield in buying unless she gets lost among the intricacies of
+castors--pickle and otherwise--ironstone china, colored and imitation
+cut glass, and butter dishes with domelike covers.  Probably the
+persons who invented these have gone to join hands with the perpetrator
+of the red tablecloth.  May their works soon follow them!  Complete
+sets of dishes are giving way to the character and diversity imparted
+to the table by odd pieces and sets for different courses.  However, a
+pretty, inexpensive set of porcelain or china--something which will
+bear acquaintance, and of some easily replaced standard pattern--is a
+good beginning, for one rarely starts out with a full equipment of fine
+china, and even so, there should be something stronger to bear the
+heaviest brunt of wear.  All complete sets contain one hundred and
+seven pieces, and include one dozen each of dinner, breakfast, tea,
+soup, and butter plates, and cups and saucers of medium size, three
+platters of various sizes, vegetable dishes, covered and coverless, and
+a gravy boat.  Tureen, sugar bowl, and cream pitcher, and after-dinner
+coffees are not included, but may be ordered extra.
+
+The choice in everyday sets lies between plain white--preferably the
+French china, known as Haviland, which can be bought for $35--and the
+blue-and-white English porcelain of different makes--Copeland, Trenton,
+etc., a desirable set of which costs $15 and higher.  All-white is
+entirely blameless from the standpoint of good taste, and has a dainty
+fineness in the Haviland of which one rarely tires, while it never
+clashes with anything else on the table.  It is so infinitely
+preferable to cheap, gaudy decorations, so sincerely and honestly what
+it seems to be, that it has a certain self-respecting quality which one
+cannot help but admire.  Blue-and-white has an attraction which has
+never died since it had its birth in the original Delft, which is
+copied so extensively now in Japan and China.  And though the porcelain
+is but an imitation, it is a clever one, and one which leaves little to
+be desired in decorative value and general effect.  The design may
+strike one at first as being a little heavy, but it improves on
+acquaintance, and it has been very aptly said that the fact of its
+having survived enthusiasm should vouch for its worth.  Porcelain has a
+good glaze which does not readily crack or break.  Advancing in the
+scale of cost and fineness, we come to that most beautiful of all
+chinas--the gold-and-white--which can be had at from $50 a set up to as
+high as $1,500.  The gilding is in coin gold, the effect of richness
+tempered with chastity being carried through all grades in varying
+intensity.  It "expresses itself beyond expression," and is an honor to
+any table.
+
+
+
+COURSE SETS
+
+When it comes to the purchase of course sets, different tastes can find
+instant gratification in numberless colorings and designs.
+Overdecoration and large floral devices must be avoided, but any
+delicately expressed pattern is good, and here again the gold-and-white
+seems to fulfill all demands.  Soup, salad, tea, butter, and other
+plates can be had in china from 30 cents apiece up.  Articles of this
+kind, in a standard pattern, may be bought one or two at a time, and
+added to as ability permits until the set is completed.  Any unusual
+design runs through two years, after which it can be obtained only from
+the factory.  A dozen of each is a good number to aim at, for there
+will be many occasions which will call out one's whole dish brigade and
+keep it actively engaged.  The old joke about having to wash dishes
+between courses, and sending the ice cream afloat on a warm plate,
+really loses its amusing aspect when it becomes an actual experience.
+Unless the mistress prefers to serve her soup at the table, a tureen is
+not a necessity, but if used, it must match the soup plates.  It is a
+somewhat fluctuating fashion, out at present.  Soup plates are not the
+great flaring affairs of yore.  They either follow the old shape, much
+reduced, or are in the nature of a large sauce dish.  The meat set of
+platters, plates, and vegetable dishes comes into play at all meals,
+tea plates can be put to a variety of uses--in fact, many dishes
+supplement one another at a saving of expense and numbers.  If one has
+a handsome glass bowl sufficiently large, a special salad bowl is not
+an essential, but a china bowl demands plates to match.  Hand-painted
+china, in sets or odd pieces, is pretty--sometimes--if artistically
+designed and perfectly executed, but a little goes a long way.  Don't
+be the innocent victim of some well-meaning relative with the
+china-painting bee.  Gently but firmly refuse to sacrifice the beauty
+of your table to family ties; they ought to be able to stand the
+strain, but your table cannot.
+
+
+
+ODD PIECES
+
+Japanese and Chinese ware is steadily gaining in favor--another
+instance in which imitation is permissible, for the "real thing" is
+undoubtedly costly.  The quaint conceits in creams and sugars,
+chocolate pots, bonbon dishes, and plates, with their storks and
+chrysanthemums, their almond-eyed damsels and mandarins, are always
+interesting.  The fad of odd cups and saucers is fast developing into a
+fixed fashion, and a good one, which is a particular boon to the giver
+of gifts on Christmas and other anniversaries when "presents endear
+absents."  Pretty styles in all sizes of different French, German, and
+English makes can be found at 50 cents and up, with special reductions
+at sale times.  Larger plates, to accommodate both the slice of bread
+and the butter ball, have taken the place of the tiny butter plate, and
+should properly match the meat set.  A touch of gold with any china
+decoration gives it a certain character and richness.  The chop
+platter--among the nice-to-haves and bought as an odd piece--belongs in
+the lightning change category, for it may serve us our chops and peas
+during the first course, our molded jelly salad during the second, and
+our brick of ice cream or other dessert during the third.  The range in
+price is from $1 up to $5 and $6 for the choicest designs.  Then there
+are berry sets of a bowl and six saucers, both being turned to account
+for different uses, and costing in Haviland as low as $1.75.  And there
+must be some small bowls or large sauce dishes for breakfast use, if
+our housewife is cereally inclined, and a china tile or two on little
+legs to go under the coffee and tea pots.  The china pudding dish, with
+its tray and its heat-proof baking pan, is a pretty and convenient
+accessory, saving the bother of veiling the crackled complexion of the
+ordinary baking dish with a napkin, These cannot be had for less than
+$3.50 and are made in silver also, minus the tray and plus a cover.
+The teapot, true symbol of hospitality, has come down from the high
+estate to which it was formerly created, and is a fat, squatty affair
+now.  Dainty sets of teapot, cream, and sugar matching--a nobby little
+outfit--are to be had for $2, in gold-and-white, $3, etc.  There are
+after-dinner coffee sets, too.  Needless to say there must not be even
+the slightest acquaintance between fine china or porcelain and the hot
+oven if you value their glaze.
+
+[Illustration: Wedgwood pottery, and silver of antique design.]
+
+
+
+SILVER AND PLATE
+
+Of the purchase of silver there is little to say.  Unless her friends
+have been very generous in their gifts of solid ware, the mistress
+usually acquires it a little at a time, contenting herself with the
+plated for general use.  Here the souvenir fork or spoon frequently
+steps into the breach, but in default of any other, good shining plated
+ware presents just as good an appearance as the solid and serves every
+purpose until the plate begins to show wear, when it should be renewed
+without delay.  The plainer the pattern the better.  Medium-sized
+knives and forks of the best Rogers triple plate sell for $7 a dozen,
+teas for 10 cents less, fruit knives for $3.  Teaspoons in the dainty
+Seville pattern, with only a beaded trimming around the handle, are $4
+a dozen, dessert spoons $3.25 a half dozen, and tablespoons $3.75.  A
+gravy ladle costs $1.25.  The infinite variety of odd forks and spoons
+for various uses is best acquired with the other solid silver.  Plated
+ware ought never to serve acids nor top salt shakers, since both acid,
+and salt when damp, corrode the plating.  Solid salt and pepper shakers
+can be had as low as $1 a pair, cut glass with solid tops for $1 and
+$1.50.  If individual salt dishes are used, they must be accompanied by
+tiny solid salt spoons at 35 cents apiece and up.  Very nice though not
+altogether necessary accompaniments of the bread-and-butter plates are
+the individual butter knives at $10 a dozen.
+
+If steel-bladed knives are preferred to silver, the medium size, with
+composition handles of celluloid and rubber, are $4.50 a dozen, with
+accompanying forks with silver-plated tines at $7.50.  The carving
+knife, broad, long, and strong, with its fork, good steel both, can be
+had for $2.75, with a game knife, its blade short and pointed and its
+handle long, with its fork, $2.50.
+
+
+
+GLASS
+
+Cut glass is another of the can-do-withouts, except, perhaps, the
+carafe, now used instead of the old-fashioned water pitcher, at $3,
+$3.50, etc.; cruets for vinegar and oil, simply cut and in good style,
+for as low as $1.50 each; and the finger bowls, one for each person.
+The last, of thin crystal and perfectly plain save for a sunburst of
+cutting underneath, are $3 a dozen, with others more elaborate, and
+costly in proportion.  Tumblers, thin, dainty, and delightful, cut a
+little at the bottom, are $1.50 a dozen, and far pleasanter to drink
+from than their elaborately cut and artistic brethren.  Occasionally a
+pretty little olive dish can be picked up for as low as $1.50 or $2,
+but rather perfect and inoffensive plainness than imitation cut, cheap,
+crude, and clumsy.  The American cut glass is considered the choicest.
+Side by side with it, and preferred by many as being less ostentatious,
+is the beautiful Bohemian glass, with its exquisite traceries in gold
+and delicate colors.  Only in this glass is color permissible, and then
+principally in receptacles for flowers.  There is reason to believe
+that it was from a Bohemian glass plate the King of Hearts stole the
+tarts on a certain memorable occasion, and if so, one can readily
+understand why the temptation was so irresistible to him.
+
+[Illustration: A collection of eighteenth-century cut glass.]
+
+
+
+ARRANGEMENT
+
+To put all our pretty things on the table in such a way that the result
+shall be a picture of daintiness, grace, and symmetry is seemingly a
+simple matter, but the trick of good taste and a mathematical eye are
+both involved in it.  The manner of setting and serving the table
+varies somewhat with each meal, but a few suggestions apply to all
+alike.  The center of the table must be exactly under the chandelier,
+and covered with the pretty centerpiece with its dish of ferns, a vase
+of posies, or a potted plant in a white crinkled tissue-paper pinafore.
+Nothing else has the decorative value of the table posy, however
+simple, which seems to breathe out some of its outdoor life and
+freshness, and should never be omitted.  Twenty inches must be allowed
+for each cover, or place, to give elbow room, and all that belongs to
+it should be accurately and evenly placed.  At the right go the
+knives--sharp edges in--and spoons, with open bowls up, in the order in
+which they are to be used, beginning at the right.  At the points of
+the knives stands the water glass.  At the left are arranged the forks,
+tines up, also in the order of use, beginning at the left, with the
+butter plate, on which rests the butter knife, a little above the
+forks.  The napkin--which should be folded four times in ironing and
+never tortured into fantastic shapes, restaurant fashion--lies either
+at the left of the forks or on the plate at the center of the cover.
+If many spoons are to be used, the soup spoon alone rests beside the
+knife, with the others above the plate.  Individual salt cellars go
+above the plates, shakers at the sides or corners of the table, within
+easy reach, and one carafe is usually allowed for every three or four
+people.  Carving cloths are laid before the plates are put on, with the
+carving knife at the right, the fork at the left.  Water is poured,
+butter passed, and bread arranged on the table just before the meal is
+served.  Extra dishes and the plates for use during the different
+courses stand in readiness on a little side table, silver and glass
+alone being appropriate to the sideboard.
+
+
+
+DUTIES OF THE WAITRESS
+
+The maid stands behind the master or mistress to serve the plate of
+meat, the bowl of soup, and so on, taking it on her tray and placing it
+with her right hand from the right of the person served.  All plates
+are placed by the waitress, while she serves all vegetables, sauces,
+etc., from the left, holding the dish on her tray or, if it be a heavy
+one, in her hand, within easy reach.  Soiled dishes she removes from
+the right with her right hand, placing them on her tray one at a time,
+platter and serving dishes first, then individual dishes and silver
+until everything belonging to the course has been removed.  Crumbs are
+taken up from the left with a crumb knife or napkin, never with a
+brush.  Many housekeepers prefer to dismiss the maid after the main
+part of the meal is served, ringing for her when her services are
+necessary, thus insuring a greater privacy during the charmed hour, and
+affording an opportunity for those little thoughtful attentions when
+each serves his neighbor as himself.
+
+
+
+THE BREAKFAST TABLE
+
+The breakfast table is usually laid with centerpiece and plate doilies
+these days, and it may not be ill-timed to suggest that every effort be
+made to have this meal cheery and attractive, for it is, alas, too
+often suggestive of funeral baked meats and left-over megrims from the
+night before.  If fruit is to be served, followed by a cereal and a
+meat or other heavier course, each place is provided with a fruit plate
+with its doily and knife, a breakfast knife and fork, a dessert spoon,
+two teaspoons, and a finger bowl.  The fruit should be on the table
+when the family assemble, with the cups and saucers and other
+accompaniments of the coffee service arranged before the mistress's
+place.  Warm sauce dishes for the cereal and warm plates for the course
+which follows it must be in readiness.
+
+
+
+LUNCHEON
+
+Luncheon is the simplest, daintiest, most informal meal of the
+day--just a little halting place between breakfast and dinner, where
+one's pretty china comes out strongly.  The setting of the doily-spread
+table follows the usual arrangement.  Everything necessary for serving
+tea is placed at the head of the table, with the meat or other
+substantial dish at the opposite end.  Most of the food is placed on
+the table before the meal is announced, and as there are usually but
+two courses the plates are changed only once.  The only difference
+between luncheon and tea being the hour of serving, the same rules
+govern both.  The lunch cloth or the hemstitched linen strips may be
+used instead of the place doilies.
+
+
+
+DINNER
+
+Dinner is a more solemn matter.  On goes our immaculate tablecloth now,
+over a thick pad, its one crease exactly in the middle of the table,
+and all wrinkles and unevennesses made smooth and straight.
+Centerpiece and posy go squarely--or roundly--in the center, with
+silver, salts, and carving set arranged as usual.  The butter plate is
+frequently omitted from this meal, an oblong slice of bread, a dinner
+roll, or a bread stick being placed between the folds of each napkin,
+or on the butter plate, if used, with the butter ball and knife.  If
+soup is to be served, the spoon is placed at the right of the knives.
+There is a preference for the use of a "service plate" at this
+meal--the plate which is at each place when dinner is announced, and is
+not removed until the first hot course after the soup--but this is
+usually dispensed with when there is but one servant.  Proper cutlery
+for carving has its place before the carver, the carving cloth being
+removed before dessert.  If black coffee is served as the last course,
+the after-dinner coffee spoons are placed in the saucers before
+serving.  Finger bowls appear the last thing.
+
+
+
+THE FORMAL DINNER
+
+The formal dinner follows the general idea and arrangement of the
+family dinner, with considerable elaboration.  Out come our dress-up
+table linen, china, glass, and silver, and we add certain festive
+touches in the way of vines and cut flowers loosely and gracefully
+disposed in glass or silver bowls and vases.  At the four sides of the
+centerpiece go the dainty glass candlesticks, which cost 35 cents
+apiece, coming up to 91 cents with the candle lamp, candle, mica
+chimney, and shade complete, the shade matching the flowers in color.
+The lesser light which thus rules the night casts a witching glamour
+over the table, shadowing imperfections, softening features, warming
+heart cockles, and loosening tongues.  Yellow is always good, green
+cool in summer, red heavy, and pink of the right shades genial.  Lace
+and ribbon have been banished from the table as being inconsistent with
+simplicity, but a small bunch of flowers or a single flower at each
+place gives a pretty touch.  The water glass is moved over to the top
+of the plate now, to make room for the wine glasses which are grouped
+above the knives.  The oyster fork is placed at the right of the soup
+spoon, the fish fork at the left of the other forks.  Overmuch silver
+savors of ostentation; therefore, if many courses are to be served, the
+sherbet spoon may go above the plate, the other extra silver to be
+supplied from the side table when needed.  Fancy dishes containing
+olives, salted nuts, and confections are arranged on the table, all
+other dishes being served from the kitchen or side table.  It being
+taken for granted that the food is properly seasoned, no condiments are
+on the table.  Place cards rest on the napkins.
+
+
+
+THE FORMAL LUNCHEON
+
+The formal luncheon table closely follows the formal dinner table,
+except that place doilies are used instead of the tablecloth.  The
+bouillon spoon replaces the soup spoon, and other changes in the silver
+may be necessitated by the lighter character of the food served.  The
+room may be darkened and candles used if the hostess so elect.  If
+additional light is required at either dinner or luncheon, it should
+come through shades harmonizing with the candle shades, and hung not
+higher than the heads of the guests.
+
+
+
+WASHING GLASS
+
+And after this, the deluge--of dishwashing!  The cleansing of the glass
+opens the session.  If much fine or heavily cut glass is to be washed,
+cover the draining board and the bottom of the pan with a soft, folded
+cloth.  Wash one piece at a time in water not too hot--about three
+quarts of cold water to one of boiling, to which a _very_ little white
+soap, with a tablespoon of ammonia, has been added--going well into the
+cuttings with a brush; then rinse in water a little hotter than the
+first, leave for a moment, and turn upside down on the board to drain
+until the next piece is ready.  Then dry with a soft towel, or plunge
+into a box of nonresinous sawdust, better warm, which absorbs moisture
+not reached by the cloth.  Remove from the sawdust, brush carefully,
+and polish with a soft cloth.  If kept free from dust, sawdust can be
+dried and used indefinitely.  Care must be taken that there is no sand
+in dishpan or cloth to give the glass a scratch which may end in a
+crack or break.  Put a spoonful of finely chopped raw potatoes, or
+crushed eggshells, or half a dozen buckshot into decanters, carafes,
+jugs, and narrow-mouthed pitchers, with a little warm soda or ammonia
+water, and shake vigorously till all stain is removed, rinse and dry.
+The water in which glass is washed must be kept absolutely free from
+greasy substances.  If milk, ice cream, or custard has been used, rinse
+off with cold, then blood-warm water before washing.  Cut glass must
+never be subjected to marked differences in temperature, and for this
+reason should not be held under the faucets, as the heat cannot be
+regulated.  Glass with gilt decoration must be washed quickly and
+carefully with water free from either soda or ammonia, which attack the
+gilt, and dried gently.
+
+
+
+WASHING AND CLEANING SILVER
+
+The silver comes next, careful washing obviating the necessity for
+cleaning oftener than once a month.  Knives, forks, and spoons, which
+were separated into piles when taken from the table, are washed first,
+then the other pieces in use, in hot white soapsuds with a little
+ammonia, rinsed with clear scalding water, dried with a soft towel, one
+at a time, and rubbed vigorously, when all are done, with chamois or
+Canton flannel.  Egg or vegetable stains can be removed with wet salt,
+black marks with ammonia and whiting.  Only enough silver to supply the
+family use is kept out; the handsome jelly bowls, cream jugs, etc., are
+wrapped in white tissue paper, placed with a small piece of gum camphor
+in labeled Canton flannel bags, closing with double draw strings, and
+are then locked away in a trunk or a flannel-lined box with a
+close-fitting lid.  If put away clean and bright, as they should be,
+they retain their luster and only need polishing once a year.  When the
+regular silver-cleaning day comes around, wash and dry the silver in
+the prescribed way, and rub with sifted whiting wet with alcohol,
+leaving no part untouched, and allow to dry on.  When all the pieces
+have been treated thus, rub with a flannel cloth and polish with a
+silver brush.  Regular brushes are made for this purpose and are
+invaluable in getting into the ornamental work.  Never make the mistake
+of applying a tooth or nail brush, which will surely scratch and mar
+the fine surface.  Most silver polishes are made of chalk prepared in
+different ways, but beware of the one which cleans too quickly: it is
+liable to remove the silver with the tarnish.  Silver must not be
+allowed to become badly stained, thus necessitating hard rubbing and
+additional wear and tear.
+
+
+
+HOW TO WASH CHINA
+
+China washing requires a pan nearly full of water of a temperature not
+uncomfortable to the hand, beaten into a good suds with a soap shaker.
+Very hot water, or a sudden change from cold to hot, is apt to crack
+the fine glaze.  Use a dish mop for the cleanest dishes, and, beginning
+with the cups and saucers, and placing only a few in the pan at a time,
+wash quickly without allowing to soak, rinse in water a little hotter
+than the first, and wipe until perfectly dry and shiny.  Pouring hot
+water over china and leaving it to drain itself dry may save time, but
+it will be at the expense of the polish.  Spread the dishes out on the
+table to cool--piling them while hot injures the glaze--and put away
+the first washing before commencing on the heavy, greasy things.  The
+washing water must be changed as soon as a greasy scum collects around
+the sides of the pan.
+
+
+
+CARE OF KNIVES
+
+Bone-, wood-, or pearl-handled knives should never go into the dishpan,
+but be stood, blade down, in a pitcher containing a little water and
+soda, the blades having first been wiped off with paper, and left till
+everything else is done.  They are then washed singly with clean suds,
+special care being bestowed upon the juncture of the blade with the
+handle, rinsed, and dried immediately.  If stained, rub with half of a
+potato or with a cork dipped in powdered pumice stone, wipe dry, wash,
+and polish with a little bath brick or sapolio.  Clean carving knives
+and forks in the same way, going around the joinings with a rag-covered
+skewer.  Spots can be removed from ivory handles with tripoli mixed
+with sweet oil; from mother-of-pearl with sifted whiting and alcohol,
+which is washed off and followed with a polishing with dry whiting and
+a flannel cloth.  Cover rusted knife blades with sweet oil, rub in
+well, and leave for forty-eight hours, then rub with slaked lime.
+Britannia, pewter, and block tin in table use are polished the same as
+silver.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE BEDROOM
+
+The bedroom is very like an old familiar friend: it sees us as we
+really are, tempting us to throw off all veneer of pretense or
+worldliness and rest in just being ourselves--a rest so sweet and
+wholesome and good that we go from it recreated and strengthened.  In
+the spirit of truest friendship it exacts nothing, but by its subtle,
+quiet sympathy charms away our restlessness and presents us anew to
+that person known as our better self.  The friend of our choice is the
+one who wears well; who never intrudes, never wearies, never pains us;
+whose influence is one of rest, of restoration, of reinspiration--the
+embodiment of the true mission of the bedroom.  It, like our friend,
+must be able to survive with honor the test of that familiarity which
+comes with intimacy--whether it shall breed contempt or content.  And
+so as we plan it, let us endeavor to temper our likes and dislikes with
+judgment until we can be reasonably sure that it will be a room
+pleasant to live with, and companionable, which will not irritate our
+moods into becoming moodier, nor our weariness into becoming wearier.
+
+
+
+LIGHT AND AIR
+
+Of first importance, of course, are light and air; these we must have,
+and sun if possible.  One good warm ray of sunshine is a more effective
+destroyer of disease and "dumps" than all the drugs on the market;
+while good ventilation is one of the most valuable as well as one of
+the cheapest and most ignored assets of the home, particularly of the
+bedroom, where our hereditary enemy, the microbe, loves especially to
+linger.  Given air and light, we have the best possible start toward
+our rest room and upon its exposure and size depends largely what we
+shall add unto it in the way of furnishings and decorations.  Dark
+walls and floors wrap one in gloom and have no place in any bedroom.  A
+warm, sunny exposure invites the use of contrastingly cool light blues,
+grays, greens, and creams; while the glow of delicate pinks and yellows
+helps to make a sunshine in the shadows of a north light.  East and
+west lights adapt themselves to the tasteful use of almost any color,
+saving and excepting red, which cannot be mentioned in the same breath
+with rest and has the red-rag-to-the-bull effect on nerves.  If an
+overstrong affection for it demands its use, it must be indulged in
+sparingly and much scattered and tempered with white.  Though a certain
+sympathetic warmth should be expressed in the bedroom coloring, we want
+rather to feel than to see it, and too much becomes a weariness.
+
+
+
+CARPETS VERSUS RUGS
+
+Beginning with the base, as becomes a good builder, and working upward,
+floor coverings which cover without covering, if one may indulge in an
+Irishism, are far preferable to those which extend from wall to wall.
+Carpets undoubtedly have their uses: they make over well into rugs,
+supply heat to the feet, particularly in summer, and to the disposition
+during the semiannual house cleaning.  They also cover a multitude of
+moths.  But they belong to the dark ages of unenlightened womanhood
+whose chief end was to keep house, and have been jostled into the
+background by bare floors or mattings, with rugs.  Hardwood floors
+certainly are nice and seem to wear an air of conscious pride of birth,
+but their humbler self-made brethren of common pine, stained and
+varnished or oiled, answer the purpose fully as well.  It really
+amounts to a case of rugs make the floor, for if they are pretty and
+conveniently disposed about it, the floor itself receives very little
+attention.  Small rugs before bed, dresser, and chiffonier will suffice
+in a small room, and can be easily taken out and cleaned, but a more
+commodious room requires the dressed look imparted by the larger rug.
+Whatever its size, avoid large figures and strong colors, choosing
+rather a small, somewhat indistinct pattern woven in the deeper shades
+of the other decorations of the room, at the same time supplying a
+foundation which, without calling attention to itself, becomes a good
+support for the general decorative plan--a base strong but neither
+heavy nor striking.  Since we were made to stand erect and look up, it
+is irritating to have one's eyes drawn downward by the unattractive
+attraction of an ugly rug.  The colonial cotton rag rugs are quite the
+most desirable for bedroom use, from a sanitary as well as an artistic
+standpoint, and are woven to produce charming effects.  The usual
+combination is two colors--white with blue, yellow, green, or pink,
+black with red, different shades of the same color, etc.  Occasionally
+three colors are used, but more are apt to destroy the dainty
+simplicity which is the chief charm of rugs of this kind.  They are
+woven like any other rag rug, and of any dimensions.
+
+
+
+MATTINGS
+
+Mattings, if preferred to the bare floor, come in a variety of patterns
+and colors and look neat and fresh, and cool in summer if used without
+rugs.  They are a yard wide and range in price from 10 to 50 cents a
+yard for the Chinese, and from 20 to 60 cents for the Japanese.  There
+is very little choice between the two, though the Chinese wears a
+little better, perhaps.  Matting is easily broken and should not be
+used where the bed must be drawn away from the wall to be made, or
+heavy furniture moved about.
+
+
+
+WALL COVERING
+
+Passing from floor to walls, we reach that portion of the room which
+gives it its real atmosphere and supplies a background for all that it
+contains, of both "things and people."  The bedroom seems to be
+preeminently a woman's room: here she reads and writes, rests and sews;
+it is her help in trouble, her refuge in times of storm.  The
+intangible something which surrounds the eternal feminine clings about
+her room and tells a very truthful tale of the individuality of its
+occupant.  Her favorite color peeps out from wall and drapery; her
+books, well-thumbed and hearing evidences of intimate association, lie
+cozily about, and her workbasket reveals the source of certain dainty
+covers and indescribable nothings which so materially refine the whole
+aspect of the room.  Though she receives her formal calls in the
+drawing-room, it is in her bedroom that those confidential chats, so
+dear to the feminine heart, take place; therefore its background must
+be chosen with some idea of its becomingness, and the happy medium in
+color and tint selected, softening and becoming to all alike.  As
+absence of manners is good manners, so absence of effect is, after all,
+the best effect.  First and foremost, avoid the plague of white walls
+and ceilings, which cast a ghastly light over the whole room and make
+one fairly shiver with cold.  The general plan is to shade the color up
+from floor to ceiling, and this is accomplished in so many differing
+and equally attractive ways that it is impossible to do more than offer
+suggestions which may be elaborated to suit individual tastes and
+conditions.  Of course calcimine is the simplest and cheapest style of
+decoration, and recommends itself to the anti-germ disciple because it
+can be renewed annually at slight expense.  The only difficulty lies in
+getting just the right tint, for decorators, though no doubt worthy of
+their hire, are not always capable of handling the artistic side of
+their business, and an uncongenial shade gets on the nerves after a
+while.  The same thing holds true of painted walls and ceilings, though
+they too are hygienically good.  When we come to papers, we are lost in
+a maze of stripes and garlands and nosegays, either alone or in
+combination.  Prettiness is by no means synonymous with expense these
+days, when the general patterns and colors of costly papers are
+successfully reproduced in the cheaper grades.  Tapestry papers are too
+heavy for bedrooms.  Those figured with that mathematical precision
+which drives the beholder to counting and thence to incipient insanity,
+and others on which we fancy we can trace the features of our friends,
+are always distracting, especially during illness, when restfulness is
+so essential.  The plain cartridge-papered wall with frieze and ceiling
+either flowered or of a light shade of the same or a contrasting color
+is never obtrusive and always in good taste.  With a flowered wall a
+plain ceiling is a relief, and vice versa.  Figures in both walls and
+ceiling are tiring, besides having none of the effect resulting from
+contrast.  Walls in plain stripes need to be livened with a fancy
+ceiling, or ceiling and frieze, with their background always of the
+lightest tint in the side wall.  One room of particular charm was all
+in yellow.  The molding had been dropped three feet from the ceiling,
+giving the impression of a low ceiling and that snugness which goes
+with it, and up to it ran the satin-striped paper, while over frieze
+and ceiling ran a riot of yellow roses.  And here was asserted the
+ingenuity of its occupant, who had cut out some of the roses and draped
+them at the corners and by door and window casings, where they seemed
+to cling after being spilled from the garden above.  This same idea can
+be worked out with garlands or bunches of different flowers, bow knots,
+or other distinct designs.  No large figures of any description should
+be introduced into a small room, and the whole effect of the decoration
+must be cheerful without being boisterous, gay, or striking.  If the
+ceiling is low, the wall paper continues up to it without a frieze, the
+molding--which corresponds with the woodwork--being fastened where wall
+and ceiling join.  Backgrounds of amber, cream, fawn, rose, blue, or
+pale green, with their designs in soft contrasting colors, are the
+strictly bedroom papers.
+
+
+
+BEDROOM WOODWORK
+
+The very prettiest bedroom woodwork is of white enamel, which has that
+light, airy look we so want to catch, and never quarrels with either
+furniture or decorations.  But of woodwork painted in any color beware,
+take care!  Finely finished hardwood has the honesty of true worth and
+needs no dressing up; but its poor relation, that hideous product of
+old-time dark stain and varnish is only a kill-beauty, and should be
+wiped out of existence with a dose of white paint.
+
+
+
+BEDROOM DRAPERIES
+
+In selecting bedroom draperies, two "don'ts" must be strictly observed:
+don't use flowered drapery with a flowered wall, and don't buy heavy,
+unwashable hangings of woolen, damask, satin, or brocade, which not
+only are out of harmony with the whole idea of bedroom simplicity, but
+shut out air and sunlight, make the room seem stuffy, and collect and
+hold dust and odors.  The patterns of chintzes, cretonnes, and
+silkolenes are manufactured to follow closely the paper designs, and
+where flowered ceiling and frieze are used with a plain wall, the same
+color and design may be carried out in bed and window draperies, and in
+couch and chair coverings.  With a flowered or much-figured wall snowy
+curtains of Swiss, muslin, or net, with ruffles of lace or of the same
+material, are prettier than anything else; and for that matter, they
+are appropriate with any style of decoration and can always be kept
+fresh and dainty.  But elaborate lace curtains which have seen better
+days elsewhere are most emphatically _not_ for bedrooms, and should
+find another asylum.  A pretty window drapery is the thin white curtain
+with a colored figured inner curtain.  The use of figured draperies
+demands a good sense of proportion and of the eternal fitness of
+things, else it easily degenerates into abuse.
+
+[Illustration: The bedroom.]
+
+
+
+BEDROOM FURNISHING
+
+The bedroom furniture must be chosen rather with a view to fitness than
+to fashion.  "Sets" are no more.  How stereotyped and assertive they
+were, and undecorative!  Bed, dresser, and washstand, forcibly
+recalling to one the big bear, middle-sized bear, and little bear of
+nursery lore, were clumsy and heavy and bad, even in hardwood; but when
+they were simply stained imitations of the real thing, and ornate with
+wooden knobs, machine carving, and ungraceful lines, they were truly
+unspeakable.  The bed with its fat bolster, on top of which, like Ossa
+on Pelion piled, stood the pillows, perhaps covered with shams which
+bade one "Good night" and "Good morning" in red cotton embroidery--was
+especially hideous as contrasted with our present-day enameled or brass
+bed, and belongs to the dark ages of crocheted "tidies," plush-covered
+photograph albums, "whatnots," prickly, slippery haircloth furniture,
+and other household idols which bring thoughts that lie too deep for
+tears.  Only two styles of sets find a welcome in the up-to-date
+home--the rich, dark, mellow mahogany, which is too costly for the
+average pocketbook, and the white enameled.  Even so the component
+parts differ from those of a few years back; then the dresser was
+considered an absolute essential; now we frequently prefer the more
+graceful dressing table, with its small drawer or two for the
+unornamental toilet accessories, or the compromise between the two--the
+princess dresser--with the roomy chest of drawers or chiffonier.  The
+all-white furniture gives the room an air of chaste purity and is no
+more expensive than a set in any other good wood, but must be well
+enameled or it will be impossible to keep it clean.
+
+
+
+CAREFUL SELECTION
+
+The trend of popular sentiment is toward the metal bed, with
+accompanying furniture in plain or bird's-eye maple, mahogany, dark
+oak, curly birch, or mahogany-birch.  Dressers range in price from $9
+to $50; princess dressers from $10.50 to $50; chiffoniers from $10 to
+$35; and dressing tables from $10 to $50.  Furniture, like friends,
+cannot be acquired promiscuously without unpleasant consequences.
+There is no economy in buying cheap, veneered pieces which will be--or
+ought to be--always an eyesore.  The truly thrifty homemaker will wait
+until she can afford to buy something genuinely good, and then buy it
+with the conviction that she is laying up treasures of future happiness
+and contentment.  The "good" piece is exactly what it claims to be,
+without pretense or artificiality, of hardwood of course, of simple
+construction, and graceful, artistic lines, its few decorations carved,
+not glued on.
+
+
+
+TOILET AND DRESSING TABLES
+
+Simplicity must be the keynote of all bedroom furnishings.  The middle
+course in price is the safe one to follow, leaning toward the greater
+rather than toward the lesser cost.  If there is a bathroom
+conveniently near, it is better to dispense with a washstand; but if
+its use is imperative, make it as little obtrusive as possible.  The
+home carpenter can easily fashion one from a plain pine table, hung
+with a valance to match the other draperies.  If a marble-topped table
+is available, so much the better.  Toilet sets can be purchased for $4
+and up, and should be of simple design and decoration, plain white or
+gold-and-white being advisable for general use, as neither will clash
+with anything else in the room.  A very satisfactory set in the
+gold-and-white is to be had for $8.  A dainty dressing table follows
+the idea of a makeshift washstand.  It should be made of a sizeable
+drygoods box, with shelves, and the top padded and covered to match the
+drapery.  The mirror which hangs over it may be draped, or simply
+framed in white enamel, gold, or whatever blends with the room.
+Overdraping not only looks fussy, but means additional bother and care.
+The drapery is thrown over a frame fastened above the mirror.
+
+
+
+FURTHER COMFORTS
+
+In addition to what is considered the regulation bedroom furniture,
+there should be a small table at the head of the bed for the glass of
+water, the candle or night lamp, and books of devotion; a couch for the
+mistress's rest hours, and to save the immaculateness of the bed; a
+comfortable rocker, with a low sewing chair and one or two with
+straight backs; and, when two people occupy the room, a screen which
+insures some degree of privacy and affords a protection from draughts.
+If one is restricted in closet room, a box couch is a great
+convenience; if in sleeping room, an iron cot or a folding sanitary
+couch, which becomes a bed by night, is invaluable.  A chintz,
+cretonne, or other washable cover, with plenty of pretty pillows to
+invite indolence, can be used on either, with an afghan or some other
+sort of pretty "throw."  Though upholstered furniture is out of place
+here, chair cushions corresponding with wall paper or draperies give a
+touch of cozy comfort.  One room with dove-gray walls dotted with
+white, and all other furniture of white enamel, had mahogany chairs of
+severe simplicity of design, with backs and seats covered with
+rose-strewn cretonne which extended in a box-plaited flounce to the
+floor.  This was the only touch of color, save a water color or two, in
+a room overflowing with restfulness and that "charm which lulls to
+sleep."  Willow chairs are pretty and appropriate, too.  The screen,
+with its panels draped in harmony with other hangings, should match the
+furniture.  The new willow screens are light, dainty, and easily moved.
+A table, footstool or two, and desk can be added if desired.  A greater
+length of mirror than that afforded by the dresser glass can be secured
+by setting a full-length mirror into the panels of one of the doors--a
+fashion both pretty and convenient.  Have a care that all mirrors are
+of plate glass, for the foreshortened, distorted image which looks back
+at one from an imperfect looking-glass has a depressing effect on one's
+vanity.
+
+
+
+THE BEDSTEAD
+
+And now to the _pièce de résistance_ of the room, the
+
+        ". . . delicious bed!
+  That heaven on earth to the weary head!"
+
+Furnished complete it represents a considerable sum, but here again it
+is well not to count the cost too closely, for the return in comfort
+and refreshment cannot be estimated in dollars and cents.  The change
+from wooden to metal beds is desirable in every way.  Besides being so
+much more hygienic, they seem to take up less room, and admit of a
+freer circulation of air; they can be painted over and freshened up
+when necessary, and look well with any furniture.  The best patterns
+are formed by parallel bars and circles, those with simple lilies
+conveying the idea of solidity, and with the least ornamentation, being
+preferable always.  The extension foot facilitates the arrangement of
+spread or valance, and if drapery is desired, beds with head posts
+fitted with canopy frames or "testers" are to be had.  Brass beds are
+the most expensive of metal beds, costing from $22 to $55, or as much
+more as one cares to pay.  They have to be handled with great care--or
+rather, not handled at all unless through the medium of a soft cloth.
+The _vernis Martin_ bed of gilded iron produces the same general
+effect, and is but little more costly than the enamel bed, but, after
+all, it is only another "imitation."  Enameled beds can be had for from
+$2 all the way up to $31.  It cannot, of a surety, be necessary to warn
+against those hideous embodiments of bad taste, colored beds, with
+their funereal blacks, lurid reds, and sickly blues, greens, and
+yellows.  Enough said!  And avoid too much brass trimming.  The bed
+should stand on casters--wooden--and not too high.
+
+
+
+SPRING, MATTRESS, AND PILLOWS
+
+Those two friends to nightly comfort, a first-class spring and a hair
+mattress, are vastly important.  If the still, small voice of economy
+whispers that other mattresses are "just as good," stifle it.  The hair
+mattress is the only really sanitary one, since it can be washed and
+made over and plumped up times without number, and surely no other
+enjoys the distinction of descending from generation to generation,
+with the other family treasures.  Hair mattresses cost from $10 up,
+according to the length of the hair, but a good one of full size cannot
+be had under $30.  Felt mattresses, from $7.25 to $13.50, are next in
+desirability, the best of these, warranted not to cake, being
+preferable to the cheap hair mattress with short hair.  Then come moss
+mattresses with cotton tops, $4.70 to $8; husk with cotton tops, $3.15
+to $4; and excelsior, cotton-topped, $2 to $4.  Mattresses in two
+unequal parts, the larger going at the head of the bed and the smaller
+at the foot, are more easily handled and turned than those in one
+piece.  A slip of heavy white cotton cloth covering the mattress
+entire, is a great protection, and should be washed at stated intervals.
+
+Box springs are luxuriously comfortable, an average spring,
+felt-topped, costing $17--hair-topped, $18.50.  Those topped with tow
+and moss are less expensive.  There is only one objection to the box
+spring: when the bedbug once effects an entrance therein, the days of
+that spring are numbered, for there is no evicting him.  Woven wire and
+coil springs run from $2.25 up, according to the number of coils,
+wires, and weight.
+
+Mattress and pillows are covered to match, these days, in all sorts of
+charming colors and designs, if one cares to add a little to the cost.
+Over the mattress goes a quilted cotton pad, interlined with one
+thickness of cotton batting.  Pads can be made at home, or purchased
+for $1.25, $1.50, or $1.75, according to the size of the bed.  The
+unbleached cost 25 cents less.  Some housekeepers prefer a flannel pad
+as being more porous, and therefore more easily aired.  Each bed should
+have its own pair of white woolen blankets, an average pair costing
+about $5, but a really "worth-while" one is scarcely obtainable under
+$12 or $15.  A little cotton mixed with the wool is not objectionable,
+as it prevents so much of the shrinkage to which wool is liable.  Heavy
+and uncomfortable "comforts," which supply in weight what they lack in
+warmth, are neither desirable nor healthful.  Folded across the foot of
+the bed should lie the extra covering for cold nights, either an
+eiderdown or less costly quilt, daintily covered with cheesecloth,
+silkolene, etc.
+
+Two night pillows to a bed are the usual allowance.  Good live-goose
+feather pillows sell for from $3 to $7, depending on the size, and
+should be provided with extra cotton slips, buttoning on, to protect
+the tick.  The feather bolster has had its day.  Its descendant, the
+bedroll of hair, paste-board, or _papier maché_, is for ornament only,
+and is used as a finish at the head of the bed with fancy draperies or
+coverings, which it matches.  Shams, too, are going out, with other
+things which are not what they seem.  The thought of untidiness always
+underlies their freshness, and so we prefer to put the night pillows in
+the closet during the day and let the bedroll or the day pillows take
+their place.  If there is a shortage of pillows, the night cases can be
+exchanged for pretty ruffled ones of lawn, muslin, dimity, or linen.
+If one still clings to shams, corresponding sheet shams should also be
+used.
+
+
+
+BED DECORATION
+
+There remains yet to be found anything more airily, chastely dainty
+than the all-white bed with its plain or fringed Marseilles spread and
+its ruffled pillows.  Though drapery has a picturesque effect, it
+interferes to a certain extent with the free circulation of air, and
+affords a lurking place for our insidious enemy--the microbe.  If used
+at all, it should only be in a large, well-ventilated room, and
+sparingly, for a fussy, overloaded bed looks anything but restful.  If
+considerable color has already been introduced into the room, the bed
+drapery, cover, and valance should be of some thin white washable
+material--dimity, Swiss, and the like.  But with plain papers, flowered
+cretonne, chintz, etc., are appropriate.  The canopy top is covered
+with the material, stretched smooth, and either plain or plaited, and
+the drapery gathered about the back, sides, and front of this, from
+which it hangs in soft folds to within two or three inches of the
+floor.  It should be simply tied back.  The canopy projects not more
+than half a yard beyond the head of the bed, and may be either oblong
+or semicircular.  Very thin white material is used over a color.
+Whatever the material, it must, of course, be washable and kept
+immaculate.  The newest bed, all enameled and with a bent bar of iron
+at head and foot, lends itself to a pretty style of drapery, which is
+simply a plain, fitted white slip-over case for head and foot, finished
+with a valance of the same depth as that of the counterpane, which
+leaves no metal visible anywhere about the bed.  Pretty Marseilles
+spreads may be had for $3; cheaper ones in honeycomb follow the same
+designs.  The white spread, with a colored thread introduced, may
+answer for the maid's room--never for the mistress's.
+
+
+
+SIMPLICITY
+
+When two persons occupy a room, twin beds furnished exactly alike are
+preferable to the double bed.  An exclusively man's room demands
+somewhat different treatment, though the general principles of
+furnishing apply to all bedrooms.  A man abhors drapery, and usually
+prefers an ascetic simplicity to what he is pleased to term
+"flub-dubs."  His notions of art are liable to express themselves in
+pipes, steins, and other masculine bric-a-brac; but whatever his wills
+and wonts on the furnishing question, his room must show care and
+attention.
+
+The rule of elimination is a good one to follow in bedroom pictures; no
+"rogue's gallery" of photographs, no useless, meaningless, and trivial
+pictures, but just a madonna or two, perhaps a photographic copy of
+some old master, with a favorite illuminated quotation--something to
+help and quiet and inspire.
+
+Tables, dresser, and chiffonier should have each its spotless cover of
+hemstitched or scalloped linen, or ruffled lawn or Swiss--anything but
+towels.  They will answer, of course, but we want a little more than
+just answering.
+
+
+
+CARE OF BEDROOM AND BED
+
+Much of the refinement of the bedroom depends upon its daily care.
+This begins with its airing the first thing in the morning.  The bed is
+stripped of its coverings, which are spread over two chairs placed
+before the open window; the mattress is half turned over, and night
+clothes and pillows are placed near the window.  The slops are then
+emptied, bowl and all toilet articles washed in hot water and dried,
+pitcher emptied and refilled with fresh water, and soiled towels
+replaced by clean ones.  Soiled towels must never be used to clean the
+crockery.  Cleaning cloths for bedroom use should be kept for that
+purpose alone.  Once a week slop receptacles must be scalded with sal
+soda water and stood in the sun.  After an hour the windows may be
+closed and the bed made.  The first thing is to turn the mattress--end
+for end one day, side for side the next--and then comes the pad, and
+after it the sheets.  The lower one is put on right side up, drawn
+tight, and tucked in smoothly all around; the upper should be wrong
+side up, drawn well up to the head, and tucked in at the bottom, and
+the blankets brought up to within half a yard of the head, with the
+open end at the top.  When all is straight and even, the upper sheet is
+turned back smoothly over the blankets and both are tucked snugly in.
+The counterpane, which was folded and laid aside during the night, then
+goes on, and is brought down evenly over the foot and sides of the bed,
+the bedroll or day pillows are added, and the bed is itself again.  On
+Saturday the bottom sheet is replaced by the top sheet, which, in turn,
+is replaced by a clean one, and the pillowcases are changed.  The
+spread usually needs changing about once a month.  The night pillows
+are now beaten and put away, and night clothes are hung in the closet.
+Other articles are put in their places, the dresser top is brushed off
+and its various contents properly arranged, litter is taken up with
+dustpan and brush, or carpet-sweeper, and the room is dusted.  Opened
+windows at night are a foregone conclusion.
+
+
+
+VERMIN AND THEIR EXTERMINATION
+
+Though it seems indelicate to suggest the possibility of a bug in a
+well-kept, charming chamber, even the best housekeeping is not always
+proof against feeling "things at night."  Metal beds are rather
+inhospitable to bugs, and if carefully examined, with the mattress,
+once a week, there is small danger of their getting a foothold.  If
+traces are discovered, hunt out the bugs and exterminate them if
+possible, and sprinkle bed and mattress with a good, reliable insect
+powder; or spray with gasolene, or wood alcohol and corrosive
+sublimate, and keep the room shut up for a few hours.  Baseboard and
+moldings should also be treated in this way.  If, after repeating
+several times, this proves ineffectual, smoke out the room with
+sulphur, first removing all silver and brass articles and winding those
+which cannot be moved with cloth.  Then proceed according to directions
+for fumigating the closet, using a pound of sulphur for a room of
+average size.  If the room has become badly infested, it will be best
+to tear off the wall and ceiling paper, and fill all cracks and
+crevices with plaster of Paris.  Such shreds of self-respect as these
+terrors by night may possess cannot long survive such treatment, and
+they will soon depart to that country from whose bourne no bug returns.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE BATHROOM
+
+With the subject of the bathroom before us, it would seem to be in
+order to promulgate the only really true theory of bathing.  But this
+is not a treatise upon hygiene, and the world already has been flooded
+with advice on this subject, ranging from the urgings of those
+amphibiously inclined folk who would each day run the whole gamut of
+splash, souse, and scrub, to the theories of the dauntless Chicago
+doctor who would put all humanity on a level by abolishing bathing
+altogether.  So we shall merely discuss the means of making the
+bathroom attractive and serviceable, trusting to our individual good
+sense for its proper use.
+
+Everyone has heard of the good woman who was showing some friends about
+her new home.  The bathtub was an object of special pride.  "Why," she
+exclaimed, in a glow of enthusiasm, "it's so nice that we can scarcely
+wait till Saturday night."  We may laugh at her naïveté, but there is a
+good deal more of the "waiting for Saturday night" proposition than is
+good for--some of our neighbors.  And, on the other hand, there is more
+of the heroic sort of bathing by faithful devotees of cleanliness than
+is necessary.
+
+The persistent spirit will have his bath, if it has to be with bowl and
+sponge in a cold room.  But while most persons are persistently
+cleanly, bathing in the interest of healthfulness should be regular,
+and it should be enjoyable, and it cannot be either unless the bathroom
+is properly equipped and is ready for service when wanted.  Even at
+some extra cost, it should be made possible to secure hot water
+promptly, and without agitating the whole household, at any reasonable
+hour of any day of the week.  No family that we ever knew went bankrupt
+on account of the cost of hot water for bathing, and if they did they
+would have a pretty valid excuse.
+
+
+
+PLUMBING
+
+The bathroom is the heart of the plumbing problem, and it is not
+necessary to declare that the plumbing is the most important feature of
+the house, so far as health is concerned.  Did we examine an old house
+(one of even ten years ago) with a view to purchasing or renting, the
+condition of the plumbing would be a first consideration.  If it were
+not safe and in good order, we should have to make it so, for of course
+no one who is mentally competent would take any chances on such a
+menace to the family welfare.  And to repair antiquated plumbing is an
+ungrateful task, while to replace it entirely requires both courage and
+a willingness to let go of one's money in large wads.
+
+Now, we want to remember that we shall wish to have our plumbing
+satisfactory, not only when the house is new, but ten years later, when
+it is not new.  To make sure of this, we need first of all to know
+something of modern methods and equipment.  Then we should employ a
+capable plumber, though he may cost us more than the merely passable
+sort.  Finally, we should supplement good workmanship with the best
+materials.  It may be noted that after the supply houses have evolved
+the best materials, in the sense that the materials are convenient,
+good to look at, and perfectly sanitary, they add frills and
+decorations that bring up the cost to any amount we insist upon
+spending.  But we can get what we really require without paying for the
+frills, if we exhibit tolerable ability in the selection of essentials.
+
+Open plumbing is, of course, the only sort that any self-respecting
+plumber of these days would consent to put in; if he hints at anything
+else, we may well be suspicious of him.  Not only should the plumbing
+be where we can see and get at it, but sinks, lavatories, and tubs
+should have no inclosures that may retain filth or become water-soaked.
+
+Sewer gas is not the only evil to be guarded against, but it is the
+greatest.  It is also the subtlest, for in some of its most deadly
+forms it is inodorous, and usually does its work before we become
+conscious of its existence.  The poisonous gas is not necessarily
+generated in the sewer, but may be created anywhere in the pipes that
+obstructions or uneven surfaces permit filth to accumulate.  If,
+however, the plumbing is modern and of substantial quality to begin
+with, has stood all the tests, and is accessible and fairly well
+understood by at least one member of the household, reasonable
+vigilance will obviate practically all worry about sewer gas.
+
+
+
+BATHROOM LOCATION AND FURNISHING
+
+Usually the bathroom is placed in a central location on the second
+floor, accessible, if possible, by both rear and front stairways.  In a
+small house the upper floor is always advisable, as the bathroom should
+be well retired from the living quarters.  Where the space can be
+spared, there should be a closet, however, on the main floor, or at
+least in the basement, where it will be readily accessible from the
+back part of the house.  If the bathtub is popular with the household,
+it is in constant use, and for this reason the closet is in some cases
+cut off from it, and is reached by a separate door.
+
+[Illustration: The bathroom.]
+
+The principal thought being to eliminate anything which will retain
+water, tile or rubber flooring is preeminently best for the bathroom.
+If wood is substituted, it should be oak or maple, thoroughly oiled.
+Nothing should rest upon the floor to prevent any portion of the
+surface from being thoroughly cleaned.  A tile wainscoting is almost
+indispensable.  Paper will not stand steam and moisture, and calcimine
+is scarcely better.  Canvas or burlap above a four- or five-foot
+wainscoting makes an attractive combination.  All-white is not called
+for, but light tints of green, buff, or terra cotta will give a
+softening touch of color without destroying the general effect of
+immaculateness.
+
+Art glass in the window can scarcely fail to add to the attractiveness
+of the room.  It may be had for from 75 cents to $3.50 per square foot.
+A rug is an essential, but it should be of a sort that will not readily
+absorb and retain water.  Speaking of the window, it must be observed
+that outdoor ventilation, without disturbing privacy, should be made
+possible.  Often a bathroom becomes quite suffocating, and with weakly
+persons the danger of being overcome in a locked room is not to be left
+out of consideration.
+
+
+
+THE TUB
+
+The tub may be of enameled iron or of porcelain.  The former costs very
+much less and is almost as satisfactory as the latter, though in the
+cheaper sorts at least the enamel will eventually crack.  Of course it
+can be reenameled, but in most things for the home there will be enough
+of repairing without counting too much upon the ease with which it may
+be done.  That which will go longest without any repairs is usually
+best.  Still, as between the two kinds of tubs, one can scarcely make a
+mistake either way, and the difference in price will govern the
+decision of most of us.
+
+To be consistent in our thought of keeping the floor clear, we should
+have a bathtub that rests upon legs.  It should not, if avoidable, be
+placed under the window, and if it can be several inches from the wall,
+it is more easily cleaned on the outside, and the space next to the
+wall need not accumulate--or at least retain--soap, towels, and sponges
+that elude the grasp of the bather.  Tubs come in lengths from four to
+six feet, and cost accordingly.  The comfort of a six-foot bath to
+persons of any considerable elongation is always manifest, while a
+four-foot tub is merely better than a footbath.  Where hot water is not
+on tap in unlimited quantities, five feet is a fair compromise.  In
+porcelain enameled ware a tub of this size costs from $27 to $60,
+without fittings.  The better-class goods, included in this range, are
+warranted not to crack or "craze."  Porcelain prices are almost double
+those mentioned.  If we want stripings or pretty flowers or highly
+ornamented legs for the tub, we will be permitted to pay for them, but
+they are scarcely requisites in the bathroom economy.
+
+Waste and overflow arrangements for the tub must be well looked after.
+When the master of the household is likely at any time to turn on the
+water for a dip and then become absorbed in studying the latest
+automobile catalogue, one feels safer to know that the superfluous
+water will find a ready outlet through the pipes, rather than the
+floors and halls.  The same precautions are to be observed with the
+lavatory, where young America may choose to devote himself to original
+experiments in hydrostatics instead of performing the simple process of
+expeditiously removing the grime from his digits.
+
+
+
+THE LAVATORY
+
+Anything that is all of one piece is likely to prove more lasting than
+the other kinds, in the lavatory.  There are various combinations, some
+of them including handsome marble tops, but basin and top should not be
+separate.  If the wall is tile, the back that fits to it is not
+essential; but if the back is used, it should be of a piece with the
+slab, bowl, and apron, to avoid ugly cracks and breakage.  The bracket
+form is usually regarded as most convenient, as legs are often in the
+way, unobtrusive looking as they may be.  Another method of attachment
+is by a concealed wall hanger.  The pedestal design is somewhat more
+artistic, but additionally expensive not only in the beginning, but
+afterward in the event of damage.  Lavatories in enameled iron cost
+from $16 to $75, including fittings and pipes above floor.  Some people
+like running water in their bedrooms, and a private lavatory is certain
+to be appreciated by visitors.  Objection has been made that the
+introduction of plumbing into the bedroom affords a new source of
+sewer-gas poisoning, but with modern materials and workmanship this
+need not be feared.  For the bedroom the supply man will recommend the
+pedestal arrangement, costing about $50; but less expensive forms might
+serve.  Of course every additional outlet, such as this, increases the
+piping bill and outlay for labor.
+
+
+
+THE CLOSET
+
+So far as the health of the family is concerned, the most important
+feature of the bathroom is the closet.  Here it would be simply folly
+for us to let any consideration of dollars prompt us to substitute an
+inferior or out-of-date apparatus for the safe kind.  It would be
+better to sell the piano or even to steal the money from the baby's
+bank.
+
+The only safety against sewer gas in the closet is to prevent it (the
+gas) from entering the house, and to make sure that gas from the water
+pipes is given an adequate exit and compelled to make use of it.  The
+old-style washout closet was a pretty good assurance that the one gas
+would get in and that the other could not get out.  The siphon closet
+of recent manufacture seems to be a much more dependable sort of
+contraption, though we need not accept as gospel the makers' assertion
+that it is perfection.
+
+The most reliable way to shut out gas is with water.  Even in the old
+closets it was supposed that the outlet pipe would be kept covered with
+water, but as one could not see where the water was or was not, the
+supposition wasn't always to be regarded as proper material for an
+affidavit.  Many a person has moped around and growled at the weather
+or the cook or anything he could think of to blame, when it was the
+cheap old plumbing arrangement he hadn't thought of that was at the
+bottom of his misery.  Sometimes, too, we think a little sewer gas is
+preferable to the plumber and his bill; but that is a very silly
+thought indeed.
+
+The siphon closet not only overflows, but it siphons, or draws out, the
+contents of the bowl.  This is replaced with clear water, which
+completely shuts off the outlet pipe.  Comparing the actions of the two
+systems, we readily see the better cleansing power of the double
+action, while the seal on the vent pipe is always evident.  A good
+siphon closet costs from $30 to $50, and unless we find something still
+safer we would better choose it.
+
+The low tank is preferable in many ways to the sort that is attached to
+the wall near the ceiling.  It is more compact, can be installed under
+windows or stairways, and looks better.  Besides, it is not so noisy
+and operates with greater ease, with either chain or push button.  The
+extra cost is slight.
+
+
+
+HOT WATER AND HOW TO GET IT
+
+We have named the essentials for use in a bathroom.  But there are
+other features that add much to its convenience and attractiveness.
+Some of these need not be purchased at once; in fact, it is better
+here, as elsewhere in the house, to let many things wait upon a
+demonstration of their need.
+
+A bathroom without plenty of hot water accessible is not, as we have
+previously hinted, likely to become a popular resort.  When the wash
+boiler and the tea kettle have to be heated on the range and brought up
+in a precarious progress that threatens a scalding for fingers, feet,
+and floors, to even hint the possibility of the entire household's
+insisting upon a daily hot bath suggests lunacy.  But if the hot-water
+tank is dependent upon the furnace or other house-heating arrangement,
+summer is likely to find it out of commission, with the chief element
+of a good bath obtainable only with much ado.  Then some special means
+of heating water is required.
+
+There are many devices, most of them using gas, and disposed to be
+cantankerous late at night when all but the would-be bather have
+retired.  The gas heaters are placed either in connection with the
+water tank in kitchen or basement, or above the tub, the water running
+in coils over the heater.  These arrangements are speedy and
+comparatively economical.  They are slightly dangerous, however; not
+that they are likely to explode, but from the fact that the gas,
+particularly if of a poor quality--which is usually the case--rapidly
+vitiates the air of the room, and may cause fainting or even
+suffocation.  If the apparatus is properly adjusted, and one makes sure
+of the ventilation, heating the water and admitting fresh air before
+entering the tub, no distress need be anticipated.  There are also
+gasolene and kerosene heaters, and an electric coil placed in the water
+is the safest and cleanest but not the quickest or cheapest scheme of
+all.  Its cost is from $5 to $20.
+
+None of these heating attachments is sure to prove fully satisfactory,
+but any one of them is likely to add a great deal to the
+serviceableness of the bathroom.  To many wholesome people one ideal of
+living is to be able to take a dip whenever one wants it, not merely
+when one can get it.
+
+A seat of wood, in natural finish or white enamel, is a handy
+appurtenance to the tub.  It will cost us 50 or 75 cents at a
+department store, or we can pay four or five times as much for a
+fancier quality at the supply house.
+
+
+
+BATHROOM FITTINGS
+
+Of soap holders there are innumerable designs: nickel plated or rubber.
+The latter will hardly be chosen.  A sort that will come as near as any
+to permitting one to grasp the soap without sending it to the far
+corner of the room has a grooved bottom and is retailed for 45 cents.
+A sponge holder at the same price will keep that useful article within
+reach, and for the towels there are bars, rings, and projecting arms.
+Nickel-plated brass or glass bars are preferred, as the rings are
+elusive affairs for both hands and towels, while the projecting arms
+are usually unsubstantial, and if placed too high, constantly threaten
+to stimulate the artificial-eye market.  The bars, if strongly attached
+to the wall, sometimes are a friend in need when one is getting in or
+out of the tub or regaining equilibrium after balancing on one foot.
+
+A mirror of good plate but simple design should be in the room, not
+necessarily over the lavatory, but better so.  Nice ones may be had for
+$3 or more.  There are tooth-brush and tumbler holders galore, and some
+one of these arrangements will be found useful.  The kind that provides
+for a toothpowder box, and has numbered compartments for brushes, is
+best, though there is something to be said for the retention of such
+articles within the private domains of their individual owners.  An
+attachment for toilet paper may be had for a quarter or for a dollar,
+and a workable one is worth while, as is a good quality of paper.  A
+glass shelf, costing anywhere from $1.75 to $12, is almost a necessity,
+but there are better places than the bathroom for the medicine cabinet.
+
+A single-tube shower-bath attachment of the simplest sort is a lot
+better than none, and need not cost over 50 cents.  The more adaptable
+kind, with two ends, will be found ticketed at about $2.  Thence up to
+the elaborate fittings at $250 there are many variations.  Sitz baths
+and footbaths are rather superfluous in the ordinary bathroom, but we
+can spend a hundred dollars for the one and half that for the other
+without being taken for plutocrats.
+
+A very fair bathroom, such as would please most of us, may be equipped
+on a scale about as follows:
+
+Bathtub...............................  $36.00
+
+Five feet long, three-inch roll rim, porcelain enameled, nickel-plated
+double bath cock, supply pipes, connected waste and overflow with
+cleanout.
+
+
+Lavatory...............................  30.00
+
+Twenty by twenty-four inches, porcelain enameled, slab, bowl and apron
+on four sides in one piece, nickel-plated waste, low-pattern
+compression faucets with china indexes, supply pipes with compression
+stops, and vented traps.
+
+
+Closet.................................  35.00
+
+Porcelain enameled, siphonic, oak saddle seat and cover, oak tank (low
+set) with marble top and push button, nickel-plated supply pipe with
+compression stop.
+
+Total for main essentials..............$101.00
+
+
+ Tub seat, natural oak.................  $0.50
+ Soap holder...........................    .90
+ Sponge holder.........................    .95
+ Toothbrush and tumbler holder.........    .75
+ Glass shelf...........................   1.75
+ Shower attachment.....................   2.00
+ Mirror................................   3.00
+ Robe hooks............................    .75
+ Towel bars............................   1.00
+ Toilet-paper holder...................    .50
+ Towel basket..........................   1.00
+
+ Grand total...........................$113.10
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+CELLAR, ATTIC, AND CLOSETS
+
+Modern city and town life, with butcher and grocer so conveniently
+near, has done away to some extent with the cellar of ye olden
+tyme--dubbed one of the aids to "successful diplomacy," the other being
+that very necessary adjunct, a good cook.  Those were truly days of
+bounteous hospitality and plenty which filled the cellar with barrels
+of apples of every variety, bins of potatoes, bushels of turnips and
+onions, barrels of pork "put down," corned beef, kegs of cider turning
+to vinegar, crocks of pickles and preserves of all kinds, quarters of
+beef, pans of sausage, tubs of lard and butter, and--oh, fruits and
+good things of the earth which we now know only as "a tale that is
+told."  But the cellar of to-day accommodates itself to to-day's needs,
+for though we may still lay in some commodities in quantity, we know
+the things of to-morrow can be had from the market on comparatively
+short notice.  Nevertheless, the things of to-day--and some other
+things--must be carefully stowed away, and the deeps of the house made
+hygienic, for as the cellar, so will the house be also, and to this
+might be added that as the floor, so will the cellar be also.
+
+
+
+THE CELLAR FLOOR
+
+In country places, where there is no sewage to contaminate the soil, a
+hard, well-beaten dirt floor is not particularly objectionable, except
+that it cannot well be cleaned.  Boards raised from the ground by small
+blocks nailed to the under side, and leading to bins, cupboards, and
+furnace room, should be laid across it to prevent the tracking of dirt
+to the upper rooms, and these little walks must be swept and kept free
+from dirt and dust.  If the cellar is floored with boards, the flooring
+should be raised sufficiently to allow free circulation of air beneath
+it; but the only strictly sanitary flooring is of concrete, six inches
+thick, covered from wall to wall with Portland or other good cement.
+Cellars, being below the street, and therefore receiving some of the
+surface drainage, are prone to dampness, and, are easily contaminated
+by leakage from drains and sewers, and other filth communicated to them
+through the soil.  These conditions are largely counteracted by the
+concrete and cement flooring, which also bars the entrance of ants and
+other vermin.  The communication of damp cellar air, polluted by
+noxious gases from sewers and decaying vegetable matter, to the upper
+parts of the house is responsible for many an otherwise unexplainable
+case of rheumatism, consumption, typhoid, and other diseases, and any
+outlay of time and money which can render the cellar wholesome and
+immune to ravages of agents external and beyond our control, must not
+be grudged.
+
+
+
+VENTILATION
+
+One who owns his home can adopt preventive measures, such as outside
+area ways or air spaces, impossible to the renter; but certain ounces
+of prevention are available to all.  For instance: if drain pipes run
+through the cellar, have them examined often for leaks; if there is an
+open drain, wash it out frequently with copperas and water, and give it
+an occasional flushing with chloride of lime or lye in strong solution
+to destroy any possible odor arising from it; and see that the roof
+drains do not empty too near the house, thus dampening the cellar
+walls.  Whitewash the walls semiannually, not only for sanitary reasons
+but to lighten the "darkness visible," and above all else--_have
+sufficient ventilation_!  A perfect circulation of air is insured when
+there are opposite windows; but whatever their location, all windows
+should hang from the top on hinges, or be so put in that they can be
+easily removed from the inside; for open they must be, and that all the
+year round, except in the coldest winter weather, and even then they
+can be opened during the warmer hours of the middle of the day without
+danger of freezing the contents of the cellar.  The cellar can be
+protected from invasion from without by galvanized iron netting, and
+wire screens will exclude the flies.  Both screens must, however, be so
+adjusted that they will not interfere with the opening and closing of
+the windows.
+
+
+
+THE PARTITIONED CELLAR
+
+The cellar which is partitioned off into small rooms is more easily
+cared for and kept in order than that which consists of just the one
+large space.  Rough pine-board partitions cost very little, and one to
+shut off the furnace (provided there be one) from the rest of the room
+is absolutely necessary, since the heat which it generates must not be
+allowed to spread and so spoil the cellar for cold-storage purposes,
+for warm, damp air hastens the degeneration of vegetables and meats.
+Unless some other provision is made in the cellar plan for the coal, a
+strong bin, with one section movable, should be built for it in the
+furnace room.  To the posts of this bin hang the shovels--one large and
+one small--used in handling the coal.  The premature burial of many a
+shovel might have been prevented had its owner only bethought him of
+those simple expedients, hammer and nails.  A strip of leather nailed
+to another post supports ax or hatchet, while near by is the neat pile
+of kindling which its sharp edge has made--perhaps out of old and
+useless boxes and barrels.  These must not be allowed to accumulate,
+but be chopped up at once.  Logs and large sticks have each their own
+pile, while chips, sawdust, and shavings take up their abode in a large
+basket or box.  The ashes from the furnace go into boxes and barrels
+outside of the house.
+
+
+
+ORDER IN THE CELLAR
+
+The cellar is primarily a storing place for food, and not an asylum for
+hopelessly maimed and decrepit furniture.  If there is any which is
+mendable, mend and use it; if not, consign it to the kindling pile at
+once, there to round out its career of usefulness.  Odds and ends of
+rubbish collect very quickly and make a cellar unsightly and difficult
+to keep in order.  If necessary to keep certain boxes for future
+packing purposes, pile them neatly against the wall where they will be
+out of the way, or else send them up to the attic.  When there are no
+rooms partitioned off for their accommodation provide bins, or their
+cheaper substitutes, barrels or boxes, for vegetables and fruits--boxes
+preferably, since they are more shallow and their contents can thus be
+spread out more.  Vegetables and fruits should be looked over
+frequently, and anything showing signs of decay removed.  Instead of
+placing boxes and barrels, vinegar kegs, firkins, stone jars, etc.,
+directly on the floor, stand them on bricks, small stones, or pieces of
+board.  When so placed, they are more easily handled and moved in
+cleaning, and the circulation of air beneath prevents dampness and
+consequent decay.
+
+
+
+SHELVES AND CLOSETS
+
+A swinging shelf--double or single--held by supports at the four
+corners, securely nailed to the joists of the floor above, is almost
+indispensable to the convenience of the cellar.  It should be about
+three feet wide and from six to eight feet in length, and may be
+covered on three sides with galvanized wire fly netting, the fourth
+side to have double frame doors, also wire-covered, and swinging
+outward.  Ordinary cotton netting can he used instead of the wire, and
+is of course cheaper, but must he renewed each year, while the wire
+will last indefinitely.  And so we have evolved a cool, flyless place
+for our pans of milk, meats, cooked and uncooked, fresh vegetables,
+cakes, pastry, etc.  If poultry or meat is to be hung here for a little
+while, wrap it in brown paper or unbleached muslin.  Wash the shelves
+once a week with sal soda water and dry thoroughly.
+
+A windowless closet as far as possible from the furnace, and best built
+under some small extension, thus giving it three cool stone walls, is
+the place where preserves and jellies keep best.  Label each jar and
+glass distinctly and arrange in rows on the shelves, taller ones
+behind, shorter in front.  If there is no closet of this kind, a
+cupboard, standing firmly on the floor, can easily be built, for
+preserves must have darkness as well as coolness; otherwise they are
+apt to turn dark and to ferment.  The shelves of the fruit closet must
+be examined frequently for traces of that stickiness which tells that
+some bottle of fruit is "working" and leaking.  Pickles keep better in
+crocks on the cellar bottom.
+
+Laundry tubs and scrub pails are usually kept, bottom up, in the
+cellar.  All articles stored there should be well wrapped in strong
+paper and securely tied, and it will be found a great convenience,
+especially at cleaning time, to hang many things from the ceiling
+beams.  The cellar should be swept and put to rights every two weeks,
+cobwebs brushed down, and all corners well looked after.  Here, as
+nowhere else, is the personal supervision of the housewife essential.
+
+
+
+THE ATTIC
+
+It is with a lump in our throats and an ache in our hearts that we turn
+our thoughts wistfully backward to that place of hallowed memories,
+which is itself becoming simply a memory--the attic!  What happy hours
+we spent there, rummaging among its treasures, soothed by its twilight
+quiet, and a little awed by the ghosts of the past which seemed to
+hover about each old chest and horsehair trunk and gayly flowered
+carpet bag; each andiron and foot warmer and spinning wheel and warming
+pan!  Roof and floor of wide, rough boards, stained by age and leaks;
+tiny, cobweb-curtained windows; everything dusty, dim, mysterious!
+Where is it now?  Gone--pushed aside by the march of civilization;
+supplanted by the modern lathed and plastered attic, with its smoothly
+laid floor, which harbors neither mice nor memories.  And though we
+sigh as we say so, the attic of to-day _is_ a better kept, more
+compact, more hygienic affair than its ancestor; for we have grown to
+realize that sentiment must sometimes be sacrificed to sense.  Whatever
+comes we must have hygiene, even at the expense of the little spirit
+germ which seems sometimes to develop best in the "dim religious
+light."  For we cannot forget Victor Hugo and Balzac and Tom Moore in
+their attics.
+
+
+
+ORDER AND CARE OF ATTIC
+
+Frequently so much of the attic space is finished off for bed and other
+rooms that what remains is somewhat limited, and cannot be turned into
+a catch-all for the may-be-usefuls.  Indeed, only such things as have
+true worth should go into it, whatever its size, these to be carefully
+stowed away, like things together--boxes, furniture, winter stovepipes
+with their elbows, piles of magazines systematically tied together by
+years, trunks, etc.  In each trunk place its own special key and strap,
+and when garments or other articles are packed therein, fasten to the
+lid a complete list of its contents.  Upholstered furniture must be
+closely covered with old muslin or ticking.  The family tool chest
+seems to fit into the attic, as well as the small boxes of nails, rolls
+of wire, screws, bolts, and the hundred odds and ends of hardware which
+the lord of the house must be able to lay his hand on when he wants to
+do any tinkering about the place.  A semiannual sweeping, mopping, and
+dusting will keep the attic in good condition if thoroughly done, with
+the help of the "place for everything, and everything in its place," a
+precept as well as an example which has entered prominently into the
+upbringing of most of us.  Here is another spot where corners and
+cobwebs like to hobnob, and such intimacy must be sternly discouraged.
+If old garments are kept in the attic, they should be either packed
+away in labeled boxes or trunks, or hung on a line stretched across the
+room and carefully covered with an old sheet.  This line is also
+serviceable when rainy days and lack of other room make it necessary,
+to dry the washing here.  The modern attic is for utility only, and so
+its story is soon told.
+
+
+
+CLOSETS
+
+If woman's rights would only usurp one more of what have hitherto been
+almost exclusively man's rights--the profession of architecture--she
+would in truth become the architect, not only of her own fortune, but
+of the fortunes of a suffering sisterhood, whose great plaint is, "So
+many things and no place to put them!"  For who ever knew a mere man,
+architect and artist of the beautiful though he were, who had even the
+beginning of a realization of the absolute necessity for closets--large
+ones, light ones, and plenty of them?  In his special castle, boxes,
+bundles, and clothing seem to have a magic way of disposing of
+themselves, "somewhere, somewhen, somehow," and so it does not occur to
+him that his own particular Clorinda is conducting a private condensing
+plant which could put those of the large packers to the blush.  But let
+him have just one experience of straightening out and putting to
+rights, and then only will he appreciate that closets are even more
+essential than cozy corners and unexpected nooks and crannies for
+holding pieces of statuary and collecting dust.  If a woman could be
+the "& Company" of every firm of architects, there would be an
+evolution in home building which would lengthen the lives and shorten
+the labors of "lady-managers" in many lands.  When that comfortable
+wish becomes a reality, let us hope that "Let there be light" will be
+printed in large black letters across the space to be occupied by each
+closet in every house plan, for the average closet is so dark that even
+a self-respecting family skeleton would decline to occupy it, evil
+though its deeds are supposed to be.  The downpour of the miscellaneous
+collection of a closet's shelves upon the blind groper after some
+particular package thereon, gives convincing proof that absence of
+light means presence of confusion; while it also invites the elusive
+moth to come in and make himself at home--which he does.
+
+
+
+THE LINEN CLOSET
+
+But after all, it is a blessed good thing to have some closets, even
+dark ones, and proper care and attention will go a long way toward
+remedying their defects.  Clothes closets we must have, china closets
+we usually have, and linen closets we sometimes have, not always.  To
+the housewife who possesses a linen closet it is a source of particular
+pride, and the stocking and care of it her very special pleasure.  Its
+drawers should be deep and its shelves wide and well apart--not less
+than eighteen inches, and even more in the case of the upper ones, for
+the accommodation of the reserve supply of blankets, quilts, and other
+bed coverings.  Arrange on the lower shelves the piles of counterpanes,
+sheets, and pillowcases in constant use, linen and cotton in separate
+piles, and those of the same size together.  Washcloths and towels,
+heavy, fine, bath and hand, have each their own pile on shelf or in
+drawer, according to room.  Shams and other dainty bed accessories go
+into the drawers, one of which may be dedicated to the neat strips and
+tight rolls of old linen and cotton cloth, worn-out underclothing,
+etc., as they gradually accumulate.  Where no provision is made for a
+linen closet, a case of the wardrobe type, built along the inner wall
+of a wide hall, answers the purpose very well, and is not unpleasing to
+the eye if made to harmonize with the other woodwork.  A closet of this
+kind may vary in width from four to six feet, with swinging or sliding
+doors, preferably the latter, and drawers and shelves, or shelves
+alone.  Or there may be a cupboard above and shelves below, or vice
+versa.
+
+
+
+CLOTHES CLOSETS
+
+Clothes closets of this description can also be built against
+unoccupied bedroom walls, the objection to the number of doors thus
+introduced being offset by the great convenience of having one's
+clothing immediately at hand, exposed to light and to view directly the
+doors are opened, for we find things by sight here, not by faith.
+Angles and recesses which have no special excuse for being are easily
+converted into closets, one to be used as a hanging place for the
+various brooms, brushes, dustpans, and dusters in use about the house.
+Brooms, by the way, must never be allowed to stand upon their bristles,
+but must either stand upside down or hang.  Another nook becomes a
+convenient place for hanging canvas or ticking bags filled with odds
+and ends of dress goods, white and colored, news and wrapping papers,
+balls of twine, and other pick-me-ups.
+
+
+
+THE CHINA CLOSET
+
+The china closet is designed for the accommodation of everything in use
+on the dining table, with drawers or cupboards for linen and silver,
+and shelves for dishes.  The latter should be arranged with an eye to
+artistic effect as well as to convenience, platters and decorative
+plates standing on edge and kept from slipping by a strip of molding
+nailed to the shelf, pretty cups hanging, and those of more common
+material and design inverted to keep out the dust.  Stand the large and
+heavy pieces, vegetable dishes, and piles of plates on the bottom
+shelf, and on the next cups and saucers, sauce dishes, small plates,
+etc., placing the smaller dishes in front, the taller ones behind.  The
+third shelf may be devoted to glass alone, with tumblers inverted and
+bowls and odd pieces tastefully arranged, or to both glass and silver.
+On the fourth shelf place such pieces of glass and silver as are only
+occasionally brought into service.  Personal taste and convenience
+dictate to a great extent the placing of the dishes, but absolute
+neatness and spotlessness must hold sway.  No other closet is more
+prone to disarrangement than the china closet, where the careless
+disposal of one dish seems to invite the general disorder which is sure
+to follow.  For this reason it demands the frequent rearranging which
+it should receive.  Its walls should harmonize in color with those of
+the dining room.  Small, fringed napkins or doilies on and overhanging
+the shelves help to impart an air of daintiness and make a pretty
+setting for the dishes.  When the china closet does not connect with
+the dining room, but is a "thing apart," its shelves may receive the
+same treatment accorded those in the pantry--white paper or oilcloth
+covering and valance.
+
+While well-filled linen and china closets appeal to the aesthetic side
+of the housewife, clothes closets speak directly to her common-sense,
+managerial side.  If she had a say-so in the matter, their name would
+be Legion, but she must not think over-hardly of the few she has, for
+they are invaluable developers of her genius for putting "infinite
+riches in a little room"; while the constant tussle in their depths
+with moth and dust induces a daily enlargement of her moral biceps--and
+her patience.  May their shadow never grow less (perish the thought!).
+
+
+
+CLOSET TIGHTNESS
+
+Before anything goes into a closet see that all the cracks in the floor
+are entirely filled with putty, plaster of Paris, or sawdust, for
+otherwise dust and lint will accumulate in them, and there the beetle
+will find a house and the moth a nest for herself.  Whiting and linseed
+oil mixed well together until the paste is smooth will make the putty.
+The plaster of Paris is easily prepared by mixing the powder with cold
+water till it is of the right consistency to spread, but it hardens so
+quickly that only a little can be made ready at a time.  Or, dissolve
+one pound of glue in two gallons of water, and stir into it enough
+sawdust to make a thick paste.  Any of these preparations can be
+colored to match the floor, put into the cracks with a common steel
+knife, and made smooth and even with the boards.  A better way,
+however, seems to be to omit the coloring and give the entire floor two
+coats of paint after the cracks are filled.  There are those who prefer
+covering the floor with enamel cloth; but try as we will, it is all but
+impossible to fit it so closely that dust and animal life cannot slip
+under it.
+
+
+
+CLOSET FURNISHING
+
+The floors attended to, next see that there are plenty of hooks screwed
+on the cleat which should extend around three sides of the closet.
+They must be at a convenient height, say five feet, and three inches
+below the first of two or three shelves, to be not over fifteen inches
+apart, thus making at least two available for use.  On the under side
+of this first shelf screw double hooks, and additional hanging room can
+be made by suspending a movable rod across the closet on which to hang
+coat hooks holding garments.  Skirts, waists, and coats hold their
+shape far better when disposed of in this way, and can be packed
+closely together.  A twelve-inch piece of barrel hoop wound with
+cambric or muslin, and with a loop at the center, is a good substitute
+for the commercial hook.  On the shelves go hat and other boxes, and
+various parcels, each to be plainly labeled.  A chest of drawers at one
+end of the closet is handy for the disposal of delicate gowns, extra
+underwear, furs, summer dresses, etc., while a shoe bag insures
+additional order.  The soiled-clothes hamper belongs, not in the
+clothes closet, but in the bathroom.  Too much emphasis cannot be
+placed on this.  The odor from the linen pollutes the naturally close
+air of the closet and clings to everything it contains.
+
+
+
+CARE OF CLOSETS AND CONTENTS
+
+Wash the woodwork, drawers, floor, and shelves of all closets
+thoroughly with water containing a few drops of carbolic acid--not
+enough to burn the hands--and wipe dry.  Painted walls which can also
+be washed are most desirable; if calcimined, the tinting must be
+renewed each year.  If furs are to be put away, brush and beat well,
+and then comb to remove possible moths or eggs, sprinkle with camphor
+gum, wrap in old cotton or linen cloth, then in newspaper, and tie
+securely.  Moths, not being literary in their tastes, will never enter
+therein.  All woolens should be put away in the same manner.  The
+closet is clean and sanitary now, and the main thing is to keep it so.
+All garments ought to be thoroughly brushed and aired before hanging
+away, particularly in the summer time, with a special application of
+energy to the bottoms of street gowns, the microscopic examination of
+one of which revealed millions of tubercular germs--not a pleasant
+thought, but a salutary one, let us hope.
+
+It seems such a pity that the sun, that great destroyer of bacteria,
+cannot shine into our closets; but until the new architect comes to our
+rescue with a window, all we can do to sweeten them is to remove the
+clothing and air by leaving doors and adjacent windows open for a
+couple of hours.  An annual disinfecting with sulphur fumes will
+destroy all germs of insect life.  Use powdered sulphur--it is far more
+effective than the sulphur candles which are sold for the same purpose.
+Stand an old pie plate or other tin in a pan of water; on it build a
+little fire of paper and fine kindling, pour on the powdered sulphur,
+and leave to smudge and smoke for twenty-four hours.  The closet must
+be sealed up as tight as possible, every crack, crevice, and keyhole
+being stuffed with newspaper to prevent the fumes from escaping, the
+entering door, of course, being sealed after the fumes are started.  If
+one desires the sealing to be doubly sealed, newspaper strips two
+inches wide and pasted together to make several thicknesses, can be
+pasted over cracks in doors and windows with a gum-tragacanth solution,
+prepared by soaking two tablespoons of the gum in one pint of cold
+water for an hour, then placing the bowl in a pan of boiling water, and
+stirring till dissolved.  This is easily washed off and will not stain
+or discolor the woodwork.  Although there is an impression to the
+contrary, clothing may be left in the closet with entire safety during
+the smoking, provided it is well away from the fire.  Indeed, clothing
+needs purifying as much as closet, and an occasional disinfecting will
+help on the good work of sanitation.  After the closet is once rid of
+moths, tar paper specially prepared for the purpose and tacked on the
+walls, is effectual in keeping them away, for they seem to "smell the
+battle afar off."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HANGINGS, BRIC-A-BRAC, BOOKS, AND PICTURES
+
+"Step by step" is a good thought to hold when we reach the fancifying
+of the house, as we only do after days of planning, nights of waking,
+over the must-be's.  And, after all, these last accessories are divided
+from the necessaries by but a hair line, for it is they which give the
+home its soul--that beautiful, spiritual softness and radiance which we
+love and which differentiate the home from the house which is but its
+shell.  The life and spirit of the home should be one of growth and
+development, which can only be achieved in a proper atmosphere and
+environment; and these it now rests with the home builder to supply in
+the radiant harmony and softness which flow from these final
+"trimmings," which not only create but reflect character.
+
+
+
+THE CHARM OF DRAPERY
+
+Hangings have a considerable share in making the home atmosphere, their
+mission being to soften harsh angles and outlines and warm cold, stiff
+plainness into comfort.  Window curtains act as an equalizer in
+bringing the very best out of both light and dark rooms, serving at the
+same time as a partial background for their contents; while portières
+are not only aesthetic but useful in deadening sounds, cutting off
+draughts, and screening one room from another.  "Drapes," those flimsy,
+go-as-you-please looking bunches of poor taste knotted, cascaded, and
+festooned over mantels, pictures, and chair backs, we have outgrown,
+confining our efforts in this line to the silk draught curtain to
+conceal the inelegant yawn of an open grate; and even this is being
+supplanted by the small screen.
+
+
+
+CURTAINS
+
+Windows must be curtained with relation to their shape and position and
+the nature of the room.  The lower floor of the house, being naturally
+the heavier, can be curtained in a statelier manner than the lighter
+upper story.  Here is the proper place for our handsome curtains of
+Irish point and other appliqués of muslin or lace on net, and of scrim
+with insertions and edges of Renaissance, Cluny, and other laces.
+These curtains are manufactured in three shades--dark cream or écru,
+light ivory, and pure white, the ivory being the richest and most
+desirable--and in simple, inexpensive designs as well as those costly
+and elaborate, and usually run about 50, 54, and 60 inches wide, and 3
+1/2 yards long.  The appliqué curtain wears better in an elaborate
+all-over design which holds the net together and gives it body, cheaper
+designs which can be had as low as $8 being coarser in quality and
+pattern.  Nottingham curtains must be discredited among other
+imitations; they are well-meaning but both tasteless and cheaply
+ostentatious.  Lace curtains are rarely draped, but hang in straight
+simplicity, most of the fullness being arranged in the body that the
+border design may not be lost in the folds.  They are shirred with an
+inch heading on rods fastened outside of the window casing over which
+they extend, and care must be taken, if the pattern is prominent, that
+corresponding figures hang opposite each other.  The double hem at the
+top is nearly twice the diameter of the pole, with the extra length
+turned over next to the window, the curtains, when hung, clearing the
+floor about 2 inches.  They usually stretch down another inch, which
+brings them to just the right length.  There is no between length in
+curtains; they must be either sill or floor length.  Over curtains may
+or may not be used with the lace curtains.  They are not necessary but
+have a certain decorative value, particularly in a large room.  Raw
+silk, 30 inches wide, and costing from $0.75 to $1.50 a yard, is the
+only fabric sold now for this purpose for drawing-room use.  The inner
+curtains may be simply side curtains, or made with a valance as well,
+and hang from a separate pole to obscure the top of the casement and
+just escape the floor, covering the outside edges of the lace curtains
+without concealing their borders.  The over curtain should reproduce
+the coloring of the side wall and ceiling in a shade between the two in
+density, but if just the right tint cannot be caught, recourse to some
+soft, harmonious neutral tint will be necessary.  Lining is not used
+unless there is an objection to the colored curtain showing from the
+street, when the lining silk or sateen must be of the shade of the lace
+curtain.
+
+Almost any sort of pretty net or scrim curtain is appropriate for the
+downstairs windows, with a preference in favor of the more dignified
+lace in the drawing-room.  With the other rooms we can take more
+liberty.  The ruffled curtain is sash length and looped with a band of
+the same, or with a white cotton cord and tassel at the middle sash if
+the window be short, otherwise midway between it and the sill.  There
+are fine fish nets, or _tulle de Cadiz_, 45, 50, and 60 inches wide at
+50 cents a yard, which make charming living- or dining-room curtains,
+edged on three sides with the new 1-inch fringe or fancy edge, at 5 and
+10 cents a yard, which comes for that purpose; and madras, plain or
+figured, is also good, a pretty combination being the fish net with
+colored madras over curtain.  Raw-silk curtains are in use, too, but
+anything which stands too much between the home dwellers and the air
+and light is best avoided.  Silk curtains are usually trimmed with a
+brush edge.  Glass curtains are only necessary as a screen or to soften
+the harsh outline of a heavy curtain, and must be as transparent and
+inconspicuous as possible, the right side toward the glass.  They are
+sill length, shirred to a small brass rod set inside the casing, and
+draped if the over curtain hangs straight, to maintain a balance.
+Those used on windows visible at once from the same quarter must be
+alike.  The lace panels with a center design which we sometimes see in
+windows, but more frequently in doors, are too severe to be either
+graceful or ornamental.  The vestibule door is best treated to
+correspond with the drawing-room windows, with an additional silk
+curtain to be drawn at night; or the silk curtain harmonizing with the
+woodwork of the hall may be used alone.
+
+The curtaining of bedroom windows has already been discussed at some
+length.  Swisses, dimities, figured muslins, and madras, either alone
+or supplemented by a valance, an over curtain, or both, of madras,
+chintz or cretonne, are preeminently the bedroom curtains, and may
+either be draped or hang straight, depending somewhat on the shape of
+the window.  The long, narrow window needs the broadening effect of the
+draped curtain, the illusion of width being further increased by
+extending the curtain out to cover the casement, while the
+straight-hanging curtain gives additional length to the short window.
+Frilled curtains are usually looped, and seemingly increase the size of
+the room by enlarging the area of vision.  An extra allowance of 6
+inches is made for draping, with an additional inch or two for
+shrinkage.  The charm of simplicity is always to be borne in mind when
+curtaining a room.
+
+
+
+PORTIÈRES
+
+Portières must serve their purpose, which is most emphatically _not_
+that of "drapery" in the sense in which the word has been so much used,
+but of convenience and utility, beauty, of course, being the twin
+sister of the latter nowadays.  Figured portières with plain walls, and
+vice versa, are the rule, the coloring blending with both floor and
+walls and coming between the two in density.  Again the neutral tint
+comes to the rescue if difficulty in matching is met.  There is almost
+an embarrassment of riches in portière materials in plain and figured
+velours, woolen brocades, soft tapestries, furniture satins, damasks,
+velvets, etc., but we are learning the true art value of the simpler
+denims (plain and fancy), reps, cotton tapestries, rough, heavy linens,
+and monk's cloth--a kind of jute--for door hangings.  The plain goods
+in dull, soft greens, blues, and browns, with conventional designs in
+appliqué or outlining, are not only inexpensive but artistic to a high
+degree, and are easily fashioned by home talent.  Plain strips, too,
+are used for trimming, and stencil work, but the latter requires rather
+more artistic ability than most of us possess.  Whatever the material,
+it must be soft enough to draw all the way back and leave a full
+opening, but not so thin as to be flimsy and stringy.  The portiere is
+either shirred over the pole or hung from it by hook safety pins or
+rings sewed on at intervals of four inches.  Double-faced goods have
+the hems on the side on which they will show least, with any extra
+length turned over as a valance on the same side.  The finished curtain
+should hang one inch from the floor and will gradually stretch until it
+just escapes--the proper length.  Single-faced materials are lined to
+harmonize with the room which receives the wrong side.  Lengthwise
+stripes give a long, narrow effect, while crosswise stripes give an
+apparent additional width, and plain materials seem to increase the
+size of a doorway.  Rods may be either of a wood corresponding with the
+other woodwork, or of brass, with rings, sockets, and brackets of the
+same material, the brass rod to be an inch in diameter and the wooden 1
+1/2 inches or more and set inside the jambs.
+
+Portières are also of service in softening the opening of a large bay
+window, making a cozy corner, or cutting off an awkward length of hall.
+When a doorway is very high it is better to carry the portière to
+within a foot or so of the top, leaving the opening unfilled, or
+supplying a simple grille of wood harmonizing with the wood of the
+door.  A pretty fashion is to introduce into this space a shelf on
+which to place pieces of brass or pottery.  Beaded, bamboo, and rope
+affairs are neither draperies nor curtains, graceful, useful nor
+ornamental, and are consequently not to be considered.
+
+Men of science may cry "Down with draperies!"--but we members of that
+choicer cult known as domestic science stand loyally by them, for
+though in draperies there may he microbes, there is also largess of
+coziness and geniality.
+
+
+
+BRIC-A-BRAC
+
+The old-fashioned "whatnot" with its hungrily gaping shelves is
+responsible for many crimes committed in the name of bric-a-brac, and
+calls to mind sundry specimens with which proud owners were wont to
+satisfy its greed: the glass case of wax or feather flowers, flanked
+and reenforced by plush photograph frames, shells, china vases shining
+"giltily," silvered and beribboned toasters, peacock-feather fans, with
+perhaps a cup and saucer bearing testimony to our virtue with its "For
+a good girl," and other fill-upables, gone but not forgotten.  And then
+followed a time when mantels and bookcase tops bore certain ills in the
+way of the more modern painted plaques, strings of gilded nuts,
+embroidered banners, and porcelain and brass clocks so gaudy and
+bedizened as to explain why time flies.  But the architect has come to
+the rescue with his dignified, stately mantel which repels the trivial
+familiarity of meaningless decoration, and the bookcase whose simple,
+quiet elegance is in itself decorative.  Blessed be the nothingness
+which allows Miladi to build her own art atmosphere untainted by gifts
+of well-intentioned but tasteless friends.
+
+
+
+THE GROWTH OF GOOD TASTE
+
+The germs of the capacity for good taste are born in most of us, but
+must be sedulously cultivated before they can rightly be called taste,
+and bric-a-brac presents the best of possibilities for their
+development.  Begin by buying one piece which you know to be
+beautiful--simple and refined in outline, choice in design, modest in
+coloring, and fit for the use to which it is to be put--live with it,
+study it, master it.  It will take on many unexpected charms as you
+grow to know it, and when you are ready to select the next piece you
+will find that the germ of your talent for discrimination has quietly
+become other ten talents and grown into a reliable ability to separate
+the chaff from the wheat.  Each acquisition will have its own peculiar
+individuality which, once conquered, means a liberal education.
+
+
+
+USEFULNESS WITH BEAUTY
+
+While all bric-a-brac should be beautiful, some certain kinds, such as
+lamps, clocks, and jardinières, are also essentially useful, and these
+have undergone a wonderful transformation during recent years as a
+result of the movement toward simplicity, honesty of purpose, and
+fitness.  It would be hard to imagine anything more incongruous than
+the porcelain lamp decorated with flowers of heroic endurance which
+blossomed unwiltingly on, regardless of the heat; or the frivolously
+decorated clock when the passing of time is so serious a matter; or the
+gaudy jardinière, whose coloring killed the green of the plant it held.
+But we have grown past this.  Now our light at eventide is shed through
+a simple, plain-colored shade of porcelain or of Japan paper and bamboo
+(if one cannot afford the plain or mosaic shades of opalescent glass),
+from an oil tank fitted into a bowl of hand-hammered brass or copper,
+or of pottery, of which there are so many beautiful pieces of American
+manufacture in dull greens, blues, browns, grays, and reds.  These
+lamps are not expensive--no more so than their onyx and brass
+forbears--and are quiet, restful, beneficent in their influence.
+Jardinières we find in the same wares and colorings, which not only
+throw the plant into relief but tone in with the other decorations of a
+room in which nothing stands out distinct from its fellows, but all
+things work together for harmony.  Clocks no longer stare us out of
+countenance, but follow, in brass, copper, or rich, dark woods, the
+sturdy simplicity of their ancestor, the grandfather's clock, and so
+become worthy of the place of honor upon the mantel, where
+candlesticks, antique or modern, in brass or bronze, also find a
+congenial resting place.
+
+[Illustration: The drawing-room.]
+
+
+
+CONSIDERATIONS IN BUYING
+
+There are so many vases, jugs, bronzes, medallions, jars, and bowls
+that one must needs walk steadfastly to avoid buying just for the
+pleasure of it, whereas each piece must be chosen with reference to the
+place it is to occupy and to its associates.  Any piece of genuine
+Japanese art ware, of which Cloisonné is perhaps the best known; old or
+ancestral china; objects of historical interest; different examples of
+American pottery, among others the Grueby, Van Briggle, and Teco, with
+their soft, dull glazes, and the Rookwood with its brilliantly glazed
+rich, mellow browns, its delicately tinted dull Iris glaze, and other
+styles which are being brought out; Wedgwood with its cameo-like
+reliefs; the rainbow-tinted Favrile glass; the Copenhagen in dull blues
+and grays--all these embody, each in its individual way, the
+requirements of art bric-a-brac.
+
+But the brown Rookwood will overshadow the Copenhagen, and the
+multicolored Cloisonné will kill the Iris, and so each piece must have
+a congenial companion if any.  And above all, don't crowd!  Bric-a-brac
+needs breathing room, and individual beauty is lost in the jumbling
+together of many pieces in a heterogeneous maze of color, which
+confuses and wearies the eye.  All the fine-art product asks is to be
+let alone--a small boon to grant to so great worth.
+
+"Tip-overable" flower holders defeat their own ends--utility--but there
+are many which are well balanced and beautiful, too: tall, wide-mouthed
+cut, Bohemian, or more simple glass for long-stemmed roses, carnations,
+or daisies; brown Van Briggle, Grueby, or Rookwood bowls for
+nasturtiums, golden rod, and black-eyed Susans; green for hollyhocks,
+dull red for dahlias, gladioli, etc., flowers and receptacles thus
+forming a true color symphony.
+
+Parian and Carrara marble, immortally beautiful, we can but gaze at
+from afar, but masterpieces of the sculptor's chisel are ours at small
+cost in ivory-tinted plaster reproductions of the Venus de Milo, the
+Winged Victory, busts and medallions of famous personages, etc., which
+may with truth be called "art for art's sake."
+
+Dining-room bric-a-brac generally consists of whatever occupies the
+plate rail--an interesting array of plates, pitchers, bowls, jars, cups
+and saucers, steins, cider mugs, and tankards.  And here our cherished
+ancestral china finds a safe haven from which it surveys its young,
+modern descendants with benignant toleration.
+
+
+
+BOOKS
+
+A spirit of friendliness and companionship radiates from a good book--a
+geniality to be not only felt, but cultivated and enjoyed.  The
+friendship of man is sometimes short-lived and evanescent, but the
+friendship of books abideth ever.  Paraphrasing "Thanatopsis":
+
+      "For our gayer hours
+  They have a voice of gladness, and a smile
+  And eloquence of beauty, and they glide
+  Into our darker musings, with a mild
+  And healing sympathy, that steals away
+  Their sharpness, ere we are aware."
+
+Truly, a book for every mood, and a mood for every book,
+
+
+
+THEIR SELECTION
+
+The true measure of a book is not "How well does it entertain," but
+"How much help does it give in the daily struggle to overcome the bad
+with the good," and as one makes friends with muscle-giving authors the
+fancy for light-minded acquaintances among books gradually wears away.
+Although different tastes require special gratification in certain
+directions, yet some few books must have place in every well-balanced
+library.  First always, the Bible, with concordance complete for study
+purposes, a set of Shakespeare in small, easily handled volumes, a set
+of encyclopaedias, and a standard dictionary.  Then some of the best
+known poets--Milton, Spenser, Pope, Goldsmith, Burns, Wordsworth,
+Keats, Shelley, the Brownings, Byron, Homer, Dante, etc., with
+Longfellow, Riley, and some others of our best-loved American
+poets--for though we may not care for poetry we cannot afford to deny
+ourselves its elevating influence; standard histories of our own and
+other countries; familiar letters of great men which also mirror their
+times--Horace Walpole, Lord Macaulay, etc.; essays of Bacon, Addison,
+DeQuincey, Lamb, Irving, Emerson, Lowell, and Holmes; and certain works
+of fiction which have stood the test of time and criticism, with
+Dickens and Thackeray heading the list.  Indulgence in all the
+so-called "popular" novels of the day, like any other dissipation,
+profits nothing, and vitiates one's taste for good literature at the
+same time.  Therefore, hold fast that which is known to be good in
+novels, with here and there just a little spice of recent fiction; for
+man cannot live by spice alone, which causes a sort of mental dyspepsia
+which is very hard to overcome.
+
+
+
+SETS
+
+An appetite for "complete sets" is a perverted one which usually goes
+with a love for the shell of the book rather than its meat.  It is
+better far to prune out the obscure works and buy, a few at a time if
+necessary, the best known works of favorite authors, than to clutter up
+one's bookshelves with volumes which will never be opened.  Partial
+sets acquired in this way can be of uniform edition and gain in value
+from those which are left in the shop.
+
+
+
+BINDING
+
+Books, like our other friends, have an added attraction if tastily
+clothed.  Good cloth bindings, not too ornate or strong in color, are
+substantial and usually best for the home library.  Real leather
+bindings of morocco or pigskin are rich and suggestive of good food
+within, but imitation leather must join other domestic outcasts.
+Though it may look well at first it soon shows its quality of
+shabby-genteel.  Calf has deteriorated because of the modern quick
+method of tanning by the use of acids, which dries the skin and causes
+it to crack.  Books in party attire of white paper and parchment and
+very delicate colors are not good comrades, for the paper cover which
+must be put on to protect the binding is a nuisance, while without it
+"touch me not" seems to be written all over the book.  Our best book
+friends are not of this kind, but permit us to be on terms of friendly
+intimacy with them, receiving as their reward all due meed of courteous
+treatment.  There can be no true reverence for books in the heart of
+the vandal who leaves marks of disrespectful soiled fingers on their
+pages, turns down their leaves, and breaks their backs by laying them
+open, face down.
+
+
+
+PAPER
+
+Their paper should be of a good quality, not too heavy, and the type
+clear, both of which conditions usually obtain in an average-priced
+book.  Their housing has much to do with their preservation.  Dampness
+is, perhaps, their deadliest enemy, not only rotting and loosening the
+covers, but mildewing the leaves and taking out the "size" which gives
+them body.  An outside wall is always more or less damp, and for this
+reason the bookcase must stand out from it at least a foot, if it
+stands there at all, and preferably at right angles to it.  Dust is
+also an insidious enemy, from which, in very sooty, dirty localities,
+glass doors afford the best protection.  These must be left open
+occasionally to ventilate the case, for books must have air and light
+to keep them fresh and sweet and free from dampness, but not sun to
+fade their covers.  Intense artificial heat also affects them badly,
+wherefore, the upper part of the room being the hotter, cases should
+never be more than eight feet high, the use of window seat and other
+low cases having very decided advantages, apart from their decorative
+value.  Whatever the design of the case--and, of course, it must
+harmonize with the other wood of the room--its shelves must be easily
+adjustable to books of different heights, standing in compact rows and
+not half opened to become permanently warped and spoiled.  Varnished or
+painted shelves grow sticky with heat and form a strong attachment for
+their contents.  The bookcase curtain is useful more as a protection
+against dust than as an art adjunct, for there is nothing more
+delightful to the cultivated eye than the brave front presented by
+even, symmetrical rows of well-bound volumes, so suggestive of hours of
+profitable companionship.  All the books must be taken down frequently
+and first beaten separately, then in pairs, and dusted, top and covers,
+with a soft brush or a small feather duster.
+
+"The true University of these days is a Collection of Books," and one's
+education cannot begin too early.
+
+
+
+PICTURES
+
+So many homes combining taste and elegance and refinement in their
+furnishing, still impress one with the feeling that somewhere within
+the lute there is a rift which destroys its perfect harmony, and that
+rift is not far to seek--it lies in the pictures.  Cheap chromos,
+lithographs, and woodcuts have small excuse for being in these days of
+fine reproductions in photographs, photogravures, and engravings, and
+their presence in a home indicates not only a lopsided development of
+the artistic sense, but an indifference to that beauty of which art is
+but one of the expressions.  Happy, indeed, is the homemaker in
+realizing the necessity and privilege of growing up to the works of
+artists who have seen beauty where she would have been blind, and felt
+to a depth which she has not known; for in that realization lies the
+promise of ability to rise to the point where she will at last be able
+to feel as the artist felt when he wrought.
+
+
+
+ART SENSE
+
+Mrs. Lofty, who never has to stop to count the cost, loses the valuable
+art education which our housewife all unconsciously acquires in the
+months which necessarily pass between her picture purchases--months in
+which she has time to discover new beauties, fresh interest, deeper
+meaning, in those she already has.  All these new impressions she
+carries with her to the selection of her next treasure, and the result
+will probably be a choice of greater artistic merit than she would have
+been capable of making before.  So long as there is something in a
+picture which impresses her, the fact that she does not fully
+understand its underlying meaning need be no obstacle to its purchase;
+the light of comprehension will come.
+
+
+
+THE INFLUENCE OF PICTURES
+
+The picturing of the home should be undertaken in no light humor, for
+better no pictures at all than poor ones.  Little, trivial, meaningless
+nothings are like small talk--uninspiring and devitalizing--and
+therefore unprofitable; battle and other exciting scenes wear on the
+nerves; the constant presence of many persons is tiring in pictures as
+well as out; small figures and fine detail which cannot be
+distinguished across the room cause visual cramp; and the rearing horse
+which keeps one longing for the rockers cannot be called reposeful.
+Any picture in which one seeks in vain the rest and peace and quietude
+and inspiration which the home harmony demands, is but a travesty of
+art--domestically speaking.  There is probably nothing more rest-giving
+than the marine view, and next come the pretty pastoral and cool
+woodland scenes, while madonnas and other pictures of religious
+significance express their own worth--just a few choice, well-selected
+photographs, etchings, and engravings of agreeable subjects, with a
+painting or two; that's all we want.
+
+
+
+OIL PAINTINGS
+
+Really fine oils are costly, and no house can stand more than one or
+two at most, because of the impossibility of giving them the correct
+lighting and the distance they require, without which their best effect
+is lost.  Properly, an oil painting should be given a wall or even a
+whole room to itself, as water colors and colored prints seem
+colorless, and black-and-whites cold, by comparison.  The deep gold
+frame is its best setting.  Gold frames and mats are usually effective
+on colored pictures of any kind in bringing out certain colors, dark
+ones especially, though artists are growing to use wood frames filled
+to harmonize with and throw into relief some one tone in the picture,
+the mat taking the same color.  Gilt has no place on photographs,
+etchings, or engravings, their simple, flat frames of oak, birch,
+sycamore, etc., with their mats, if mats are used, toning with the
+gray, brown, or black of the picture.  Fantastically carved and
+decorated frames are things of the past, both frame and mat being now
+essentially a part of the picture and blending with it, while setting
+it off to the best advantage.  Passepartout is an inexpensive
+substitute for framing, particularly of small pictures, and is
+effectively employed with a properly colored mat and binding.  White
+mats are still in occasional use for water colors and for
+black-and-whites, but for photographs we find a more grateful warmth in
+following the tone of the picture.
+
+
+
+ENGRAVINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS
+
+Engravings and photogravures most satisfactorily reproduce paintings,
+as hand work always has more life than the photographic copy.  All
+reproductions, however, bring the works of world-famous artists within
+our reach, and enable us to be on intimate terms with the animals of
+Rosa Bonheur, the peasants of Millet, the portraits of Rembrandt,
+Rubens, Van Dyck, Sargent, and Gainsborough, the landscapes of Corot,
+Daubigny, Dupre, and Turner, and the madonnas of Raphael, Botticelli,
+Bodenhauser, and Correggio.  Amateur photography, with its soft pastel
+effects in black, green, white, red, and gray, is making rapid strides
+and doing much to advance the cause of art in the home.  The
+hand-colored photograph is acceptable if the coloring is true and
+rightly applied, while certain charming colored French prints, so like
+water colors as to be hardly distinguishable from them, have distinct
+worth.  Then there are the reproductions of our present-day
+illustrators, in both black-and-white and colors, and in which we seem
+to have a personal interest.  Originals are always costly and hard to
+get, the exception being the obscure but worthy artist whose fame and
+fortune are yet to be won.  The carved Florentine frame is a valuable
+setting for certain colored heads or painted medallions.
+
+
+
+SUITABILITY OF SUBJECTS
+
+Although any good picture may be hung with propriety in almost any of
+the first-floor rooms, heads of authors and pictures having historic
+and literary significance seem especially suggestive of the library;
+musicians and musical subjects of the music room, or wherever one's
+musical instruments may be; dignified subjects, such as cathedrals,
+with the game and animal pictures which used to hang in the dining
+room, of the hall; while we now picture our dining room with pretty
+landscapes or anything else cheery and attractive.  Family portraits,
+if we must have them, hang better in one's own room, but really their
+room is better than their company, as a rule.
+
+
+
+HANGING OF PICTURES
+
+As to hanging pictures, the main thing is to have them on a level with
+the eye, and each subject in a good light--dark for light parts of the
+room, light for dark.  Small pictures are most effective in groups,
+hung somewhat irregularly and compactly.  All pictures lie close to the
+wall, suspended by either gilt or silvered wire, whichever tones best
+with the wall decoration.  The use of two separate wires, each attached
+to its own hook, is preferable to the one wire, whose triangular effect
+is inharmonious with the horizontal and vertical lines of the room.
+Small pictures are best hung with their wires invisible, thus avoiding
+a network on the walls.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE NICE MACHINERY OF HOUSEKEEPING
+
+  "Solomon Grundy,
+  Born on Monday,
+  Christened on Tuesday,
+  Married on Wednesday,
+  Took ill on Thursday,
+  Worse on Friday,
+  Died on Saturday,
+  Buried on Sunday.
+  That's the end of
+  Solomon Grundy."
+
+This little tale serves to show how it simplifies life to have a time
+for everything and everything in its time.  System was probably a habit
+in the Grundy family, and was so bred in Solomon's bones that it never
+occurred to him that he could reverse the order observed by the Grundys
+for generations back and be married on Thursday, for instance.  And yet
+there is room for conjecture as to how much difference it might have
+made in his life if he had elected to contract an alliance on that day
+instead of a fatal illness.  System is a fine servant but a poor
+master.  Simply because custom has decreed that Monday shall be wash
+day, Tuesday ironing day, and so on, it does not necessarily follow
+that this programme must be strictly adhered to in every family, or
+that the schedule of the week's work, once made out, cannot be changed
+to meet the unexpected exigencies which are apt to arise.  To be sure,
+Monday as wash day has many points in its favor; but if it must be
+postponed until Tuesday, or the clothes have not dried well and the
+ironing has to go over into Wednesday, there is no reason why the whole
+domestic harmony should become "like sweet bells jangled, out of tune
+and harsh."  Although order is heaven's first law, it occasionally
+happens that it is better to break the law than to be broken by it.
+And so, when the young housekeeper's nicely arranged plans for each day
+in the week are suddenly turned topsy-turvy, let her take heart of
+grace, remembering that there are whole days that "ain't teched yet,"
+and begin again.
+
+
+
+MONDAY
+
+The chief objection to washing on Monday is that it necessitates
+sorting and putting the soiled linen to soak on Sunday, which not only
+violates the religious principles of many households, but shortens and
+spoils the flavor of the maid's free Sabbath evening.  Then, too, the
+sorting of the linen often reveals holes and rents which should
+properly be repaired before laundering increases the damage, and a
+Tuesday washing makes this possible, with the straightening out and
+readjustment generally necessary after Sunday.  On the other hand, the
+longer the linen remains unlaundered the more difficult it is to
+cleanse, with the risk that good drying days may tarry and the ironing
+thus linger along till the end of the week, which is inconvenient and
+bothersome all round.  Therefore it seems quite advisable for Mrs.
+Grundy to wash on Monday, and an occasional postponement until Tuesday
+will not then be a matter of any great moment.  The routine work of
+every day--the airing, brushing up, and dusting of the rooms, the
+preparation and serving of meals at their regular hours, the chamber
+work, dish-washing, in short, all the have-to-be-dones, must not, and
+need not, be interfered with by the special work which belongs to each
+day.  There are hours enough for both, and rest time, too, unless the
+housekeeper or maid be cut after the pattern of Chaucer's Sergeant of
+the Law:
+
+  "Nowher so bisy a man as he ther nas,
+  And yet he semed bisier than he was."
+
+Wash day is always somewhat of an ordeal, and a long pull, a strong
+pull, and a pull all together is necessary to carry it successfully
+through.  A simple breakfast will give the maid an opportunity to sort
+and put the clothes to soak, if this was not done the night previous,
+heat water for the washing, and perhaps prepare vegetables for the
+day's meals, before breakfast is served; and if her mistress lends a
+helping hand with the dishes, dusting, or other regular work of the
+day, she can go to her tubs just that much earlier.  Getting up in the
+wee sma' hours and working by early candle light is misdirected
+ambition.  The maid needs her rest to fit her for her day's labors, and
+washing well done requires the light of day.  Set the breakfast hour
+ahead half an hour and so gain a little extra time.  Foresight and
+extra planning on Saturday will provide certain left-overs from
+Sunday's meals which can be quickly and easily transformed into
+Monday's luncheon.  Dinner, too, should be a simple meal, but don't add
+to the other trials of the day cold comfort at meal time.  A
+smoking-hot dinner has a certain heartening influence to which we are
+all more or less susceptible.  The doors leading from the room in which
+the washing is done must be kept closed to exclude the steamy odor from
+the rest of the house, and the maid allowed to proceed with her work
+without interruption.  By eleven o'clock she will probably have reached
+a point where she can stop to prepare luncheon.  If the family is very
+small, she can frequently do not only the washing but considerable of
+the ironing as well on Monday, but that is crowding things a little too
+much.  After the washing is accomplished the line should be drawn at
+what _must_ be done, and nothing which is not absolutely necessary put
+into the few remaining hours of the day, for the maid's back and arms
+have had quite enough exercise for the time being.  If a laundress is
+employed, the cleaning of the kitchen floor and the laundry and the
+ironing should be about accomplished by night, unless it seems best to
+have her clean and do other extra work after the washing is finished.
+If the housewife is her own laundress, she must acquire the gentle art
+of letting things go on the hard days, for she cannot possibly be
+laundress, maid, and house-mother all in one, and her health and
+well-being are of prime importance.
+
+
+
+TUESDAY
+
+The washing being done on Monday, it naturally follows that Mrs. Grundy
+irons on Tuesday, after the regular routine work has been dispatched.
+The first thought is the fire, if the ironing is done by a coal range.
+After breakfast is prepared the fire box should be filled with coal to
+the top of the lining, and draughts opened, to be closed as soon as the
+surface coal begins to burn red, the top of the stove brushed off, and
+the irons set on to heat.  This is a good place to sandwich in a little
+baking, before the fire becomes too hot for cakes or delicate pastry.
+If the maid feels that she must devote this time to the preparation of
+vegetables, or to other work which is liable to interfere with her work
+later on, madam may choose to step into the breach and try her hand at
+sundry delectables for the ironing-day luncheon or dinner, both meals
+being as simple as consistent with comfort and health.  The ironing,
+once commenced, should continue uninterruptedly until time to prepare
+luncheon, when the irons are pushed back and the fire shaken or raked
+and replenished.  By this time the clothes bars should begin to take on
+a comfortable look of fullness.  It is well to keep them covered with
+cheesecloth as a protection from dust and soot and, in summer, fly
+specks.  If any frying is to be done, set the bars in another room
+until it is over and the kitchen thoroughly aired, otherwise the odor
+will cling to the clothes.  After luncheon the range is cleaned and the
+irons drawn forward to heat for the afternoon session; and by the time
+the table is cleared, dishes washed, and kitchen brushed up, both they
+and the maid are ready for the renewed onslaught.  Though it may
+occasionally run over into the next day, the average ironing ought to
+be completed during the afternoon and remain well spread out on the
+bars overnight to dry and air.  Tuesday, though a full day, is so clean
+and neat that there is no reason why the maid should not keep herself
+equally so and be ready to serve the table and attend the door without
+further preparation than slipping on her white apron--and cap, if she
+wears one.
+
+
+
+WEDNESDAY
+
+On Wednesday Mrs. Grundy mends and puts away the clean clothes and
+picks up some of the household stitches which had to be dropped on the
+two preceding days.  The kitchen must be put in order, the refrigerator
+must have its semiweekly cleaning, and the ashes which have accumulated
+in the stove removed, a new fire built, and the hearth washed.  While
+the oven is heating for the mid-week baking there are vestibules and
+porches to wash, walks to sweep, the cellar to investigate, and a dozen
+little odds and ends to attend to which, with the baking, make a busy
+morning.  The cleaning of silver dovetails nicely with the Wednesday
+work, and during the canning season the preserving of fruit can be done
+at this time with the least interference with the other work of the
+house, though when it becomes a case of the fruit being ripe, other
+work must give way for the nonce.  In short, Wednesday is the general
+weekly catch-all into which go all the odd jobs for which room cannot
+be found elsewhere.
+
+
+
+THURSDAY
+
+It is Mrs. Grundy's theory, strengthened by practical experience, that
+it is better to extend the weekly sweeping and cleaning over two days
+than to condense it all into one; and so Phyllis takes the bedroom
+cleaning as her special Thursday work, and armed with broom, dustpan,
+pail, and cleaning cloths, she ascends to the upper regions as soon as
+she has reduced the lower to their everyday nicety.  The daily brushing
+up with broom or carpet sweeper removes the surface dirt, but sweeping
+day means a good "digging out."  She commences operations by sweeping
+out the closet and wiping off the floor with a cloth wrung out of hot
+borax water.  Then she brushes down, rolls or folds all curtains and
+draperies, and fastens them up as near the pole as possible, perhaps
+slipping a case over each as a protection from the dust.  If the bed is
+hung with a valance, that, too, is pinned up.  All small toilet
+articles and knicknacks are dusted and placed on the bed, and covered
+with a dust sheet of coarse unbleached muslin, or calico; bowl,
+pitcher, and other crockery are washed and dried, inside and out, and
+placed in the closet, with dresser and stand covers, which have been
+shaken out of the window.  These, if soiled, are relegated to the
+clothes hamper, to be replaced by fresh ones.  Chairs and easily moved
+articles of furniture are dusted and set outside of the room.  If there
+is a fire the ashes are carefully removed and brushed from the stove;
+the windows are opened unless there is a strong wind, when they are
+opened a little after the cleaning is done, and the sweeping begins.
+
+The broom should be of about medium weight, held almost perpendicularly
+and passed over the carpet with a long, light stroke and steady
+pressure which will not scatter the dirt, and turned every few strokes
+that both sides may receive equal wear.  Steps can be saved by sweeping
+to a central point, going with the nap of the carpet, never against it,
+taking special care to dislodge the dust which gathers between the
+edges of the carpet and the baseboard.  Shreds of dampened paper, or
+damp bran scattered over the carpet facilitate its cleaning; or in lieu
+of these the broom may be wet and shaken as free from water as possible
+before using.  Any method of keeping down the dust saves much cleaning
+of woodwork, walls, and pictures.  Rugs are swept in the same way as
+carpets.  After they are cleaned the edges are turned up and the bare
+floor gone over with a long-handled hair brush, or with a broom covered
+with a Canton-flannel bag.  If the floor is painted, follow the duster
+with a damp cloth; if hardwood, rub well with a flannel slightly
+moistened with crude oil and turpentine.  Small rugs are taken out of
+doors and shaken or beaten.  They must be held by the sides, never by
+the ends.  Matting should be swept with a soft broom and wiped over
+with a damp cloth, using as little water as possible, and no soap,
+which stains and discolors it.  Rubbing with a cloth wrung out of hot
+water will usually take out the spots which the regular cleaning has
+failed to remove, while grease spots yield to the application of a thin
+paste of fuller's earth left for three days and then brushed off.
+Rooms not in daily use do not need a thorough sweeping oftener than
+every two weeks, a whisk broom and carpet sweeper sufficing between
+times.
+
+While the dust is settling put a fresh bag or a clean, soft duster on
+the broom and brush off ceiling and walls, using a straight downward
+stroke for the latter.  The cloth must be renewed when it becomes
+soiled.  A long-handled feather duster is handy for cleaning moldings
+and cornices.  This, by the way, is the only legitimate use to which a
+feather duster can be put, in addition to dusting books and the backs
+and wires of pictures.  Instead of taking up the dust, it simply sets
+it free to settle elsewhere, making a lingering trouble, long drawn
+out; for though one may whisk around with it and then enjoy the
+conscious virtue which comes with having "one more thing out of the
+way," the complacency is short-lived and the cheesecloth duster finally
+has to come to the rescue.  All dusters should be hemmed, otherwise the
+ravelings are apt to catch and pull down the bric-a-brac.  After the
+walls Phyllis dusts the woodwork and goes over it with a clean, damp
+cloth, not omitting doorknobs, and looking out for finger marks in
+likely places.  If these are stubborn, a little kerosene in the
+cleaning water will help on the good work.  She brushes and wipes off
+the window casings and gas fixtures, dusts and replaces the furniture,
+polishes the mirrors, and washes the windows the last thing, provided
+the sun is not shining on them at this time.  If so, the work will have
+to be deferred and slipped in with special work of some other time.  In
+localities where there is little smoke the weekly washing may be
+dispensed with, dusting off each pane with a soft cloth being all that
+is necessary.  In freezing weather this is the only cleaning possible,
+though if the glass is much soiled it can be gone over with a sponge
+wet with alcohol; or with whiting mixed with diluted alcohol or
+ammonia, followed by much the same rubbing process employed in cleaning
+silver, with a final polishing with soft paper, tissue preferably,
+which gives the finest possible shine to any vitreous surface.  If
+there are inside or outside blinds, they must be well brushed, and
+casings and sills which are much soiled washed, before the glass is
+cleaned.  The requirements for successful window cleaning are a third
+of a pail of hot water containing a little ammonia or borax, plenty of
+clean, soft cloths free from lint, a complete absence of soap, and a
+decided presence of energy--aye, there's the rub!  The less water used
+the better.  Instead of allowing it to run down in tears, squeeze the
+cloth out nearly dry, going quickly over one pane at a time, following
+immediately with a dry cloth, and then polishing.  Wrap the cleaning
+cloth around a skewer and go into the corners and around the edges of
+the glass.  Nothing is more productive of distorted vision than looking
+through a glass darkly.  Wherefore, for the sake of the mental as well
+as the physical eye, see that Phyllis's window cleaning is a success.
+
+After the bedrooms are in order the halls and passages on the same
+floor, and the bathroom, are swept and cleaned.
+
+
+
+FRIDAY
+
+On Friday Mrs. Grundy's living rooms and first-floor halls are treated
+to their weekly renovation, which is similar to that which the bedrooms
+receive, only there is more of it.  The preparation of the drawing-room
+for sweeping is more elaborate, containing, as it does, more pieces of
+furniture and bric-a-brac to be cared for.  All movable pieces are
+dusted and taken from the room.  Upholstered furniture must be well
+brushed, going down into the tufts and puffs with a pointed brush
+similar to that used by painters, and pieces which are too large to
+move covered with a dust sheet.  A vigorous brushing with a whisk broom
+will be necessary around the edges of the carpet, in the corners, and
+under the heavy furniture.  Mirrors must be polished, glasses, frames,
+backs, and wires of pictures wiped off, and fancy carving which the
+duster will not reach cleaned out with a soft brush.
+
+If the room contains a marble mantel, it can be cleaned with sapolio or
+almost any good scouring powder, and tiles washed with soap and water.
+The fireplace should be cleaned out before the sweeping is done, and
+the hearth brushed, with a bath afterwards.  Brass trimmings and
+utensils in use about the grate can be easily kept clean by rubbing
+first with kerosene and then with red pomade; but if neglected and
+allowed to become tarnished, it is somewhat of an undertaking to
+restore them to their pristine brightness.  In an extreme case rub with
+vinegar and salt, wash off quickly, and follow with some good polish.
+Results obtained in this way are not lasting, and the vinegar and salt
+should be resorted to only after other well-tried means have failed.
+Another home cure for tarnished brass and other metals is a mixture of
+whiting, four pounds; cream of tartar, one quarter pound; and
+calcinated magnesia, three ounces.  Apply with a damp cloth.
+
+The dust will settle while the brasses are being cleaned, and then the
+carpet or rug should be brushed over a second time, lightly, and may be
+brightened once a month or so by rubbing, a small space at a time, with
+a stiff scrubbing brush dipped in ammonia water--two tablespoons of
+ammonia to a gallon of water--and then quickly wiping over with a dry
+cloth.  The chandeliers and gas fixtures should be wiped with a cloth
+wrung from weak suds, the globes dusted or washed as required, and a
+doubled coarse thread drawn back and forth through the gas tips, if gas
+is in use.  Registers should be wiped out and dusted every sweeping day
+to prevent the accumulation of dust.  All woodwork, if painted, is
+dusted and then wiped down with a damp cloth; if hardwood, use the
+crude oil and turpentine, going into grooves and corners with a skewer,
+and rub hard with a second clean flannel.  Hardwood floors receive the
+same treatment after being swept, and it is a good plan to go over all
+the furniture in the same way to preserve the life and fine finish of
+the wood, but it is imperative that the wood be rubbed _absolutely dry_.
+
+When the windows have been washed, furniture replaced, and everything
+is in apple-pie order in the drawing-room, each of the remaining rooms
+is cleaned in like manner, ending with the hall, where each stair is
+brushed with a whisk broom into the dust pan, and carpet, walls,
+ceiling, and woodwork attended to as in the other rooms.  The dusting
+cloths and broom bags should go regularly into the weekly wash.  It is
+far better to do one room complete at a time than to have a whole floor
+torn up at once.  Just because it is sweeping day is no reason for
+turning the family into a whole flock of Noah's doves, with no place
+for the soles of their feet.  It is very easy to transform black Friday
+into good Friday by a little judicious manipulation of the household
+helm.  The cleaning, in addition to the routine work, is about all
+Friday can hold, without crowding.  A few anxious thoughts for the
+morrow's baking will provide all things necessary to it, so there will
+be no delay about commencing it; for--
+
+
+
+SATURDAY
+
+Saturday Mrs. Grundy devotes to providing for the wants of the inner
+man.  The heaviest part of the day's work is the preparation of food
+for two or three days.  Then the refrigerator must have its second
+cleaning, and the pantry, too, probably requires renovating by this
+time.  Entries must be cleaned, a second tour of inspection of the
+cellar made, and the house put in trim for the "day that comes betwixt
+a Saturday and Monday."
+
+
+
+HOUSE CLEANING
+
+This is not the domestic bugbear it used to be, when one mighty spasm
+of cleanliness shook the house from garret to cellar and threw its
+inmates into a fever of discomfort and dismay.  The modern
+house-cleaning season is one of indolence and ease compared with what
+it once was, when not only the cleaning and living problem, but the man
+problem as well, had to be solved; when the master sighed for a spot in
+some vast wilderness, vaguely wondering, as he dined lunch-counter
+fashion and then gingerly wound his weary way through a labyrinth of
+furniture, boxes, and rolls of carpet to his humble couch set up behind
+the piano or in some other unlikely place, if marriage were a failure,
+while contact with the business end of a tack gave point to his
+thoughts.  No, indeed!  The spring and autumn of his discontent are
+made glorious summer now by the more civilized system which, beginning
+at the attic and working downward, cleans one room, or perhaps two at a
+time, as a day's work, restoring everything to order before a new
+attack is made.
+
+
+
+PREPARATION
+
+The task of cleaning a house in which the regular work is
+systematically carried on is not so very arduous, and follows the
+general plan of the weekly cleaning.  Before the real work begins have
+a general overhauling and weeding out of cubbies, boxes, and trunks,
+scrub out drawers and reline with clean paper, and clean
+clothespresses, wardrobes, and closets.  In the spring, there will be
+furs and flannels to shake, brush, and put away, and in the fall,
+summer clothing.  Before the spring cleaning the stoves must be taken
+down and cleaned out, stovepipes cleaned and rubbed with boiled oil to
+prevent rust, and both put away in the attic.  Chimneys, too, must be
+cleaned, and if the heating is by furnace, it should be put in order
+and all its parts swept free from soot, covering the registers during
+the operation.  This is better done in the spring so the summer winds
+cannot scatter the dust and soot through the house.  The supply of coal
+and wood for the ensuing year should be put into the cellar, and then
+the preliminaries are over.  The fall cleaning must be delayed until
+the canning and pickling are all done, and the "busy, curious, thirsty
+fly" is pretty well extinct.  Now is the best time for painting,
+whitewashing, papering, and other decorating and repairing.  If done in
+the spring, its freshness is bound to be more or less spoiled by
+insects during the summer, be as careful as one may.
+
+
+
+CLEANING DRAPERIES, RUGS, CARPETS
+
+The first step in the real cleaning is to take down draperies, shake
+well, hang out on the line, right side under, and beat out the dust
+with a dog- or riding-whip.  Follow with a hard brushing on the wrong
+side and wipe down quickly with a damp cloth, following the nap, if
+there is one.  Lace and muslin curtains are repaired, if necessary, and
+laundered, or sent to the cleaner.  If only slightly soiled, they can
+be freshened by folding, after shaking, and sprinkling all the folds
+thickly with magnesia.  Let this remain three or four days and then
+brush out thoroughly.  Next rugs and carpets come out and are well
+swept on both sides, then hung on the line and beaten with a flail--one
+of two feet of rubber hose partially slipped over a round stick and
+split lengthwise into four parts, being the best--until no vestige of
+dust remains.  Heavy carpets, Brussels, velvets, Wiltons, Axminsters,
+and Moquettes, need not be lifted oftener than every two or three
+years, unless the presence of moths about bindings, corners, or seams
+is detected, when they must come up at once.  The ravage of moths can
+be prevented by drawing the tacks occasionally, turning back the edge
+of the carpet half a yard or so, laying a cloth wrung out of hot water
+on the wrong side, and pressing with a very hot iron, holding the iron
+on until the cloth is dry and then moving on until all the edges are
+thoroughly steamed and dried.  This will not injure the carpet and
+kills the eggs and larvae.  Follow this up by washing the floor with
+hot borax water, dry thoroughly, sprinkle with black pepper, and retack
+the carpet.  Sometimes small pieces of cotton batting dipped in
+turpentine and slipped under the edges of the carpet will keep the
+moths away.  If there are cracks at the juncture of baseboard and
+floor, pour in benzine and fill with plaster of Paris.  Three-ply or
+ingrain carpets can be steamed and ironed without removing the tacks.
+
+
+
+CLEANING MATTINGS AND WOODWORK
+
+Mattings must be lifted, shaken, swept, wiped off with a cloth dampened
+in borax water, and left on the lawn to sun.  No soap should be used on
+linoleum, and but little water.  Clean by rubbing with a damp cloth
+till no soil comes off, and polish with a very little linseed oil.  All
+upholstered furniture should be taken out, covered with a cloth, and
+thoroughly beaten with a rattan, shaking the cloth as it becomes dusty.
+Before rugs and carpets go down, walls, woodwork, and floors are
+cleaned.  Walls, if painted, are washed with hot water containing a
+little kerosene, a square yard at a time, which is dried before moving
+on to the next area.  Rubbing down with the inside of the crust of
+bread a day old will clean papered walls.  Painted woodwork is best
+cleaned with whiting mixed to a thick cream with cold water, rubbed on
+with a cloth wrung out of hot water, following the grain of the wood.
+Wash off the whiting with a second cloth, rub dry, and polish with
+flannel.  Painted walls may also be treated in this way, beginning at
+the top and working down.  If soap is preferred, use the suds, rubbing
+the soap itself only on very much soiled spots.  Kerosene in the water
+obviates the necessity for soap.  Enameled paint requires only a cloth
+wrung out of hot water, followed by a rubbing with a dry cloth.  Avoid
+using water on hardwood, boiled oil or turpentine and oil being best
+for woodwork and floors.  Now is the time to scrub floors, if pine,
+with hot borax suds, and to rewax or varnish hardwood floors if they
+require it.
+
+
+
+CLEANING BEDS
+
+Beds come to pieces and go out of doors, where the slats are washed
+with carbolic-acid water, and springs and woodwork thoroughly brushed
+and sprinkled with corrosive sublimate and alcohol, if traces of bugs
+are found.  If the beds are enameled, they are washed entire, with the
+exception of the brass trimmings, with hot water and ammonia, and wiped
+dry.  Bedclothes, mattresses, and pillows are hung out and sunned,
+mattresses and pillows both beaten, and the former carefully brushed,
+going into each tuft and crevice.  Shades which have become soiled at
+the bottom can be reversed.  House cleaning is not an unmixed joy, but
+if done systematically, one room at a time, it is soon accomplished and
+becomes a part of that biography which all housekeeping is at last--a
+biography which should be written in characters of gold, its pages
+richly illumined with crosses, and palms, and laurels, and at its end a
+jeweled crown bearing the inscription:
+
+  "She hath done what she couldn't!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+HIRED HELP
+
+The difficulty of dealing with the subject of hired help is about as
+great as the dealing with the help herself, who is so often not a help
+at all.  The appellation is the one insisted upon by the great
+unorganized union of the "household tramp," whose pride cannot endure
+the stigma implied in the name "servant," and who has never learned
+that we, in all walks of life, are more or less servants--servants of
+Fame, or Ambition, or Duty, or Country, or Business.  The maid who gave
+notice on the spot because she was introduced by the daughter of the
+house to her mother as "your new servant," seems to be the incarnation
+of that spirit of independence which is loosening the very foundations
+of our national structure.  England has servants; Germany has servants,
+but America has help.  Let us then, like Agag of old, walk delicately,
+remembering that help, by any other name, is even more surrounded by
+thorns.
+
+
+
+THE GENERAL HOUSEMAID
+
+It is almost impossible to get a competent girl for general housework
+these days, and viewed in the light of past experiences with the able
+but unwilling, the willing but unable, the stupid, the dishonest, the
+ignorant servant within our gates, with the very occasional good genius
+of the kitchen to leaven the lump of incompetency, we are sorely
+tempted to give up the struggle and do our own work, feeling that the
+time and strength so consumed are more than compensated for by the
+peace of mind which comes with the cessation of hostilities.  But after
+a breathing spell we are generally ready for another joust, and the
+struggle goes on as of yore.  Shops and factories have greatly reduced
+the supply of servants, and of these so many specialize as cooks,
+waitresses, and nurses that we really have a very small choice when
+seeking an all-round maid--one who has some knowledge and experience of
+the different branches of housecraft.  And right here we encounter
+another difficulty: ways of living and methods of household management
+are so diverse that a girl might be considered competent by one
+mistress and entirely the reverse by another.  Our servants are more or
+less as we make them, and it is frequently the case that the mistress
+herself needs a course of instruction before she is capable of rightly
+instructing her maid--a course which shall embrace not only
+housewifery, but the cultivation of self-command, patience, wisdom,
+consideration, and that power which comes only with knowledge.  The raw
+foreigner with whom she often has to deal is so entirely ignorant of
+life as we know it; her training in field and peasant's cottage has in
+no way prepared her for the refined home with its dainty furnishings
+and food, and the difficulty of understanding and being understood adds
+to the perplexities of the slow and undeveloped mind.  Such a servant
+is really nothing but a child, so far as her faculties are concerned,
+and should be treated as one until experience and training shall enable
+her to put away childish things.  Like most children, she is an
+imitator; let it be our care that we set only a worthy example before
+her.  She is quick to recognize inconsistency or unfairness, and to
+seize an opportunity to get the upper hand.  Try to treat her with a
+firmness which is not arbitrary, and a kindness and consideration which
+are not familiarity.  Make her feel that she is an entity, a person of
+place and importance in making home comfort, and a good bit of that
+subtle antagonism which seems to exist between mistress and maid will
+be gradually smoothed away.  Don't wonder if she has the blues
+occasionally; you have them yourself.  Don't be worried if she is a
+trifle slow; help her to systematize and so shorten her labors.  If she
+cracks and breaks your dishes show her how to handle and care for them,
+with a timely word about avoiding undue haste.  If she wants to do
+certain things in her own way, let her, provided it is not a bad way,
+until you can prove to her that yours is better.  You know there are
+other ways than yours--good ones, too.  Study her as you would a
+refractory engine; if she runs off the track, or doesn't run at all, or
+has a hotbox or any other creature failing learn the cause and remedy
+it if you can.  She is human, like yourself, and young too, probably,
+and needs diversion.  Don't begrudge it to her when it is of the right
+kind.  Like you, she needs rest occasionally, between whiles; make an
+opportunity for it.  She needs good strengthening food; see that she
+has it, and if she prefers plain living and high thinking on bread and
+tea, that's her own lookout.  She probably will have strong leanings
+toward the jam closet; lock the door and keep the key, and leave no
+money, jewelry, or other valuables carelessly about to tempt her,
+perhaps beyond her strength.  Don't be overnice in your exactions; if
+she is even a fairly good cook, waitress, and laundress, you are indeed
+blessed among women.  Give judicious praise or kindly criticism where
+due; sometimes a warning in time will save nine blunders.  While she is
+under your roof and a member of your family you are in a measure
+responsible for her welfare, moral, spiritual, and physical, and are
+her natural and lawful protector.  She may neither need nor want your
+protection, but let her feel that it is there, none the less.
+
+
+
+HOW TO SELECT A MAID
+
+And now, how shall we find this person to assist us in making domestic
+life "one grand, sweet song"--we hope!  The usual way is to apply to a
+reputable agency where you will find the better class of girls and be
+dealt with honestly.  An agency of this kind usually keeps on file the
+references of girls offering themselves for service, which will give
+you at least some idea of the qualifications of the maid you may
+engage.  Many housekeepers advertise in the daily papers or trades
+journals, the advertisement being a concise statement of the location,
+whether city or country, the kind of service expected, and the wages
+paid.  A third and usually most satisfactory way of obtaining help is
+through some friend, who can back her recommendation with a guarantee.
+Having entered your application, decide upon your plan of action in the
+interview which will take place when Dame Maid presents herself for the
+mutual inspection--mutual because, though 'tis not hers to "reason
+why," she has a perfect right to know what awaits her.  This
+cross-examination is somewhat of an ordeal, especially to the novice in
+the servant-hiring business.  It is essential for the housekeeper to
+know just what questions to put to the applicant, what questions to
+look for in return, what to tell her of the household regime and of her
+individual part in it; in short, she must know her ground and then
+stand on it--it is hardly necessary to add, with decision and dignity.
+The applicant's personal appearance tells something of what she is: if
+slovenly, her work would be ditto; if flashy, with cheap finery and
+gew-gaws--well, she may be honest and reliable, but she may also make
+it difficult for you to be mistress in your own house.  Be a little
+wary of the middle-aged servant; if she is really desirable, she is not
+apt to be casting about for a position, and besides, she is usually
+"sot" in her ways.  The fact of a girl's looking sullen or morose
+should not militate against her--she may be only shy or embarrassed.
+If she is impertinent--maybe her former mistress "talked back," or made
+too great an equal of her.  Anyway, be your own ladylike self and she
+will probably fall in line.  The quiet, steady-looking girl who evinces
+a willingness to learn is apt to be a safe investment.
+
+
+
+QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
+
+Question her about her housework experience, her ability to do plain
+cooking and baking, make beds, serve, wash, and iron.  She cannot
+possibly be an expert along each of these lines, perhaps not on one
+even, but a general working knowledge of all is very desirable.  Have a
+complete understanding with her at the outset regarding her work,
+wages, hours of work and of leisure, and breakages.  Don't try to put
+the best foot forward, though there is no particular harm in pointing
+out the special advantages she would enjoy in your home, but give her a
+frank and honest statement of what she may expect.  If she asks you, as
+she no doubt will, if you have much company, say so, if you have, but
+add that you will relieve her as much as you can of the extra work
+entailed.  And don't resent her asking about the size of your family,
+and about her room, for she would naturally be interested in both.  A
+complete understanding at every point may save considerable future
+trouble.  The question of a uniform may come up during your talk.  Some
+girls absolutely refuse to don anything which looks to them like a
+badge of servitude; if this happens, let it go, because you know it is
+not an absolute essential.  At the close of the conference ask for
+references.  No mistress is obliged to give a reference to her
+departing servant, but if she does so it ought, in all conscience, to
+be an honest one.  It is a deplorable fact that many housekeepers,
+either in a desire to be magnanimous, or to avoid a scene or annoyance,
+give utterly undeserved recommendations, thus opening the way for other
+reigns of terror which a little personal application of
+do-as-you-would-be-done-by could have prevented.  Investigate these
+references, either in person or by letter; otherwise you may discover
+later on that they were forged by the girl herself or by some of her
+accommodating friends.
+
+
+
+AGREEMENTS
+
+The term of service is determined by an agreement between mistress and
+maid.  The usual custom is to take the applicant for a week's trial;
+if, at the expiration of that time, both are satisfied, the arrangement
+continues from week to week, if the payments are weekly.  In households
+in which monthly payments are preferred the maid is hired by the month.
+The agreement entered into is nothing more nor less than a legal
+contract, and not to be lightly violated.  When serving by the week the
+maid is entitled to, and must also give, three days' notice; when by
+the month a week's notice is required, or if for any reason her
+mistress wishes her to leave at once, she may pay her one week's wages.
+If the maid leaves suddenly and without giving notice, in the middle of
+her term, she forfeits all claim to wages which have accrued since her
+last payment.  If discharged unjustly and without sufficient cause
+before the expiration of her term, she is entitled to her wages in
+full; but if discharged without notice because of intoxication,
+immorality, dishonesty, arrant disobedience, or permanent incapacity
+from illness, she can claim nothing.  It is customary with some
+housekeepers to start the new maid on a comparatively low salary, with
+the promise of an increase of perhaps fifty cents per month, in case
+she proves herself worthy, till the maximum is reached.  This is often
+an incentive to good service.
+
+
+
+THE MAID'S LEISURE TIME
+
+Her times of leisure vary somewhat, according to circumstances; but one
+week-day afternoon and evening, and Sunday afternoon and evening of
+each week are usually allowed her, though she may be given only every
+other Sunday.  If an extra evening can be given her, all well and good.
+The maid should be able to count on getting away at a certain hour so
+she can arrange to meet her friends; and she must also understand that
+ten o'clock is to see her in the house, that hour being as late as any
+girl ought to be out.  In homes which employ two maids equal privileges
+are granted each, one assuming the work of the other during her
+absence.  It is a simple matter to arrange for light meals on the
+cook's day out, and to minimize the serving when the waitress is to be
+away.  When night dinner is the custom and but one maid employed, she
+either goes from ten until four, leaving her mistress to prepare
+luncheon, or else, if she is away over the dinner hour, the meals are
+shifted, with dinner at noon and tea at night.  She leaves on Sunday
+immediately after the dinner work is done and does not return to
+prepare tea.  If she prefers to spend her leisure time quietly at home
+reading or sewing, she should be encouraged to do so and not be forced
+to go out in self-defense to escape calls for extra work at that time.
+The mistress has no claim on her maid's "off" hours.
+
+
+
+DRESS AND PERSONAL NEATNESS
+
+The maid's uniform consists of three print gowns, with a gingham apron
+for morning wear, and for afternoons a white apron with white collar or
+kerchief and cuffs, cap, or whatever additional touches her mistress
+may prefer.  The maid usually buys her own gowns, while her mistress
+provides the accessories, which remain her property when the maid
+leaves.  The afternoon dress of one week becomes the morning dress of
+the following.  Black is frequently adopted for afternoon wear, but
+whatever the dress, insist upon its being washable; woolens absorb
+odors and perspiration and in time make not only her person but her
+room offensive.  Issue an edict against frowzy pompadours and
+"frizzes," pointing out the necessity for having smooth, neat hair,
+particularly in the kitchen.  Require her to bathe regularly.  The
+question of allowing the maid to use the bathroom must be settled
+individually.  If she is careful about cleaning the tub and leaving
+things in good order, there seems to be no reason why she, who so needs
+them, should be deprived of advantages for cleanliness which the rest
+of us enjoy.  "Standing on one foot in a slippery washbowl," footbath,
+or even larger tub, is a poor substitute.  Instruct her about arranging
+her clothing at night so it will air.  You may even find, if she is a
+just-over foreigner, that you will have to introduce her to the
+nightdress--such things have happened--explaining to her the
+undesirability of sleeping in underclothing which she has worn all day.
+
+
+
+CARELESSNESS
+
+If a girl is habitually careless about handling the dishes, and breaks,
+nicks, and cracks result, hold her responsible and deduct from her
+wages what you consider a fair equivalent for the loss.  Such a course
+is astonishingly curative sometimes.  The painstaking, careful girl
+seldom injures anything, and the occasional accident may be overlooked.
+Before your new maid arrives write out an itemized list of all
+crockery, silver, glass, and table linen which are to be in constant
+use, designating those which are defaced in any way, and go over it
+with her every week, holding her responsible for any damaged or missing
+articles.
+
+
+
+THE MAID'S ROOM
+
+Remove from the servant's room all traces of its last occupant, and put
+it in order for the new maid, with the bed freshly made up with clean
+blankets, linen, and spread.  The room should be comfortably furnished
+with a single enameled bed--the plainer the better and more easily
+cleaned--an inexpensive dresser and washstand, the bowl, pitcher, etc.,
+for the latter preferably of the white porcelain enamel ware, a
+comfortable high-backed rocker, and one common cane-seated chair.  A
+pair of plain white muslin or scrim curtains draped back with a band of
+the same, and plain white covers on washstand and dresser impart a
+certain air of dainty hominess.  A cheap set of hanging shelves for
+books and clock would be a welcome addition.  Walls and floor should be
+painted, and a colonial rug placed before the bed.  Don't give the
+servant's room the look of a perpetual rummage sale by making it a
+dumping ground for old defaced pictures, furniture, and bric-a-brac.
+Remember that it is her only haven of rest, and have it restful, if
+only for selfish reasons, for renewed bodily vigor means well-done work
+and a made-over disposition.  When we think of the average servant's
+room, small, stuffy, poorly ventilated, hot in summer, cold in winter,
+and unattractive to a degree, it ought to bring a blush of shame.
+Above all, see that the bed is comfortable; for who can blame a tired
+girl for getting out on the "wrong side" of a bed so hard and lumpy
+that it surely must rise and smite her!  Place on the woven wire spring
+a good mattress either all cotton, or of straw with cotton top and
+bottom.  Over this spread one of the washable pads which come for the
+purpose, then the sheets--unbleached if one prefers--the inexpensive
+colored blankets, and a honeycomb spread.  One feather pillow of
+average size will be sufficient.  When two servants occupy a room two
+single beds should be provided.  If there is no closet, make a
+temporary one by means of a shelf and curtain.  An attractive room
+carries with it a subtle and refining influence.
+
+
+
+HOW TO TRAIN A MAID
+
+"Set thine house in order," and have everything--pantry and kitchen in
+particular--as you expect your maid to keep it.  First impressions are
+truly the most lasting, and if she comes into a littered, soiled,
+untidy kingdom, you may expect her reign to be proportionally lax and
+her respect for your housekeeping abilities conspicuously absent.  This
+is a bad beginning, and then it is not exactly fair to set her to work
+the very first thing to bring order from chaos.  See that she has all
+the tools necessary to her work, replacing broken or useless utensils
+and assuring yourself that the cutlery and crockery for her individual
+table use are whole and inviting.  Show the maid to her room as soon as
+she arrives, with instructions to don her working garb; and then begins
+the induction into office, a trying experience to you both, and one
+which should be sufficiently prolonged to enable her to get a good grip
+of each new duty as it presents itself.  Avoid confusing her at the
+start with a jumble of instructions, but make haste slowly, giving
+directions in a way which she can understand.  Introduce her into her
+workroom, explain the range and show her how to operate it, point out
+the different utensils and their uses and where foods are kept.  If she
+comes in the morning, her first duty will be the preparation of
+luncheon; give her instructions for that meal, what to have, and how to
+set the table, this being the proper time to go over the list of table
+furnishings with her.  Don't embarrass her by being continually at her
+heels, but give what directions you think necessary and then let her
+apply her judgment and previous experience to carrying them out.  If
+you find that she has neither, don't be discouraged, for you may be
+entertaining an angel unawares, but adopt the line upon line, precept
+upon precept plan, and the situation will slowly but surely brighten.
+If she is overstupid in one direction, she may be bright enough in some
+other to establish a balance.  Luncheon and its dishes disposed of,
+arrange with her about dinner, and after its completion speak about her
+hour of rising, the preparation of breakfast, etc.  And the morning and
+the evening were the first day!
+
+
+
+THE DAILY ROUTINE
+
+The day's routine of work varies in different households and makes it
+impossible for one to offer an infallible system.  The keeping of but
+one servant does not admit of an elaborate mode of living, and on the
+days on which the heaviest work--washing and ironing--falls, madam
+would do well to assume considerable of the regular work herself, the
+care of bedrooms, dusting and putting to rights of living and dining
+rooms, preparation of lunch, and whatever else seems best.  All of the
+hardest work should be done in the morning, before the first freshness
+of maid and day is worn away.  After you have established a
+satisfactory schedule abide by it and oblige your maid to do the same.
+It soon becomes automatic and is, therefore, accomplished with less
+exhaustion of mind and body.  The regular day's work is about as
+follows: The maid rises an hour or an hour and a half before the
+breakfast hour, throws open her bed and window, and goes to the
+kitchen, where she starts the fire (if a coal range is used), fills and
+puts on the teakettle, and puts the cereal on to cook.  Then she airs
+out dining and living rooms and hall, brushes up any litter, wipes off
+bare floors, dusts, closes windows, opens furnace drafts or looks after
+stoves, and, leaving tidiness in her wake, sets the table and completes
+the preparations for breakfast.  The amount of work she can accomplish
+before it is served depends upon herself and upon how elaborate the
+meal may be.  After the main part of the breakfast has been served she
+may be excused from the dining room, and takes this time to open
+bedroom windows and empty slops, after which she has her own breakfast.
+When the breakfast table has been cleared, the dining room set to
+rights, food taken care of, and utensils put to soak, the mistress
+inspects pantry and refrigerator, offers suggestions for the disposal
+of left-overs, arranges with the maid for the day's meals, and makes
+out the list for grocer and butcher, adding whatever she thinks best to
+the list of needed staples already prepared by the maid--tea, sugar,
+soap, etc.  Never leave the entire ordering of supplies to the maid,
+her part being simply to jot down on a pad hung in the kitchen for that
+purpose a memorandum of such things as need replenishing.  When the
+conference is ended the maid washes the dishes, puts kitchen and pantry
+in order, fills and cleans lamps, prepares dishes which require slow
+cooking, makes the beds--unless her mistress prefers to do this
+herself--and tidies up bed- and bathrooms.  If the living rooms were
+not dusted before breakfast, she attends to it now, perhaps sweeping
+front porch and steps, and is then ready for the extra work of the day,
+the cleaning of silver, washing of windows, etc.  When the after-lunch
+work is disposed of she will probably have an hour or two to herself
+before it is time to begin preparations for dinner.  She should not be
+interrupted in her work for this, that, or the other, but allowed to go
+on with it according to schedule.
+
+She usually attends the door except on wash day or during extra stress
+of work.  She will, perhaps, object to doing so when her mistress is at
+home, and may need instruction about slipping on a clean white apron,
+greeting a caller with civility, presenting a small tray for her card,
+etc.  Initiating her into the mysteries of setting and serving the
+table may be a long operation, for the good waitress is usually born,
+not made.  But don't be too exacting; remember that she is not a
+specialist and arrange the flowers and add other nice touches yourself,
+and dispense with elaborateness of serving.  Teach her to economize
+time by washing dishes between courses when her presence is not
+required in the dining room, and insist upon having meals served at
+stated hours, being careful that your family respond to the summons to
+the table with corresponding punctuality.
+
+
+
+DUTIES OF COOK AND NURSE
+
+Each additional servant complicates the planning of the work.  When
+there are two they are usually cook and waitress, the former having
+entire charge of her own special domain, the kitchen, with all that
+pertains to it, except, perhaps, the preparation of salads and the
+washing of glass, silver, and fine dishes.  She does the heavier part
+of the laundry work and some part of the sweeping, washes windows,
+takes charge of cellar and pantry, or does such other work as her
+mistress designates, each duty being plainly specified at the time she
+is hired.  The tasks of the waitress are more varied.  The airing,
+brushing up, and dusting of the living rooms falls to her share, with
+the entire charge of the dining room, serving the table, and washing
+the dishes, glass, and silver.  She also has charge of the bedrooms, a
+part of her duties in that connection being to prepare them for the
+night, removing spreads and shams, turning down covers, closing blinds,
+and carrying to each room iced water the last thing before retiring,
+and hot water the first thing in the morning.  She attends the door,
+cleans silver, wipes off woodwork, and even helps with the mending when
+the family is small.  She usually does her own washing, and assists
+with the ironing if her mistress so decree.  The division of labor
+between cook and waitress is sometimes a delicate matter, and here more
+than ever is adherence to rule and routine imperative.  The tendency
+for one servant to override the other and more yielding, must be
+guarded against.  When a nurse is to be hired she should be questioned
+as to her experience in caring for children, and her cleanliness,
+honesty, truthfulness, morals, and general character carefully
+investigated.  She ought to be fond of children, and young-hearted
+enough to enter into their little games and joys and sorrows.  No maid
+whose example is demoralizing to the little ones should have any place
+in the home.  The nurse probably will do the baby's washing, and may
+help a little here and there about the house, but as a rule she has
+nothing to do with the general work.
+
+
+
+SERVANT'S COMPANY
+
+The vexed question of the "lady help's gentleman company" usually has
+to be faced by the housekeeper.  Since yours is your maid's only home
+it is better to allow her to receive her friends there than for her to
+seek them elsewhere, taking it for granted, of course, that any girl
+whom you would be willing to have in your family would have no
+objectionable friends.  And besides, she is somebody's daughter, you
+know.  It is to be hoped that the time will come when every maid can be
+provided with a sitting room of her own, but until then her friends
+will have to be received in your kitchen.  Let her feel that they are
+welcome out of working hours.  A servant of the right kind will
+appreciate and not abuse this privilege.
+
+And so on--and so on!  After all is said and done one can only give a
+few hints and suggestions on the servant question, with the wistful
+hope that they may help some one to "start right," for maids may come
+and maids may go, but the problem goes marching on.  The only way to do
+when it overtakes one is to grapple with it womanfully, for it _will_
+happen, even in the best regulated families.
+
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Home, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMPLETE HOME ***
+
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@@ -0,0 +1,9602 @@
+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<HTML>
+<HEAD>
+
+<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+
+<TITLE>
+The Complete Home
+</TITLE>
+
+<STYLE TYPE="text/css">
+BODY { color: Black; background: White; margin-right: 8%; margin-left: 8%; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify }
+
+P {text-indent: 4% }
+
+P.noindent {text-indent: 0% }
+
+P.poem {text-indent: 0%; margin-left: 10%; font-size: small }
+
+P.letter {font-size: small }
+
+P.table {text-indent: 0%; font-family: "Courier New", monospaced; font-size: small; white-space: pre }
+
+</STYLE>
+
+</HEAD>
+
+<BODY>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Home, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Complete Home
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Clara E. Laughlin
+
+Release Date: September 4, 2005 [EBook #16650]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMPLETE HOME ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<A NAME="img-front"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Frontispiece" BORDER="2" WIDTH="543" HEIGHT="385">
+<H5>
+[Frontispiece: A $3,400 House.]
+</H5>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H1 ALIGN="center">
+The COMPLETE HOME
+</H1>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+EDITED BY
+</H3>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CLARA E. LAUGHLIN
+</H2>
+
+<BR><BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
+<BR><BR>
+NEW YORK
+<BR><BR>
+1907
+</H4>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H5 ALIGN="center">
+Copyright, 1906, by
+<BR><BR>
+D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
+</H5>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H5 ALIGN="center">
+<I>Published November, 1906</I>
+</H5>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CONTENTS
+</H2>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap01">
+CHAPTER I
+<BR><BR>
+CHOOSING A PLACE TO LIVE
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+</H4>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Taste and expedience&mdash;Responsibilities&mdash;Renting, buying or
+building&mdash;Location&mdash;City or country&mdash;Renunciations&mdash;Schools and
+churches&mdash;Transportation&mdash;The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick
+maker&mdash;The home acre&mdash;Comparative cost in renting&mdash;The location
+sense&mdash;Size of lot&mdash;Position&mdash;Outlook and inlook&mdash;Trees&mdash;Income and
+expenditure&mdash;Style&mdash;Size&mdash;Plans for building&mdash;Necessary rooms&mdash;The sick
+room&mdash;Room to entertain&mdash;The "living room"&mdash;The dining room and
+kitchen&mdash;The sleeping rooms&mdash;Thinking it out
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap02">
+CHAPTER II
+<BR><BR>
+FLOORS, WALLS, AND WINDOWS
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+</H4>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+The necessity of good floors&mdash;Material and cost of laying&mdash;Ornamental
+flooring&mdash;Waxed, varnished, and oiled floors&mdash;Carpets, linoleum, and
+mats&mdash;The stairway&mdash;Rugs&mdash;Oriental rugs&mdash;Kitchen and upper
+floors&mdash;Matting and cardoman cloth&mdash;Uses of the decorator&mdash;Wood in
+decoration&mdash;Panels and plaster&mdash;The beamed ceiling&mdash;Paint, paper, and
+calcimine&mdash;Shades and curtains&mdash;Leaded panes and casements&mdash;Storm windows
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap03">
+CHAPTER III
+<BR><BR>
+LIGHTING AND HEATING
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+</H4>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Necessity of sunlight&mdash;Kerosene&mdash;Gas and matches&mdash;Electric
+light&mdash;Pleasing arrangement&mdash;Adaptability&mdash;Protection&mdash;Regulated
+light&mdash;The two sure ways of heating&mdash;The hot-air furnace&mdash;Direction of
+heat&mdash;Registers&mdash;Hot water and steam heat&mdash;Indirect heating&mdash;Summary
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap04">
+CHAPTER IV
+<BR><BR>
+FURNITURE
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+</H4>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+The quest of the beautiful&mdash;Ancient designs&mdash;The Arts and Crafts&mdash;Mission
+furniture&mdash;Comfort, aesthetic and physical&mdash;Older models in
+furniture&mdash;Mahogany and oak&mdash;Substantiality&mdash;Superfluity&mdash;Hall
+furniture&mdash;The family chairs&mdash;The table&mdash;The
+davenport&mdash;Bookcases&mdash;Sundries&mdash;Willow furniture&mdash;The dining
+table&mdash;Discrimination in choice
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap05">
+CHAPTER V
+<BR><BR>
+HOUSEHOLD LINEN
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+</H4>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Linen, past and present&mdash;Bleached and
+"half-bleached"&mdash;Damask&mdash;Quality&mdash;Design&mdash;Price and size&mdash;Necessary
+supply&mdash;Plain, hemstitched, or drawn&mdash;Doilies and table
+dressing&mdash;Centerpieces&mdash;Monograms&mdash;Care of table linen&mdash;How to
+launder&mdash;Table pads&mdash;Ready-made bed linen&mdash;Price and quality&mdash;Real
+linen&mdash;Suggestions about towels
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap06">
+CHAPTER VI
+<BR><BR>
+THE KITCHEN
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+</H4>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+The plan&mdash;Location and finish&mdash;The floor&mdash;The windows&mdash;The sink&mdash;The
+pantry&mdash;Insects and their extermination&mdash;The refrigerator and its
+care&mdash;Furnishing the kitchen&mdash;The stove&mdash;The table and its care&mdash;The
+chairs&mdash;The kitchen cabinet&mdash;Kitchen utensils
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap07">
+CHAPTER VII
+<BR><BR>
+THE LAUNDRY
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+</H4>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Laundry requisites&mdash;The stove and furnishings&mdash;Irons and
+holders&mdash;Preparing the "wash"&mdash;Removing stains&mdash;Soaking and
+washing&mdash;Washing powders and soap&mdash;Washing woolens&mdash;Washing the white
+clothes&mdash;Starch&mdash;Colored clothes&mdash;Stockings&mdash;Dainty laundering&mdash;How to
+wash silk&mdash;Washing blankets&mdash;Washing curtains&mdash;Tidying up and
+sprinkling&mdash;Care of irons&mdash;How to iron
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap08">
+CHAPTER VIII
+<BR><BR>
+TABLE FURNISHINGS
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+</H4>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Dining-room cheer&mdash;Stocking the china-cupboard&mdash;The groundwork&mdash;Course
+sets&mdash;Odd pieces&mdash;Silver and plate&mdash;Glass&mdash;Arrangement&mdash;Duties of the
+waitress&mdash;The breakfast table&mdash;Luncheon&mdash;Dinner&mdash;The formal dinner&mdash;The
+formal luncheon&mdash;Washing glass&mdash;Washing and cleaning silver&mdash;How to wash
+china&mdash;Care of knives
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap09">
+CHAPTER IX
+<BR><BR>
+THE BEDROOM
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+</H4>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Light and air&mdash;Carpets versus rugs&mdash;Mattings&mdash;Wall covering&mdash;Bedroom
+woodwork&mdash;Bedroom draperies&mdash;Bedroom furnishing&mdash;Careful
+selection&mdash;Toilet and dressing tables&mdash;Further comforts&mdash;The
+bedstead&mdash;Spring, mattress, and pillows&mdash;Bed decoration&mdash;Simplicity&mdash;Care
+of bedroom and bed&mdash;Vermin and their extermination
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap10">
+CHAPTER X
+<BR><BR>
+THE BATH ROOM
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+</H4>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Plumbing&mdash;Bath room location and furnishing&mdash;The tub&mdash;The lavatory&mdash;The
+closet&mdash;Hot water and how to get it&mdash;Bath room fittings
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap11">
+CHAPTER XI
+<BR><BR>
+CELLAR, ATTIC, AND CLOSETS
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+</H4>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+The cellar floor&mdash;Ventilation&mdash;The partitioned cellar&mdash;Order in the
+cellar&mdash;Shelves and closets&mdash;The attic&mdash;Order and care of
+attic&mdash;Closets&mdash;The linen closet&mdash;Clothes closets&mdash;The china
+closet&mdash;Closet tightness&mdash;Closet furnishings&mdash;Care of closets and contents
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap12">
+CHAPTER XII
+<BR><BR>
+HANGINGS, BRIC-A-BRAC, BOOKS, AND PICTURES
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+</H4>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+The charm of drapery&mdash;Curtains&mdash;Portières&mdash;Bric-a-brac&mdash;The growth of
+good taste&mdash;Usefulness with beauty&mdash;Considerations in
+buying&mdash;Books&mdash;Their selection&mdash;Sets&mdash;Binding&mdash;Paper&mdash;Pictures&mdash;Art
+sense&mdash;The influence of pictures&mdash;Oil paintings&mdash;Engravings and
+photographs&mdash;Suitability of subjects&mdash;Hanging of pictures
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap13">
+CHAPTER XIII
+<BR><BR>
+THE NICE MACHINERY OF HOUSEKEEPING
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+</H4>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Monday&mdash;Tuesday&mdash;Wednesday&mdash;Thursday&mdash;Friday&mdash;Saturday&mdash;House
+cleaning&mdash;Preparation&mdash;Cleaning draperies, rugs, carpets&mdash;Cleaning
+mattings and woodwork&mdash;Cleaning beds
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap14">
+CHAPTER XIV
+<BR><BR>
+HIRED HELP
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+</H4>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+The general housemaid&mdash;How to select a maid&mdash;Questions and
+answers&mdash;Agreements&mdash;The maid's leisure time&mdash;Dress and personal
+neatness&mdash;Carelessness&mdash;The maid's room&mdash;How to train a maid&mdash;The daily
+routine&mdash;Duties of cook and nurse&mdash;Servant's company
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+</H2>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-front">
+A $3,400 House. . . . . . . . Frontispiece
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-016">
+A Unique Arrangement of the Porch
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-024">
+A Homelike Living Room
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-032">
+An Attractive and Inexpensive Hall
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-036">
+An Artistic Staircase Hall
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-040">
+An Oriental Rug of Good Design: Shirvan
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-074">
+Good Examples of Chippendale and Old Walnut
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-078">
+A Chippendale Secretary
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-088">
+The Dining Room
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-114">
+The Kitchen
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-138">
+The Laundry
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-166">
+Wedgwood Pottery, and Silver of Antique Design
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-170">
+A Collection of Eighteenth-century Cut Glass
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-194">
+The Bedroom
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-212">
+The Bathroom
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H3>
+<A HREF="#img-254">
+The Drawing-room
+</A>
+</H3>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap01"></A>
+<H1 ALIGN="center">
+THE COMPLETE HOME
+</H1>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER I
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHOOSING A PLACE TO LIVE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Blessed indeed are they who are free to choose where and how they shall
+live.  Still more blessed are they who give abundant thought to their
+choice, for they may not wear the sackcloth of discomfort nor scatter
+the ashes of burned money.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+TASTE AND EXPEDIENCE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Most of us have a theory of what the home should be, but it is stowed
+away with the wedding gifts of fine linen that are cherished for our
+permanent abode.  We believe in harmony of surroundings, but after
+living, within a period of ten years or so, in seven different
+apartments with seven different arrangements of rooms and seven
+different schemes of decoration, we lose interest in suiting one thing
+to another.  Harmony comes to mean simply good terms with the janitor.
+Or if (being beginners) we have some such prospect of nomadic living
+facing us, and we are at all knowing, we realize the utter helplessness
+of demonstrating our good taste, purchase any bits of furniture that a
+vagrant fancy may fasten upon, and give space to whatever gimcracks our
+friends may foist upon us, trusting that in the whirligig of removals
+the plush rocker, the mission table, and the brass parlor stand may
+each find itself in harmony with something else at one time or another.
+Some day we shall be freed from the tyranny of these conditions and
+then&mdash;&mdash;!
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+RESPONSIBILITIES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+But when the time comes to declare our independence of landlord and
+janitor, or at least to exchange existence in a flat for life in a
+rented cottage, we find that freedom brings some perplexing
+responsibilities as well as its blessings.  Even if our hopes do not
+soar higher than the rented house, there is at least the desire for a
+reasonable permanency, and we have no longer the excuse of custom-bred
+transitoriness to plead for our lack of plan.  Where the home is to be
+purchased for our very own the test of our individuality becomes more
+exacting.  A house has character, and some of the standards that apply
+to companionship apply to it.  In fact, we live with it, as well as in
+it.  And if we have a saving conscience as to the immeasurability of
+home by money standards we are not to be tempted by the veriest bargain
+of a house that does not nearly represent our ideals.  To blunder here
+is to topple over our whole Castle of Hope.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+RENTING, BUYING OR BUILDING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+But the test is most severe of all when good fortune permits us to
+choose locality, site, and building plans, and to finish and furnish
+the house to suit our tastes, even though less in accordance with our
+full desires than with our modest means.  Now we may bring out our
+theory of living from its snug resting place.  It will need some
+furbishing up, maybe, to meet modern conditions, but never mind!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Whether we mean to rent, to buy, or to build, the problem of where and
+what and how is before us.  As folk of wholesome desires, we insist
+first of all upon good taste, comfort, and healthfulness in our
+habitats; and since we may agree upon the best way to attain these
+essentials without ignoring our personal preferences in details, we may
+profitably take counsel together as to what the new home should be.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+LOCATION
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Thought of a location should begin with the birth of the home idea,
+even if the purchase-money be not immediately available.  We should not
+only take sufficient time to study conditions and scheme carefully for
+the home, but must sagaciously bear in mind that where real estate is
+in active demand anxiety to purchase stiffens prices.  To bide one's
+time may mean a considerable saving.  However, life, as we plan now to
+live it, is short enough at most, and we should not cheat ourselves out
+of too much immediate happiness by waiting for the money-saving
+opportunity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The question of neighborhood, if we decide to remain within city
+limits, is a difficult one.  In most of the larger places no one can
+accurately foretell the future of even the most attractive residence
+district.  Factories and business houses may not obtrude, but flats are
+almost sure to come.  Few cottages are being constructed in cities,
+partly because of lack of demand, but principally because they do not
+pay sufficient income on the investment.  Consequently the houses that
+are to be had are seldom modern.  Sometimes they pass into the hands of
+careless tenants and the neighborhood soon shows deterioration.  Still,
+if we are determined to remain in the city and take our chances, it is
+possible by careful investigation to discover congenial surroundings.
+Many of the essential tests of the suburban home that we shall discuss
+hereafter will apply also to the house in a strictly residence district
+of a large city; practically all of them to the house in a smaller town.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CITY OR COUNTRY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The chances are, however, that we shall choose the suburb.  But before
+we desert J 72, or whatever our shelf in the apartment building may be,
+we may well remind ourselves that we are also to desert some of the
+things that have made city life enjoyable.  For one thing, with all our
+growling at the landlord, we have been able to cast upon him many
+burdens that we are now to take upon ourselves.  Some of our sarcasms
+are quite certain to come home to roost.  The details of purchasing
+fuel, of maintaining heat, of making repairs, are now to come under our
+jurisdiction, and we shall see whether we manage these duties better
+than the man who is paid a lump sum to assume them.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+RENUNCIATIONS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Living in a flat, or even in a city house, we do not know, nor care to
+know, who the people above or next door to us may be; and they are in
+precisely the same position with regard to us.  Mere adjacency gives us
+no claim upon their acquaintance, nor does it put us at the mercy of
+their insistence.  Our calling list is not governed by locality, and we
+can cut it as we wish without embarrassment.  Choice is not so easy in
+the suburb.  There, willynilly, we must know our neighbors and be known
+by them.  Fortunately, in most instances they will be found to be of
+the right sort, if not fully congenial.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The theater, too, must become rather a red-letter diversion than a
+regular feature of our existence, if it has been so.  Whatever
+enthusiasm we may possess for the opera, an occasional visit, with its
+midnight return, will soon come to satisfy us.  Our pet lectures, club
+life, participation in public affairs, frequent mail delivery,
+convenience of shopping, two-minute car service, and freedom from time
+tables&mdash;these suggest what we have to put behind us when we pass the
+city gates.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is also the part of wisdom not to forget that, though the country is
+alive with delights for us when all nature is garbed in green and the
+songbirds carol in the elms and maples, there cometh a time&mdash;if we are
+of the north&mdash;when fur caps are in season, the coal scoop is in every
+man's hand, the snow shovel splintereth, and the lawn mower is at rest.
+Then it is that our allegiance to country life will be strained, if
+ever&mdash;particularly if we have provided ourselves with a ten-minute walk
+to the station.  Wading through snow against a winter wind, we see the
+"agreeable constitutional" of the milder days in a different light.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We should think of all these things, and of some sacrifices purely
+personal.  It is better to think now than after the moving man's bill
+has come in.  Reason as we may, regrets will come, perhaps loneliness.
+But the compensations, if we have chosen wisely, will be increasingly
+apparent, and we shall be the very exceptions of exceptions if, before
+the second summer has passed, we are not wedded beyond divorce to the
+new home.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Once determined upon forswearing urban residence, a multitude of
+considerations arise.  First of these is "Which place?"  Our suburban
+towns have been developed in two ways.  Some are "made to order," while
+others were originally rural villages but have come under metropolitan
+influence.  Living in the latter is likely to be less expensive, and
+local life may have more of a distinctive character; but the husk of
+the past is almost certain to be evident in the mixture of old and
+modern houses and in a certain offish separation of the native and
+incoming elements.  The "made-to-order" town is likely to exhibit
+better streets and sidewalks, to be more capably cared for, to be freer
+from shanties, and to possess no saloons.  Land and living may demand
+greater expenditure, but they will be worth the difference.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+With ninety-nine out of a hundred families the deciding argument in
+favor of going to the suburb has just got into short dresses and begun
+to say "Da-da."  Already we see pointings to the childish activities
+that we would not check.  No one who stops to think about it chooses to
+have his children play in the city streets or be confined to a flat
+during the open months.  For the children's sake, if not for our own,
+we turn to the country, and one of our first thoughts is for the
+children's school.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I called on a young business acquaintance recently and found him
+engrossed in examining a pile of college catalogues.  "Going in for a
+post-grad?" I inquired.  "Why, haven't you heard?" he responded.  "It's
+a boy&mdash;week ago Saturday.  Er&mdash;would you say Yale or Harvard?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This was preparedness with a vengeance, to be sure; but almost before
+we realize that infancy is past, the boy and girl will be ready for
+school, and it is important to know that the right school will be ready
+for them.  Happily, the suburban school is usually of special
+excellence, and the chief thought must be of distance and whether the
+children will need to cross dangerous railroad tracks.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We shall, of course, wish to be where there are strong churches, with a
+society of our chosen denomination, if possible.  It may be that the
+social life which has its center there will provide all the relaxation
+we require; if we seek outside circles, it is desirable to know whether
+we are likely to please and be pleased.  Always there is the suburban
+club; but not always is the suburban club representative of the really
+best people of the town.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+TRANSPORTATION
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+On the practical side a question of large importance is that of
+transportation.  The fast trains may make the run in twenty minutes,
+but we shall not always catch the fast trains, and the others may take
+forty.  Morning and evening they should be so frequent that we need not
+lose a whole hour on a "miss."  In stormy weather we must find shelter
+in the station, comfortable or uncomfortable.  On the husband's monthly
+ticket the rides may cost only a dime; when the wife and her visiting
+friends go to the matinée each punch counts for a quarter, and four
+quarters make a dollar.  To the time of the train must be added the
+walk or ride from the downtown station to the office, and the return
+walk from the home station.  A near-by electric line for emergencies
+may sometimes save an appointment.  None of these things alone will
+probably give pause to our plans, but all will weigh in our general
+satisfaction or disagreement with suburban life.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE BUTCHER, THE BAKER, AND THE CANDLE-STICK MAKER
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Not every suburb is blessed with a perfectly healthful water supply.
+We must make sure of that.  We want to find stores and markets
+sufficient to our smaller needs, at least, and to be within city
+delivery bounds, so that the man of the house shall not be required to
+make of himself a beast of burden.  We hope, if we must employ a cook,
+that the milkman, iceman, and grocery boy will prove acceptable to her,
+for the policeman is sure to be a dignified native of family.  We want
+the telephone without a prohibitive toll, electric light and gas of
+good quality at reasonable rates, streets paved and well cared for,
+sidewalks of cement, reasonable fire and police protection, a
+progressive community spirit, and a reputation for our town that will
+make us proud to name it as our place of abode.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE HOME ACRE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+All these things may be had in scores of American suburbs and smaller
+cities.  But when we have selected the one or more towns that may
+please us, and get down to the house or lot, our range of choice will
+be found rather narrow.  In the neighborhoods we would select, it is
+probable that few houses are to be rented.  Most of them have been
+built for occupancy by their owners, who, if forced to go elsewhere,
+have preferred selling to renting.  There is no prejudice against
+renters, but the sentiment is against renting, and this sentiment is
+well grounded in common sense.  Still, some families find it advisable
+to rent for a year or so, meanwhile studying the local conditions and
+selecting a building site.  This plan has much to commend it, though it
+makes a second move necessary.  Others, who do not feel assured that a
+change in business will not compel an early removal, wisely prefer to
+rent, if a suitable house can be found for what they can afford to pay.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+COMPARATIVE COST IN RENTING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The proportion of income that may be set aside for rent depends on what
+that payment covers.  In a steam-heated city flat with complete janitor
+service, for instance, the rent at $40 is really no higher than the $25
+suburban house, for heat and water rent are included.  With the former,
+perhaps as much as a third of one's income could be spared for the
+fixed charge of rent; but in the country the proportion cannot with
+safety be greater than a fifth.  Few satisfactory suburban houses can
+be rented under $35, and to this must be added the cost not only of
+coal and water, but of maintenance.  On the whole, we are pretty sure
+to decide that it is better and cheaper to buy than to rent.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE LOCATION SENSE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+There is some advantage in being able to secure a lot in a square
+already built up.  If present conditions are satisfactory we may feel
+reasonably sure that they will remain so.  We know who our neighbors
+are to be, the sort of houses and other improvements that will affect
+the sightliness and value of our own property, and the surroundings
+that should in some degree govern the style of our abode.  There is
+little of the speculative in such a choice, but we shall have to pay
+something extra for our assurances.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In a well built-up town, however, we are likely to find a more eligible
+natural site at less cost if we are not too insistent upon being close
+to the railway station.  The best sites in the older sections are
+already occupied or are held at a premium.  If we have an eye for
+location and the courage of our convictions, we may chance upon an
+excellent lot that can be had for a comparatively small price because
+of its detachment.  It may be so situated that the approach is through
+the choicest part of the village, affording us much of the charm of
+suburban life without additional cost.  Provided sewer, water, light,
+sidewalks, and paving are in, a little greater distance from the center
+may be well repaid by the beauty of the site, and after the family
+becomes accustomed to it the distance is scarcely noticed.  Where there
+are telephones and local delivery of mail and groceries, occasions for
+going uptown are not frequent.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SIZE OF LOT
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The lot should have at least 50 foot frontage; and be from 150 to 200
+feet in depth.  Many subdivisions are now platted without alleys, which
+are not desirable unless scrupulously maintained.  The site should, if
+practicable, be on a plateau or elevation that gives an outlook, or at
+least make natural drainage certain.  A lot below street level means
+expensive filling to be done.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+POSITION
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+There can be little question as to the special desirability of an east
+frontage.  With this exposure the morning sunlight falls upon the
+living room when least in use, while the afternoon glare finds the
+principal work of the kitchen accomplished.  The indispensable veranda
+on the east and south is also usable for a maximum portion of the day,
+while the more solid side of the structure, being opposed to the
+prevailing winter winds, makes the heating problem easier.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-016"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-016.jpg" ALT="A unique arrangement of the porch." BORDER="2" WIDTH="546" HEIGHT="381">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: A unique arrangement of the porch.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+OUTLOOK AND INLOOK
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Though we should not pay too much premium for an east front, it is
+always most salable, and the difference will come back if we should
+dispose of the property later.  Outlook and protection against being
+shut in should be assured.  Our own property may be "gilt edge," but if
+the man across the way has backed up a barn or chicken yard in front of
+us our joy in life will be considerably lessened.  Our home is both to
+look at and to look out from, and we do more of the latter than of the
+former.  There are only two ways to make sure of not being shut in,
+unless the adjacent lots are already improved.  These are to buy enough
+ground to give space on either side, or to secure a corner.  Sometimes
+a corner at a higher price is the cheaper in the end.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Certainly it is advisable, even though our own house be not
+high-priced, to discover if there is a building restriction to prevent
+the erection of cheap structures near by.  This is regulated usually by
+a stipulation in the deeds from the original subdivider.  Without this
+guaranty even a high price for lots does not insure that some fellow
+who has put most of his money into the ground may not put up a woodshed
+next door and live in it until he can build a house.  We shall not find
+it amiss either, to know something of the character of the owners of
+the adjoining property, for if they are real-estate men there is a
+probability of their putting up houses built to sell.  Non-resident
+owner may be expected to allow their vacant lots to remain unkempt and
+to object to all improvement assessments.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+TREES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Trees on the lot are a valuable asset, though dislike for sacrificing
+them, if carried too far, may result in shutting out the sunlight that
+is more essential than shade to health.  Cottonwood, willows, and even
+the pretty catalpa are to be shunned in the interest of tidiness.  On a
+50- or even 100-foot lot we cannot have many trees without
+overshadowing the house.  A few away from the building, not crowded
+together, will give more satisfaction than a grove and be less a
+detriment to health.  Ordinarily grass will not grow to advantage where
+there is much shade; and a beautiful lawn, though open to the sunlight,
+is not only more attractive but much more serviceable than ground in
+heavy shadow and covered with sparse grass.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+INCOME AND EXPENDITURE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Prices of vacant property in different sections vary so greatly that
+one cannot safely approximate the cost of a building lot.  It is safe
+to say, though, that if values are figured on a proper basis, a
+satisfactory site for a moderate-priced home can be purchased for
+$1,000 in the town of our choice.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We have made it clear to ourselves that a home&mdash;anyone's home&mdash;should
+be much more than a house plumped down upon any bit of ground that will
+hold it.  When we come to consider the house itself, we are confronted
+by the knowledge that here the tastes and habits, as well as the size
+and resources of the family, must govern the decision of many problems
+considered.  Numbers alone are not always a fair guide, for sometimes
+the man or the woman of the house, or the baby, counts for much more
+than one in figuring space requirements.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We have in mind here that we are a family of four, that we have an
+income of from $1,500 to $2,500, and that we are prepared to spend or
+obligate ourselves to spend from $2,000 to $3,500 for a house to go on
+a lot to cost $1,000.  The house we think of would be not too large for
+two and certainly would comfortably accommodate five or even six,
+depending upon their relations to one another.  The extremes of income
+mentioned would scarcely affect our plans, and the difference in cost
+is accounted for by the choice of nonessentials and not by differences
+in the principal features of the house.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+STYLE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Now, if we have already set our hearts upon having a house just like
+that "love of a place" we saw in Wayout-on-the-Hill the other day, we
+shall have to reconsider the entire lot proposition.  We may as well
+face the fact that the house which is everything appropriate and
+artistic in one place may in another be simply grotesque.  In this
+phase of the selective work we will profit by the advice of the
+architect, if he be something of an artist and not simply a
+draughtsman.  At any rate, if we have the lot, let us decide what style
+of house should be on it; if we are surely settled upon the house, then
+by all means let us get a lot it will fit&mdash;and have a care, too, with
+regard to the style of architecture (or lack of it) in our prospective
+neighbors' houses.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There have been two extremes in later American home
+architecture&mdash;overornamentation and absolute disregard for appearance.
+The first arose from a feeling that every dollar spent in the interest
+of art (!) should be so gewgawed to the outer world that all who passed
+might note the costliness and wonder.  The second extreme had its birth
+in an elementary practicality that believes anything artistic must be
+both extravagant and useless.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+None of us can afford to build a house merely for its artistic
+qualities.  Yet we feel that we owe it to our neighbors and to the
+community to make the house sightly.  Most of all, we owe it to
+ourselves, for the product of our plans will be the concrete expression
+of our personality.  Fortunately showiness is neither necessary nor
+desirable; while artistic qualities are not so much a matter of money
+as of thought.  A few days ago, in a suburb of a Western city, I passed
+two houses recently constructed.  One was simply an enlarged drygoods
+box with a few windows and doors broken into its sides&mdash;altogether a
+hideous disfigurement to the charming spot on which it was erected.
+Across the way stood the other cottage, with the same number of rooms
+as its <I>vis-à-vis</I>, but really exquisite in its simple beauty.  And the
+latter, I was told, though equally spacious, cost less than the
+monstrosity across the way!  Into the one, there was put thought; into
+the other none.  Can we resist an opinion as to which home will be
+happier?
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SIZE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Should we be somewhat limited in funds, we may have to make a selection
+between a large house finished in cheaper materials and a small house
+of the best quality all through.  Doubtless much of the "hominess" that
+attaches us to some houses is due to their snugness, but not all of it.
+Size is secondary to adaptation to the family requirements.  Waste
+space is an abomination, because it adds unnecessarily to the burden of
+the housekeeper; yet to be so cramped that everything must be moved
+every day is not a satisfactory alternative.  There should be some
+reserve not only for emergencies but for future needs that may be
+foreseen.  As the children grow up they will demand more room, and we
+shall want to give it to them.  If we do not care to maintain surplus
+space for possible needs, the house should at least be planned with a
+view to making additions that will be in keeping with the general
+effect and will readily fall in with the practical arrangement of the
+house.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+What is said about emergency space applies principally to the sleeping
+apartments.  There is an altogether happy tendency in these days to
+simplify the living rooms and to plan them for constant use.  We of the
+East have something to learn from the Californians, whose bungalows and
+cottages are so often models of simplicity without the crudeness of
+most small houses in other sections.  Our coast brethren have
+demonstrated that a four- or five-room cottage will satisfactorily
+house a considerable family, and that it may be given the
+characteristics that charm without increasing the cost.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PLANS FOR BUILDING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The simplest and in many instances the prettiest cottages are of only a
+single story.  But more than four rooms in one story makes a
+comparatively expensive house, besides using up a great deal of ground.
+With the foundation, first story, and roof provided for, the second
+story adds little to the cost compared to the space gained.  Where
+ground and labor are cheap the single story is to be considered; but in
+most places it would not be practicable for us.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In planning the house due regard must be had for the dispositions of
+the respective members of the family.  In any event we shall not please
+all of them, but the less the others have to complain about the happier
+the rest of us shall be.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+NECESSARY ROOMS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+If paterfamilias is accustomed to depositing his apparel and other
+belongings rather promiscuously about, expecting to find things where
+they were left on his return in the evening, it may be better to plan
+his room where it may stand undisturbed rather than to attempt the
+breaking of a habit which shows that he feels at home in his own house.
+Likewise, some place there should be where the mistress may conduct her
+sewing operations without wildly scrambling to clean up when the
+doorbell rings; the children should have at least one place in the
+house where they may "let loose" on a rainy day, and the master should
+have somewhere a retreat safe from interruption, as well as a workroom
+in the basement in which the tools and implements that quickly
+accumulate in a country home may be secure.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE SICK ROOM
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Sickness, too, may come, and the questions of privacy without an
+unwholesome curb upon both children and adults, of convenience to hot
+water and the bathroom, of saving steps for the nurse, should be
+thought of.  An upstairs chamber is likely to be best on account of the
+ventilation, lighting, and distance from ordinary noises; but frequent
+journeys to the kitchen mean an excess of stair climbing.  Whether
+there be sickness or not, there should be somewhere provision for
+individual privacy, where absolute rest may be gained.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A large indulgence in entertaining must have its influence in settling
+both size and arrangement.  Ordinarily, however, we may expect to be
+reasonably hospitable without enlarging our home into a clubhouse.  If
+we do not consider this matter in building, propriety must compel us
+afterwards to limit our company to numbers that we can comfortably care
+for.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+ROOM TO ENTERTAIN
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+A good many of us who have contrived very nicely to live in a six-room
+city flat seem to think that we cannot get along with that number of
+rooms in a suburban house, though the latter would be considerably more
+spacious, not taking the basement into account.  So far, however, as
+absolute essentials go, a six-room house, carefully planned, will
+provide for a family of four very comfortably, and it can be built in
+an artistic and modern style for $2,500 near Chicago, about ten per
+cent. more in the vicinity of New York, and probably for a less sum in
+smaller cities.  An eight-room house would cost about a third more, and
+is, of course, in many ways more desirable.  But, generally speaking,
+we demand more room than we really need, and then put ourselves to
+additional expense filling up the space with unnecessary furniture.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE "LIVING ROOM"
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+In small houses there cannot be great variation in the proportioning of
+space, but it is important that the use of each room should be well
+understood and that it should be planned accordingly.  If that is not
+done our decorative and furnishing schemes later on will be misapplied.
+Families differ as to their dispositions toward rooms.  Most of us
+would not think of calling for an old-fashioned parlor in a small house
+nowadays, but merely to change the name from "parlor" to "living room"
+doesn't change our habits.  The living room is meant to take the place
+of parlor, library, reception hall, and sitting room.  If the family
+adjust themselves to it a great saving of space is effected, and the
+home life is given added enjoyment.  Not all of us, however, can fit
+ourselves to new ideas, and it is better to suit ourselves than to be
+uncomfortable and feel out of place in the home.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-024"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-024.jpg" ALT="A homelike living room." BORDER="2" WIDTH="540" HEIGHT="385">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: A homelike living room.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+The living-room plan in a small house reduces the reception hall to
+something little more than a vestibule, but where six rooms are
+exceeded the reception hall may be enlarged and made serviceable.  The
+first impression counts for much, not only with our guests but with
+ourselves, and if the hall be appropriately finished and fitted it
+seems fairly to envelop one with its welcome.  One thing that must be
+insured, whatever form the entrance may take, is that it shall not be
+necessary to pass through the living room to reach other parts of the
+house.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE DINING ROOM AND KITCHEN
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Vastness is not essential to the dining room.  Under usual conditions
+we are not likely to seat more than a dozen persons at our table, and a
+dinner party exceeding that number is too large for common enjoyment.
+Connection with the kitchen should be convenient without having the
+proximity too obvious.  City kitchens are now usually made just large
+enough to accommodate required paraphernalia and to afford sufficient
+freeway for the cook.  Many families do no home baking, and where fruit
+and vegetables are preserved the basement is utilized.  Compactness in
+the kitchen saves hundreds of steps in the course of a day, and though
+it is difficult for us to forget the spacious room thought necessary by
+our parents, we may well learn, for our own comfort, to profit by the
+modern reasoning that opposes waste space.  Still, it is better to defy
+modern tendencies and even to pain the architect than that the faithful
+house-keeper who clings tenaciously to the old idea should be made
+miserable.  Some persons feel perpetually cramped in a small room,
+whereas others only note the snugness of it.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE SLEEPING ROOMS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The general well-being of the family is more directly affected by the
+character of the bed chambers than by any other department of the
+house.  However we may permit ourselves to be skimped in the living
+rooms, it is imperative that the sleeping apartments should be
+large&mdash;not barnlike, of course&mdash;well lighted, dry, and airy.  Three
+large rooms are in every way preferable to four small ones.  It is, to
+be sure, sometimes difficult to put the windows where they will let in
+the sunlight, the registers where they will heat, and the wall space
+where it will permit the sleeper to have fresh air without a draught.
+But marvels in the way of ingenious planning have been evolved where
+necessity, the mother of invention, has ruled; and assuredly there is
+no greater necessity than a healthful bedroom.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The children's bedroom in the house of six to eight rooms is likely to
+be utilized as a nursery or playroom on rainy days or in winter.  It
+should have an abundance of sunlight.  The largest and best room of all
+should be used by the heads of the household.  To reserve the choicest
+apartment for the chance guest is an absurdity that sensible people
+have abandoned.  If we must, we may surrender our room temporarily to
+the visitor, but the persons who live in a house twelve months of the
+year are entitled to the best it affords.  Flat living has taught us to
+make use of all our rooms, and perhaps its influence is against
+hospitality; but we need not neglect that very important feature of a
+happy home in doing ourselves simple justice.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THINKING IT OUT
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+If we would be quite sure of it&mdash;to use a Hibernianism&mdash;we should live
+in our house at least a year before it is built.  We need an
+imagination that will not only perceive our castle in all its stages of
+construction but will picture us in possession.  Advice is not to be
+disdained, and a good architect we shall find to be a blessing; but the
+happiness of our home will be in double measure if we can feel that
+something of ourselves has gone into its creation.  And this something
+we should not expect to manifest genius, or even originality, but
+tasteful discrimination.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap02"></A>
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER II
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+FLOORS, WALLS, AND WINDOWS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Tradition has established the condition of her floors as the prime test
+of a good house-keeper, and the amount of effort that faithful
+homemakers have had to waste upon splintery, carelessly laid cheap
+boards would, if it could be represented in money, buy marble footing
+for all of us.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But we don't want marble floors.  We are not building a palace or a
+showplace, but a house to live in.  We are not seeking magnificence,
+but comfort and durability (which are almost always allied), as well as
+sightliness (which is not always in the combination).
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE NECESSITY OF GOOD FLOORS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Happily, when we come to floors we find that those which may be
+depended upon to endure and to give their share of home comfort are
+also the best to look upon.  It would be agreeable to say, further,
+that they cost least, but that would be misleading.  This book fails to
+say not a few things that would be interesting but which wouldn't be of
+much real use to the homemaker, because they aren't so.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Leaving the everlastingly pestiferous question of cost aside, what is
+the best all-around flooring?  Well, so far no one has been able to
+suggest anything that seems so appropriate as a good quality of hard
+wood&mdash;which means oak or maple, or both&mdash;properly treated and, above
+all, laid down as it should be.  The flooring is a permanent part of
+the house, or, if it isn't, we'll certainly wish it had been.  As it is
+subject to harder and more constant usage than any other part of the
+structure, it must be strong, and it must have a surface that will
+resist wear, or we shall simply store up trouble for the future.  It is
+also a part of the decorative scheme, and as such must help to furnish
+the keynote of our plans.  All these requirements are met by hard wood.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is possible, we may admit, to have a happy and comfortable home with
+cheaper flooring; but the price that is not paid in money will be
+afterwards collected with interest in effort and sacrifice of
+satisfaction.  Doubtless it is not wise, as some one suggests, to put
+so much money into our floors that we cannot afford to buy anything to
+put on them; but in many instances the appearance of our house
+interiors would be much more pleasing if fewer pieces of superfluous
+furniture were brought in to cover the floors.  At any rate, the
+longed-for furniture may be "saved up for" and bought later; a mistake
+in floors to start with is hard to rectify.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+MATERIAL AND COST OF LAYING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Oak flooring comes in narrow, thin strips of plain- or quarter-sawed.
+At this writing the plain-sawed costs, laid, usually 16 cents per
+square foot.  It will never be cheaper.  Where quarter-sawed is
+desired, a cent per foot must be added.  Borders, which are by no means
+essential, cost from 20 to 45 cents per lineal foot (laid).  In a
+country house, where local artisans do the laying, the expense may be
+somewhat less for labor.  But it must be remembered that fine floor
+laying is a trade of itself, and that the time to make sure of the work
+being properly done is when the wood is put in.  If the building is
+properly constructed, a bulging or cracked floor is unnecessary.  At
+all events, if we are in doubt as to the village carpenter's skill, we
+would do well to pay the few dollars extra for the expert from the
+city.  Careful measurements are also important, especially with borders
+and parquetry.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+ORNAMENTAL FLOORING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The hall, if large, will permit of rather more elaborate treatment than
+the rooms which are to be constantly occupied.  No part of the house
+that is in use for hours at a time should be at all over-elaborated,
+particularly in its unchangeable features.  Care must be taken even in
+the hall to avoid any freakish combination that will either stand out
+conspicuously or demand a like treatment of the walls.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-032"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-032.jpg" ALT="An attractive and inexpensive hall." BORDER="2" WIDTH="543" HEIGHT="388">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: An attractive and inexpensive hall.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+Some folk like tiling in the hall, and if we have little more than a
+vestibule, tiling is quite satisfactory.  It is durable and can be
+easily cleaned.  But if the hall be of the medium or generous size,
+parquetry will be found more approvable if the expense can be afforded.
+The designs are richer without being so glaring as many of the tile
+effects, and the wood seems to have less harshness.  Rubber tiling,
+however, has been found useful in places where there is frequent
+passing in and outdoors, and has been developed in some pleasing
+designs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The additional cost for parquetry is not formidable in a moderate-sized
+hall.  Prices range from 20 to 40 cents per square foot, according to
+design.  We shall be wisely guided in choosing a simple square
+arrangement that will not protest against any passable decoration of
+the walls.  Unless the hall is spacious borders would better be
+omitted.  They need to have the effect of running into hearths and
+stairways, and in a narrow passage the center will be too crowded.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dining room and living room suggest the quarter-sawed flooring, the
+former admitting perhaps the stronger border, unless the two rooms are
+in such direct connection that they require continuous treatment.
+Upstairs, plain-sawed will do nicely for the hall and chambers, and
+also for the bathroom if it is not tiled.  Borders, of course, may be
+dispensed with here, as there should be no suggestion of
+over-ornamentation in the permanent features of a sleeping room.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For the kitchen hard maple is found to serve well.  One may not find it
+amiss to inquire into the merits and costs of composition and rubber
+tiling, but they are not essential to comfort and cleanliness.  Here we
+are concerned with essentials; it is fully understood that we have our
+own permission to go farther afield in pursuit of more costly things if
+we choose.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+WAXED, VARNISHED, AND OILED FLOORS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Unless there are small children, expert opinion and the demands of
+beauty favor waxed floors.  Ordinarily the floor must he rewaxed about
+every three months, but a pound of wax, that will cover two ordinary
+sized rooms, costs only 50 cents, and it may be applied by anyone.  To
+keep the floors in best condition the wax brush should be passed over
+them every fortnight.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Varnish floors scratch but are not affected by water, and on the whole
+are rather more popular than oil or wax.  They cost something less to
+maintain, and are less conducive to embarrassing gyratics on the part
+of dignified persons wearing slippery shoes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If we may not demand oak or maple floors, well-laid Georgia pine,
+carefully oiled or varnished, would be our next choice.  There is a
+large saving in initial expense, and perhaps some one else will be
+using them five years from now!  Though we cannot expect to get
+anything like equal satisfaction from the cheaper wood as compared with
+oak, if we do feel bound to adopt it we shall have less cause for
+complaint later if we view very carefully the material and the
+operations of laying and finishing.  Poor workmanship can spoil the
+best of materials; what it can do with cheaper stuff is absolutely
+unmentionable.  Paint may be used on the upper floors and even limited
+to a border in the bedrooms.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CARPETS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The floors would not be quite so important if we were planning to
+entirely cover up their beauties or their uglinesses with another kind
+of beauty or ugliness in the form of carpets.  But experience has long
+since made it clear to all of us that rugs are not only more healthful
+and in better taste, but, taken by and large, give less trouble to the
+housekeeper than carpets.  Owing to the fixed position of the latter
+they are, too, quality for quality, less durable.  It is true that in
+some parts of the house a rug or carpet fastened down may be desirable,
+but with good floors no such thing will suggest itself in the living
+rooms at least.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+LINOLEUM AND MATS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Where a very small vestibule is substituted for the reception hall a
+parquetry or tile flooring would be left uncovered.  Over a cheap floor
+a good quality of linoleum, costing about 50 cents per square yard, may
+he placed.  A small mat of neat design, if such can be found, will take
+care of those persons who have the foot-scraping habit, regardless of
+what they scrape upon, though the mat outside should do the important
+work.  Serviceable mats are seldom things of beauty.  As they come
+under the head of floor coverings, it may be well to note that the best
+quality leather mat, guaranteed to last twenty years, costs $1.25 a
+square foot.  A fair imitation may be had for less than half that
+figure, and has the same proportion of value.  The open-steel mat that
+serves best with tenacious mud costs 50 cents per square foot, and for
+rubber we must add a half or double the price, depending on whether we
+demand the made-to-order article or are content with stock.  The old
+reliable cocoa mat may be had from 35 cents per square foot up, and is
+quite as useful and scarcely uglier than the others.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE STAIRWAY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+For appearance' sake, if our stairway is well constructed of good
+woods, we should forbear to hide it.  But there is no place in the
+house where little Willie can more effectively proclaim to all the
+household world his possession of double-nailed heels than on the
+unprotected rises of the stairway.  Even the tiny heels of the mistress
+of the home seem to clump like the boots of a giant in their numberless
+journeys up and down.  So the hall runner must have a place.  Perhaps
+the carpet will be of red or green, depending on the walls, but it need
+cost little more than $1 per yard for a fair quality.  It is put down
+with stair pads ($1 per dozen) and ordinary tacks, and the expenditure
+of 10 cents per yard for a professional layer will not be regretted.
+The amateur who can do a really good job on a stair carpet is a rarity.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-036"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-036.jpg" ALT="An artistic staircase hall." BORDER="2" WIDTH="350" HEIGHT="550">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: An artistic staircase hall.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+RUGS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The Biglow Bagdad domestic rug in 27 by 54 and 36 by 63-inch sizes is
+inexpensive but looks and wears well in the hall.  The first size costs
+about $4 and the second $7.  A little better quality in Anglo-Indian or
+Anglo-Persian costs a dollar or so more per rug.  Where there is
+constant direct use in the hall we will do wisely to get either a
+moderate-priced article that may be renewed or something expensive that
+will wear indefinitely.  Sometimes the latter is the more economical
+plan.  Very often halls are so shaped that a rug must be made to order.
+It is better to do this and have a good-sized rug that will lie well
+than to risk tripping and slipping with smaller ones.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For the living room a variety of choice in rugs is offered.  Attempts
+to utilize a number of small rugs are not usually joyous in their
+outcome; besides, the floor space is too badly broken up.  The large
+center rug holds its own, with some reenforcement in the alcove or
+perhaps before the hearth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+What quality the rug shall be depends largely upon the length of our
+purse; yet sagacity and a modest fund will sometimes do more than
+plethora and no thought.  Design selection is a task to vex the most
+patient, but we must not be drawn into a hurried decision.  If we are
+near enough to the business house with which we are dealing, it is
+advisable to have a selection of rugs sent out for inspection on the
+floors.  Seen in the salesroom and in our house they may present
+different aspects.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Generally speaking, the showiest designs are in the cheaper goods, and
+the showier a cheap article is the quicker its shoddy qualities will be
+made manifest.  Therefore, if we must count the pennies on our
+living-room rug, let us select a simple design with a good
+body&mdash;something that will be unobtrusive even when it begins to appeal
+for replacement.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There is a considerable range of Wiltons, from the so-called Wilton
+velvet to the "Royal" Wilton.  They are by no means the cheapest,
+though one may go fabulously beyond them in price; but their popularity
+shows them to be a good average quality, suited to the home planned on
+a modest scale.  Body Brussels, although not affording such rich
+effects, also has many friends, and tapestry Brussels may be
+considered.  There are names innumerable for rugs and carpets, some of
+which have little real significance.  If one knows a good design when
+it is seen, a little common-sense observation of weights and weave and
+a thoughtful comparison of prices will help to secure the best
+selections.  Here are some specimen sizes and prices quoted by one
+establishment:
+</P>
+
+<TABLE BORDER WIDTH="100%">
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%"> SIZE. </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> Body Brussels.</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">Biglow Bagdad.</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">Anglo-Indian</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%"> 6.0 x  9.0 </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">$18.00</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">$25.00</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">$30.00</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">8.3 x 10.6 </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;22.50</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;30.00</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;45.00</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">9.0 x 10.6  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;25.00</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;35.00</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;50.00</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">10.6 x 12.0</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;32.50 </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;45.00  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;65.00</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">10.6 x 13.6</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;35.00</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;52.50  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;75.00</TD>
+ </TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">11.3 x 15.0 </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;42.50 </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;60.00</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">&nbsp;80.00</TD>
+</TR>
+
+</TABLE>
+
+<P>
+Saxony Axminster, 9 by 12, is priced at $45, and is considered to be
+more serviceable than most grades of Wilton.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For the dining room the problem is about the same as for the principal
+apartment.  The rug need not be so expensive as the one in the living
+room, but it must assuredly be of the enduring sort.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Scotch Caledon rugs sometimes solve the difficulty here.  Indeed,
+they are not out of place in a really "homey" living room or elsewhere
+in the house.  They are made of wool, woven like an ingrain, with no
+nap, and are especially pleasing for their artistic soft colorings,
+mostly in green or blue two-tone effects.  They are, strictly speaking,
+not reversible, but some designs will permit use on both sides.  While
+they do not wear quite so well as a Wilton, they come at least a fifth
+cheaper.  Prices range from $9 for a 4.6 by 7.6 to $45 for a 12 by 15.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The sizes we have mentioned are standard.  If our rooms have been
+planned in such wise as to require rugs to order we shall have to add
+ten per cent to our expenditures.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+ORIENTAL RUGS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The subject of oriental rugs, to be intelligently discussed, would
+require an entire book, and there are books that may be and should be
+studied by those who can afford orientals.  Most of us cannot.  There
+are, indeed, good reasons for the high cost of the genuine oriental, in
+its superior coloring, wide range of design, and wonderful durability.
+The right sort grows richer with age.  But our plans are not so much
+for posterity as for present uses, and we can get along very well
+without testing our wits in the oriental rug market.  It is a test of
+wits, for there are no standards of size or price, and spurious goods
+sometimes get into the best of hands.  Small Daghestans and
+Baloochistans may be had even lower than $20, but anything we would
+care to have in living room or dining room would take $150 to $200 from
+our bank account.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-040"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-040.jpg" ALT="An oriental rug of good design: Shirvan." BORDER="2" WIDTH="385" HEIGHT="546">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: An oriental rug of good design: Shirvan.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+KITCHEN AND UPPER FLOORS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+In the kitchen, and perhaps in a rear vestibule, unless the floor is of
+a sort to be easily wiped up, linoleum may be demanded.  The upper hall
+will require a continuation of the stair runner, with perhaps a rug if
+it broadens out at the landing.  For the bed chambers the question of
+individual use must be thought of.  Brussels rugs will do in most
+cases.  A large rug means considerable shifting to get at the floor,
+but is the more comfortable.  Smaller rugs will permit sweeping under
+the bed without moving it far, and should be placed under the casters,
+which will injure the hard-wood floors if allowed to rest directly
+thereupon.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+MATTING AND CORDOMAN CLOTH
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Next in choice would be to spend 25 or 30 cents a yard for matting and
+cover the entire floor, adding one or two rugs to head off the shivery
+feeling that arises from a contact of bare feet with cold matting on a
+winter morning.  The casters will cut the matting, too; we must look
+out for that.  A border of flooring, painted or not, may be left; but
+generally, if anything is to be fastened down, it should cover the
+entire space, avoiding the ugly accumulation of dust that otherwise
+gathers under the edges.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+More expensive than matting, but likely to be quite satisfactory, is
+cordoman cloth, a floor covering that comes in plain colors and may be
+easily swept and wiped up.  It costs from 45 to 55 cents per yard, and
+the wadded cotton lining that goes with it is very cheap.  Considering
+its greater durability than matting, cordoman is really the more
+economical, and the homemaker will do well to investigate its merits.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHILDREN'S ROOM AND "DEN"
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+For the children's room linoleum will probably stand the wear and tear,
+prove more hygienic, and do as much toward deadening noise as anything
+short of an impossible padding could do.  On the porch a crex-fiber rug
+or two&mdash;the sort that stand rain and resist moths&mdash;may be desired, but
+they can wait until we are settled and have found our bearings.  The
+"den," if there is to be one, or the separate library, may in the one
+instance be left to individual caprice, in the other to good judgment
+in suiting it to the prevailing thought.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+USES OF THE DECORATOR
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+If we have not done so before, when we take up consideration of the
+walls we will, if we can afford it, call in a professional decorator.
+First, of course, we will make sure that he really may be of service to
+us, for his duty is to give practical and artistic development to the
+more or less vague ideas of which we have become possessed, and if he
+seems, from examples of previous work, to be wedded to a "style" of his
+own that would not jibe with our aspirations, we would better try to
+struggle along without him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But it is possible to secure the services of a decorative artist for a
+sum not necessarily tremendous, and if we get hold of a sensible fellow
+his advice will be, in the end, worth much more than the extra outlay.
+If he is a sincere artist, he will plan just as carefully for a modest
+six-room cottage as for a mansion, and he will be able to take the good
+points of our own schemes and adapt them to expert application without
+making us feel too insignificant.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Explicit advice as to decoration, where there are thousands of us, each
+in different circumstances and with variant tastes, would be rather an
+absurdity.  We may emphasize to ourselves, however, a few phases of the
+decorative problem in which lack of thought would lose to us some of
+the joys of a house perfected.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If we are not to employ a decorator we must study out the problem for
+ourselves.  To leave it for the painter and paperhanger to settle would
+be a fatal error.  Much knowledge may be gained by the study of books
+and magazine articles, provided they are very recent.  It will be
+advisable to weigh this knowledge in the scales of practical
+observation, however, in houses of late date.  This is not so much
+because of changes in fashion as for the reason that improvements in
+process are always being made, and even the omnipresent folk who write
+books sometimes overlook a point.  Concerning fashion, which of course
+has its sway in decoration, we will remember that the simplest
+treatment survives longest.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+WOOD IN DECORATION
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+It seems that with the steady increase in cost of lumber we have grown
+more and more to appreciate the beauty of our woods.  At any rate, wood
+is being used more extensively than ever in interior finishing.  This
+is in some ways a healthy tendency, as it makes for simplicity and
+admits of artistic treatment at a reasonable cost.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Hall, living room, and dining room, for instance, may be treated with a
+high or low wood wainscoting and wooden panels extending to a wooden
+cornice at the ceiling.  The wood may be a weathered oak, and between
+the panels is a rough plaster in gray or tinted to suit the house
+scheme.  Friezes and plastic cornices are somewhat on the wane, in
+smaller houses at least; though, of course, they will never go out of
+use altogether.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PANELS AND PLASTER
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+This plaster effect is less expensive than 40-cent burlap or ordinary
+white calcimine or paper.  The picture molding may be at the bottom of
+the cornice.  Sometimes the cornice is dropped to a level with the tops
+of the doors and windows (usually about seven feet), leaving a frieze
+of two or three feet, the molding then going to the top of the cornice.
+Ceilings and friezes of ivory or light yellow are usually in good taste.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The living room may carry out the panel and plaster effect, but is more
+likely to demand a simple paper of good quality with no border.  Here,
+as in the hall, the wooden (or plastic) cornice with no frieze is
+suggested.  Grilles are discarded, and portières are avoided where
+possible.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE BEAMED CEILING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+In the dining room the beamed ceiling has been found so appropriate
+that it continues popular.  It is simple, easily maintained, and has
+the broad, deep lines that put one at ease.  Here it is advisable to
+carry a wooden wainscoting up to about 3 1/2 feet, the panels
+continuing to the ceiling.  Tapestry, burlap, or plaster may show
+above.  Plate shelves are somewhat in disfavor, partly because of abuse
+and partly because the tendency is to eliminate all dust-catchers that
+are not necessities.  Where doors and windows are built on a line (as
+they should be), shelves are sometimes placed over them.  But there
+should not be too many broken lines if we would preserve the
+comfortable suggestion of the beamed ceiling.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PAINT, PAPER, AND CALCIMINE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+For the kitchen, painted walls, which can be easily wiped off, and
+resist steam, are preferable to calcimine.  Tiling halfway up will be
+found still better, but tiling paper, which costs more than painting,
+is scarcely to be chosen.  For the bedrooms the professional decorators
+are disposed to over elaboration.  A simple paper, costing 15 to 35
+cents per roll, is best, or even plain calcimine, which many persons
+consider more healthful.  The latter costs only $3 or $4 a room and may
+be renewed every year or two.  Very nice effects are had in a
+Georgia-pine panel trimming running to a wood cornice, and in natural
+wood or painted white.  With this the ceiling should be plain white,
+and if bright-flowered paper is used, pictures should be discarded.
+Lively colors, if not too glaring, give a cheerful aspect to the room,
+but the safer plan is to stick to simplicity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the children's room a three-foot wood wainscoting is desirable.
+Part of this may be a blackboard without costing more, and at the top a
+shelf can be placed for toys.  Figured nursery papers cost, per roll,
+from 35 to 75 cents, and will be a never-ceasing source of delight.  If
+the walls are not papered they should be painted, for reasons that need
+not be suggested.  Isn't it wonderful how far a three-foot boy or girl
+can reach?
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SHADES AND CURTAINS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+We have not advanced much in the production of window shades that will
+let in light and air, shut out the gaze of strangers, hold no shadows,
+match interior and exterior, fit properly, work with ease, cost little,
+and last forever.  The ordinary opaque roller shade still has no
+serious rival, and usually the best we can do is to see to it that we
+get a good quality which is not always reliable, rather than a poor
+quality, which never is.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The good old lace curtains that were the pride of the housekeeper's
+heart and the jest of the masculine members of the household seem to
+have had their day.  It has been a long one, and any article that holds
+sway for so lengthy a period must have had some merit.  But the soft
+chintz, linen, madras, or muslin is now the vogue, and there is much
+good sense in the innovation.  No lace curtain ever made could be both
+artistic and serviceable; some persons go so far as to say that they
+never were either, but we have too much reverence for tradition to be
+so iconoclastic.  However, they certainly were expensive if they were
+good enough to have, were difficult to wash, and usually caused a dead
+line to be drawn about the very choicest part of the room.  Linen
+curtains, costing from 50 cents to $1.25 a yard, may be had in a set or
+conventional design or plain appliqué.  Chintz and muslin cost less,
+and some remarkably pretty effects in madras are obtainable.  Curtains
+now sensibly stop at the bottom of the window instead of dragging upon
+the floor.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Besides shades and curtains the window question involves not only
+light, ventilation, and artistic relations, but such details as screens
+and storm windows.  These latter matters come under the jurisdiction of
+the architect and should not be carelessly settled upon.  Each room has
+its uses, to which the window must conform as nearly as may be, and
+then the outward appearance of the house must not be forgotten.  It is
+often made or marred by the character and placing of the windows.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+LEADED PANES AND CASEMENTS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Leaded or art glass is attractive if not overdone.  Small panes are
+difficult to keep clean, of course; but we can probably endure that if
+all else be equal.  In living rooms the upper sash should be made
+smaller than the lower, so as to get the median rail above the level of
+the eye.  In some parts of the house a horizontal window gives a fine
+effect, besides affording light and air without affecting privacy.
+Casement windows have their points of excellence, and are additionally
+expensive chiefly in hardware.  The frames are really cheaper, but they
+must be very accurately fitted to avoid leaks.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Casement windows seriously complicate the screen and storm-window
+problem, and expert planning is necessary.  The durability of screens
+depends mostly upon their care or abuse, but if it can be afforded,
+copper wire will usually last sufficiently longer to repay its
+additional cost.  Metal frames are not so essential.  The best form is
+that which covers the entire window and permits both sashes to be
+freely opened; but this costs practically twice as much as the
+half-window screen.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+STORM WINDOWS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Storm windows should be carefully fitted or they will come far from
+serving their purpose.  If they are of the right sort they will soon
+repay their cost in easing up the furnace.  Preferably they should be
+swung from the top, both for ventilation and washing and to avoid a
+check upon egress in case of fire.  Some persons object to storm
+windows on account of the supposed stoppage of ventilation, but that
+rests entirely with the occupants of the house.  They can get plenty of
+fresh air without letting the gales of winter have their own sweet will.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With floors, walls, and windows determined upon, we have a good start
+on the interior of our house.  But we may only pause to take breath,
+for we now have to give most careful consideration to two decidedly
+important factors in our comfort&mdash;lighting and heating.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap03"></A>
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER III
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+LIGHTING AND HEATING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+If common sense has governed our proceedings to date, the new house we
+are building, or the ready-built one we have chosen, will have full
+advantage of the one perfect light&mdash;that afforded by the sun.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+NECESSITY OF SUNLIGHT
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The health-giving properties of sunlight are so well known to all of us
+that we wonder why so many otherwise sensible folk seem to shun it,
+with trees and vines, awnings and blinds denying access to that which
+would make the house wholesome.  When possible, every room in the house
+should have its daily ray bath, and our apartments should utilize the
+light of the sun as early and as late as may be.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Perhaps nature intended all creatures to sleep through the hours of
+darkness.  If we had followed that custom we might be a race of
+Methuselahs; who knows?  Why some one has not established a cult of
+sleepers from sunset to dawn is really inexplicable.  But mankind in
+general has persisted in holding to a different notion, and since the
+sun declines to shine upon us during all the hours of the twenty-four,
+and we insist upon cutting the night short at one end, we have had to
+devise substitutes for the sunlight.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Of course the sunlight does not always leave us in unbroken darkness.
+Few of us are so far departed from the days of mellow youth as to
+forget certain summer evenings, linked in memory with verandas or
+bowered walks, when moonlight&mdash;and even that in a modified form&mdash;was
+the ideal illumination.  But even if we could employ the good fairies
+to dip them up for us, we should find the soft moongleams of the summer
+evening a rather doubtful aid in searching for the cat in the dark
+corners of the basement.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Omitting pine knots, which are rather out of vogue, modern home
+lighting includes four forms&mdash;candles, oil lamps, gas, and electricity.
+The first-named are not, it is true, used to any extent for what may be
+called the practical purposes of lighting; but in many ways their light
+is most beautiful of all.  Some charming candelabra suited to the
+dining table are found in the better shops, and an investment in a
+choice design is a very justifiable extravagance.  Candle illumination
+is of all varieties the one least trying to the eyes and to the
+complexion, though its effect upon the temper of the person tending the
+candles is not so sure to be happy.  However, the sort with a hollow
+center, called Helion candles, require little attention, and the
+patented candle holders, which work automatically, give no trouble at
+all.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+KEROSENE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Notwithstanding there are some points in favor of the old reliable
+kerosene lamp, even when put in the scale with other illuminants, few
+people of the younger generation regard it as other than something to
+be endured.  In view of the facts that an oil lamp requires a great
+deal of attention, usually leaves its trail of oil and smoke, is
+ill-smelling, disagreeably hot in summer, and always somewhat
+dangerous, it is strange that those who cling to it as to a fetich are
+usually the ones who have longest struggled with its imperfections.
+The pretext for this conservatism, whether it be spoken or reserved, is
+economy.  If we are of this class, we may be shocked to discover that,
+after all, kerosene lighting is really no cheaper than gas or electric
+light, if sufficient illumination is afforded, and insufficient
+lighting is surely ill-judged economy.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+GAS AND MATCHES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Few communities of respectable size are now without gas or electricity,
+and even in the country the latter is almost everywhere obtainable.  If
+not, an individual gas plant, of which there are several makes, may be
+installed at a moderate cost.  Properly placed, such a plant is safe
+and easily regulated and will furnish light for somewhat less than the
+usual charge of the gas companies.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Gas has never fully supplanted kerosene, even where it is readily
+obtained.  Why this is true we need not pause to discuss; perhaps a
+fairly well-founded suspicion of the meter has had something to do with
+it.  But certainly no one building a house in these days would fail to
+pipe it for gas if the supply were at hand, even if it were to be used
+only for kitchen fuel.  Gas has its virtues as an illuminant also, and
+is favored by many on account of the softness of the light.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But while gas is preferable to kerosene, electricity is with equal
+certainty preferable to gas.  It is more adaptable, is in many places
+quite as reasonable in cost, and is cleaner and safer.  In numerous
+country communities where gas is not to be had electricity is
+available, as frequently a large region embracing several towns is
+supplied from a single generating plant.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Gas is subject to fluctuations in quality, sometimes becoming quite
+dangerous in its effect upon the atmosphere.  Water gas, which is very
+generally manufactured, is said to carry four or five times as much
+carbon monoxide per unit of bulk as retort gas.  It has for the
+hemoglobin of the blood four hundred times the affinity of oxygen, and
+a proportion of only two tenths of one per cent may produce heart
+derangement.  While we are wondering that we are alive in the face of
+such dreadful facts, we may note further that gas is rather variable in
+its qualities as an illuminant.  We have mentioned the suspicious gas
+meter, whose vagaries doubtless have caused more virtuous indignation
+with less impression upon its object than anything ever devised.  An
+open flame is always a menace; and then there is the burnt match.  Most
+housekeepers, I am sure, would testify to their belief that matches
+were not made in heaven.  Is there anything that so persistently defies
+the effort for tidiness as the charred remains of a match, invariably
+ignited elsewhere than on the sandpaper conspicuously provided, and
+more likely to be tossed upon the floor or laid upon the mahogany table
+than to find its way into the receptacles that yearn for it?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For cooking, however, gas must still be a main dependence, and for this
+reason, as well as to provide for remote emergencies, the house should
+be piped for gas.  At least it should be brought into the house, even
+if the piping is not continued farther than the kitchen.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+ELECTRIC LIGHT
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+In seeking to secure sufficient light we often go to the extreme of
+providing a glare that is trying to the eyes and would test the beauty
+of the loveliest complexion that ever charmed in the revealing light of
+day.  We go further, mayhap, and concentrate the glare upon the center
+of the room, with a shade of bright green which gives an unearthly but
+not a heavenly cast to all the unfortunate humans who come under its
+belying influence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Objection is sometimes made to electric light that it is too powerful,
+and that it is difficult to modify and control.  This impression is due
+to the tendency of which we have spoken&mdash;the working out of the thought
+that proper lighting is a question of quantity.  For some persons the
+ideal arrangement would seem to be a searchlight at each corner of the
+room, with a few arc lights suspended from a mirrored ceiling.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Electric light, to furnish the most agreeable effects, must be softened
+and properly diffused.  If the light units that so perfectly illumine a
+room during the day were concentrated they would make a blinding glare,
+but diffused they are properly tempered to the eye.  The common thought
+seems to be to put all the lights of the living room in the center, and
+to make them so powerful that they will penetrate every corner of the
+room and make it "light as day."  In consequence the center is
+overlighted, and instead of a similitude of daylight we have unreality.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PLEASING ARRANGEMENT
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+For the dining-room and library table some form of drop light is
+essential.  There are arrangements that will transform the banquet or
+student lamp into an electric drop light, or the special outfits for
+this use may be had in some very artistic designs.  For general
+lighting, wall sconces, lanterns, or brackets are preferable.  Some of
+these are very beautiful, though there is a tendency to
+overelaboration.  Design, of course, should be in keeping with the
+general decoration and outfitting of the room.  Instead of four
+sixteen-candle-power lights in a center chandelier, eight of
+eight-candle power will "spread" the illumination better and add little
+to the expense, except for fixtures.  In beamed ceilings which are not
+too high, the effect of lights placed upon the beams is pleasing,
+though the effect upon the monthly bill may not have the same aspect.
+Electric lamps at the sides should be at a fair height and throw their
+light downward, instead of wasting it upon the ceiling.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The pretty lanterns of antique design are expensive, the simplest sort
+costing $4 or $5 apiece.  There are numerous artistic brackets,
+however, that may be had for smaller amounts.  Bulbs are made in all
+sorts of shapes to fit recesses or for special purposes, and the
+designs in shades and candelabra are legion.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+ADAPTABILITY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Electricity's strong card is its adaptability.  It can go wherever a
+wire may be carried, and into many places where gas or oil lights would
+not be safe or practical.  The only thing lacking is to make it
+wireless, and perhaps invention sooner or later will be equal to that
+demand.  Early installations were rather carelessly made, but municipal
+and underwriters' rules are now so strict that practically all danger
+of fire has been eliminated.  The householder in the country should
+make sure that the underwriters' prescriptions are fully observed, as
+his insurance may be affected.  In the city, official inspection
+usually guarantees correct wiring.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Probably only in the hall, dining room, and living room will we be
+greatly concerned with the decorative phase of lighting.  Elsewhere the
+question is largely one of practical use, though considerations of
+taste are not to be neglected.  Careful study should be given to the
+adaptation of lighting to the future uses of the rooms.  This will
+perhaps avoid the use later of unsightly extension cord, though this
+avoidance can scarcely be made complete.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PROTECTION
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+A very useful light may be provided for the veranda, just outside the
+door, illuminating the front steps and path to the sidewalk.  This
+light may be turned off and on by a switch key inside the door.  It is
+particularly comforting when some stranger rings the doorbell late at
+night and one does not feel overpleased to be called upon to open the
+door to an invisible person.  Other switch arrangements make it
+possible to turn on the upper hall lights from below, or the lower hall
+lights from above, and the lights in each room from the hall.  When
+there are unseemly noises downstairs in the wee sma' hours it is much
+more agreeable to gaze over the balustrade into a bright hall than to
+go prowling about in the darkness for the bulb or gas jet, with the
+chance of grasping a burglar instead.  Some burglars are very sensitive
+about familiarities on the part of strangers, and it is always better
+to permit them to depart in a good humor.  The basement lighting, too,
+should be regulated from above, and the dark corners should be well
+looked after.  At best, the basement is a breeder of trouble.  If the
+light is in the center, and must be turned off at the bulb, the return
+to the stairway from the nocturnal visit to the furnace is likely to be
+productive of bruised shins and objurgative English; if the light
+operates from above, one either forgets to turn it off and leaves it to
+burn all night, or becomes uncertain about it just as he is beginning
+to doze off, necessitating a scramble downstairs to make sure.  Perhaps
+it would be well to have a choice of systems.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Some houses have been so wired that one can illuminate every room from
+the hall or from the master's bedroom.  This necessitates complicated
+wiring and will not be found necessary by most of us.  Neither will we
+desire to spend our hardly won cash in wiring our four-poster bed for
+reading lights, or to put lights under the dining table for use in
+searching for the lost articles that always by some instinct seek the
+darkest spots in the room.  If there be a barn or shed on the lot, an
+extension carried there will be found convenient and comparatively
+inexpensive.  In the kitchen and pantries the lights should be
+considered in detail so that all the various operations may be served.
+Shadowed sinks and ranges and dark pantries are not necessary where
+there is electric light.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+REGULATED LIGHT
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+In halls, closets, and bathroom lower-power lamps, or the "hylo," which
+may be alternated from one- to sixteen-candle power, will prove an
+economy.  The "hylo" is also useful in bedrooms where children are put
+to sleep, affording sufficient light to daunt the hobgoblins without
+discouraging the approach of the sandman.  Some persons cannot sleep
+without a light; for them, and for the sick room, the low-power light
+is eminently preferable to the best of oil lamps.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There are numerous conveniences to be operated by electricity, such as
+chafing dishes ($13.50), flat irons ($3.75 up), curling-iron heaters
+($2.25 up), electric combs for drying hair ($4), heating pads, in lieu
+of hot-water bags ($5), and many articles for the kitchen.  These are
+operated from flush receptacles in baseboards or under rugs, or from
+the ordinary light sockets.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE TWO SURE WAYS OF HEATING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+There is only one efficient and healthful method of heating a house,
+and that is with a hot-air furnace.  I have that on the authority of a
+man who sells hot-air furnaces, and he ought to know.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Substitute "steam or hot water" for "hot-air furnace," and we have the
+assurance of the man across the way who sells boilers and radiators.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The beauty of it is that each proves his case to one's entire
+satisfaction&mdash;not only that his own system is a marvel of perfection,
+but that the other systems are dangerous to health and breeders of
+unhappiness and really ought (though he wouldn't like to say so) to be
+prohibited by law.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So we shall have to decide the question for ourselves.  If we err, we
+can still abuse the dealer, or the architect, or the contractor, for
+letting us make a mistake.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE HOT-AIR FURNACE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The hot-air furnace costs least to install.  (We leave stoves out of
+consideration.)  It is also supposed to be easiest to manage.  That, in
+a sense, is true.  A good furnace will act pretty well even under
+indifferent direction; a bad one cannot be made much worse by the
+greatest of stupidity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+However, the average person can run the average furnace with a fair
+degree of satisfaction to the household, if not to himself.  For a
+house of six to eight rooms the furnace may be considered an efficient
+means of heating.  It requires more fuel than some other apparatus, but
+there are compensations.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Since ventilation and heating are inevitably associated, the argument
+that the furnace provides for ventilation is a strong one.  If the air
+is taken from outdoors, passed over the radiating surface into the
+rooms, and then sent on its way, something like perfect ventilation is
+assured.  If the air is simply taken from the basement&mdash;a poor place to
+go for air&mdash;heated, passed through the rooms, returned, and heated over
+again, we may well pray to be delivered from such "ventilation."  The
+success of the furnace depends not upon ability to keep up a rousing
+fire but upon a proper regulation of air currents.  Many a first-class
+furnace, properly installed, fails to work satisfactorily because the
+principle of heating is not understood.  Even with the best of
+knowledge, the air is hard to regulate, and the very principle that
+gives the furnace its standing as a ventilator must prevent it from
+being a perfect heater.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Unless some artificial moisture is provided, not only will the air be
+too dry for comfort and health, but an excessive degree of heat must be
+attained in order to warm the rooms, thus increasing the consumption of
+coal.  A water pan is usually provided in the furnace, but too often it
+is neglected.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+DIRECTION OF HEAT
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+If any mistake in selection of size is to be made, it should be in
+favor of excess.  Most authorities urge the choice of at least a size
+above that indicated by the heating area.  A chimney with suitable
+draught is imperative.  The furnace should be placed in a central
+location and should be set sufficiently low to permit the essential
+rise of the heat ducts.  If the basement is low the furnace should be
+depressed.  While the heat conveyors should not ascend directly from
+the furnace, they should not be carried any farther than necessary in a
+horizontal position.  The velocity of heat is diminished in carrying it
+horizontally, increased vertically.  Crooks and turns add to the
+friction and decrease heating power.  Therefore the pipes should be as
+short and direct as possible.  It is not necessary to carry the
+register to a window on the farther side of the room, say some
+authorities, as the warm air rises to the ceiling anyway, and the
+greater length of carry involves a loss in warmth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Pipes for the first floor should he large.  Those for the upper rooms,
+having a longer vertical range, may be smaller.  All the pipes should
+be double, with an inch air space between, as a protection against
+fire.  Asbestos paper on a single pipe is not regarded as a sufficient
+precaution, as it is easily torn and quickly wears out.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+REGISTERS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+There are arguments in favor of side-wall registers.  They save floor
+space and obviate some dust.  On the other hand, they are not quite so
+effective in heating as the other sort, since the pipes for floor
+registers may be of larger diameter and as a rule require fewer bends.
+Each register should have a separate pipe from the furnace.  Where
+direct heat is not desired, a register opening in the ceiling of a
+downstairs room will sometimes carry enough heat to the upper chamber
+to make it comfortable for sleeping purposes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Since furnace efficiency is largely dependent upon air control, a
+strong wind sometimes makes it difficult to heat portions of the house.
+To meet this emergency there is a combination hot-air and hot-water
+heater which supplies radiators on the upper floors, or elsewhere if
+desired.  The additional cost is practically all in the installation,
+as the same fire furnishes both forms of heat.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For an eight-room house or smaller, a first-class steel-plate furnace,
+securely sealed against the escape of gas and smoke, costs free on
+board about $150.  Each two rooms additional raises the price about
+$25.  Other furnaces may be had as low as $50.  Cost of tin work, brick
+setting, etc., depends upon locality.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+HOT WATER AND STEAM HEAT
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Hot water and steam heat cost more for installation, but have many
+advantages over the furnace.  Their chief drawbacks are the space
+usurped by radiators, lack of ventilation, and the possibility of an
+occasional breakdown.  The ingenuity of the makers, however, is partly
+overcoming these difficulties, mainly by the device called the indirect
+system.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We need not fret ourselves here with a technical elucidation of either
+form of heating.  We may, however, consider some of the claims made for
+hot water, which is apparently coming to be considered the preferable
+arrangement for dwelling houses.  There is not a great deal of
+difference between the essential features of steam and hot-water
+systems.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is declared that water will absorb more heat than any other
+substance, hence will take from the boiler practically all the heat
+produced in the combustion of fuel.  As the temperature of the water is
+automatically controlled, the atmosphere of the rooms may be kept at
+the desired degree, the presence of radiators in each room, all of the
+same temperature, giving an even heat over the entire house.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There can be no sudden drop in temperature, as the water in the pipes
+continues to distribute warmth even after the fire has been checked or
+has been allowed to go out.  The fuel required for an ordinary stove,
+it is asserted, will warm an entire house with hot water.  An engineer
+is not required.  Inexperienced persons have no difficulty in operating
+the ordinary boiler, and there is no danger whatever, because, the
+makers adduce, for steam heat the maximum pressure is about five
+pounds, while with hot water there is practically no pressure at all.
+Very little water is used, and a connection with the street water
+system is not imperative, though convenient.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+INDIRECT HEATING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Indirect heating is provided by passing air over radiators attached to
+the ceiling of the basement, thence to the upper rooms.  In the
+"direct-indirect" system the radiators are placed in the partition
+walls of the rooms they are to heat, the cold air being brought through
+a duct and, being heated, passing into the rooms.  These two systems
+are economical of space and afford provision for excellent ventilation.
+They are considerably more expensive, however, than the direct system,
+which involves exposed radiators.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Radiators are now constructed in many different forms, to fit under
+windows, in corners, in fireplaces, under cabinets, and so on.  Much
+effort has been directed also toward relieving their painful ugliness,
+and if of a neat design appropriately colored they need not be a
+serious blot upon the decorative scheme of a room.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Radiators, in the direct system, should be placed far enough from the
+walls to permit free circulation over the heating surfaces, and should
+not be directly covered at the top.  Ordinarily there are good reasons
+for putting them near the more exposed places, such as windows and
+outer doors.  As both steam and hot water furnish a dry heat, provision
+should be made in every room for evaporation of water.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SUMMARY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+With no prejudice against good furnaces, it may be said that hot water
+apparently affords the greatest possibilities for comfort and
+regularity of heating, and that there are usually no reasons why it
+cannot be utilized in country houses.  A hot-water installation is
+likely to cost twice as much as a furnace, but if we are to live in the
+house it is better to make our estimates cover ten or twenty years
+rather than to bear too strongly on first costs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The following table, while it must not be taken as fully conclusive,
+gives at least a basis of consideration:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<TABLE BORDER WIDTH="100%">
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">&nbsp; </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> HOT AIR </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> STEAM.    </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> HOT WATER.  </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%"> First cost</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> Small.        </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">  Higher.       </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">  Highest.</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">  Comparative coal consumption</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> 18 1/2 tons. </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">  13 1/2 tons.   </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">  10 tons</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">  Average durability</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">  12 years.   </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">  35 years.  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">  *Indestructible</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">Heat distribution  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">Uneven.        </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> Regular.        </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> Even. </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">Temperature  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">Variable.      </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> Fair.           </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> Regular. </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">Ventilation        </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">Good, if properly managed. </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">Good, with indirect system.  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">Good, with indirect system.  </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">Quality of heated air  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">Ditto.         </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">Ditto.           </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> Ditto. </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">Dust and dirt  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">Much.          </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> Little.         </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> None. </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%"> Danger of fire </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">Moderate.      </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">None.  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> None. </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">Danger of explosion  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">Slight.        </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> None. </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> None. </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">Noise  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">None.          </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">Occasional.      </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> Almost none. </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">Management  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">*Delightful.   </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> *Pleasure.      </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">*Joy.  </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">Relative cost of apparatus   </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">9 </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">13               </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">15  </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">Ditto, plus repairs and fuel for five years  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">29 1/2    </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">29 2/3  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> 27 </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">Ditto, plus repairs and fuel for five years  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> 81            </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> 63              </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> 52 1/2 </TD>
+</TR>
+
+</TABLE>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+* Makers' statement.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+These comparisons are probably, on the whole, somewhat unfair to the
+high-grade furnace.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap04"></A>
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER IV
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+FURNITURE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Much of good sense and more that is nonsensical has been written about
+furniture.  Observation tends to justify belief that in general effect
+the nonsense has proved more potent than its antithesis.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE QUEST OF THE BEAUTIFUL
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Originality has been preached, and we have seen the result in
+abnormalities that conform to no conception of artistic or practical
+quality ever recognized.  Antique models have been glorified, with a
+sequence of puny, spiritless imitations.  Simplicity has been extolled,
+and we find the word interpreted in clumsiness and crudity.  Delicacy
+of outline has been urged, and we triumph in the further
+accomplishments of flimsiness and hopeless triviality.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And yet through all that has been preached, through all that has been
+executed, there runs a vein of truth.  Each age should express itself,
+not merely the thought of centuries past; still, it can expect to do
+little more than take from antecedent cycles those features that will
+best serve the present, adding an original touch here and there.  So
+far, then, as we find in the furniture of the Georgian period, or of
+Louis Quinze, or even of the ancient Greeks, such suggestions as will
+help us to live this twentieth-century life more comfortably and
+agreeably, we may with good conscience borrow or imitate.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+ANCIENT DESIGNS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Some "very eminent authorities" assure us that many of the objects of
+our admiration in museums and in private collections are remnants of
+the furnishings of the common households of the olden times.  If the
+breadth of knowledge of the "eminent authorities" is indicated by this
+assertion, they must have touched only the high places in history, so
+far as it records social conditions.  The truth is that the household
+appurtenances which have survived to our time are mostly those of the
+few and not of the many, of the palace and mansion and not of the cot.
+These articles were costly then and they would be costly now, and very
+often quite as useless as costly.  They were not found in the cottage
+of the older days, and they do not belong in the cottages of the
+present.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Nevertheless, many of these old designs exemplify the elementary
+essentials of furniture&mdash;good materials, gracefulness, and thorough
+workmanship.  These are qualities that are to be sought for the cottage
+as well as for the mansion; and while they may add to the purchase cost
+of the separate articles, it is possible to secure them at no great
+increase for the whole over the cheaper goods, provided we guard
+against the common error in housefurnishing&mdash;overpurchasing.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-074"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-074.jpg" ALT="Good examples of Chippendale and old walnut." BORDER="2" WIDTH="357" HEIGHT="626">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: Good examples of Chippendale and old walnut.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE ARTS AND CRAFTS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+What is known in America as the arts and crafts movement has, in its
+sincere developments, sought to adapt the better qualities of the old
+designs of furniture to the demands of modern conditions, artistic and
+practical.  Not always, however, has it been possible to distinguish
+between the honest effort to enforce a better standard and the various
+forms of charlatanry under which clumsy and unsightly creations have
+been and are being worked off upon an ingenuous public at prices
+proportioned to their degrees of ugliness.  In colonial times many an
+humble carpenter vainly scratched his noggin as he puzzled over the
+hopeless problem of duplicating with rude tools and scant skill the
+handiwork that graced the lordly mansions of merrie England; to-day
+some wight who can scarcely distinguish a jackplane from a saw-buck
+essays to "express himself" (at our expense) in furniture, repeating
+all the gaucheries that the colonial carpenter could not avoid making.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+MISSION FURNITURE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Others have set themselves to reproducing the so-called mission
+furniture which the good priests of early California would have
+rejoiced to exchange for the convenient modern furniture at which the
+faddist sniffs.  But most of us who stop to think, realize that there
+is no magic virtue in antiquity of itself.  The average man, at least,
+cannot delude himself into the belief that there is comfort to be found
+in a great deal of the harsh-angled stuff paraded as artistic.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Let us not be understood, however, as hinting that artistic qualities
+must be disregarded.  Though furniture should not be chosen for its
+beauty or associations alone, it must not be considered at all if
+beauty is absent.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+COMFORT, AESTHETIC AND PHYSICAL
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The first consideration of the home is comfort.  Let no one dispute
+that fact.  But there is such a thing as being aesthetically as well as
+physically comfortable.  Conceptions of physical comfort differ with
+individuals, but are usually well defined; some of us actually have no
+conception whatever of aesthetic comfort.  That is no reason why we
+should not seek it.  Probably we had a very faint idea of what good
+music or good painting was like until we came to an acquaintance with
+the masters; but we are surely not sorry to have progressed in
+experience and feeling.  And so it is that though we may not feel
+specially urged to insist upon tasteful surroundings, the higher
+instincts within us that persuade us to make the most of ourselves
+demand that we shall not be content with mere physical comfort.
+Therefore we may need to look a bit beyond our definite inward
+aspirations, and we should not disdain to follow others so far as they
+adhere to certain well-authenticated canons of good taste.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+OLDER MODELS IN FURNITURE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Study of the older models of furniture is bound to prove suggestive,
+and it is better to secure from the library or bookseller a book by
+some authority than to depend upon dealers' catalogues, which are not
+always edifying.  English models affecting present-day outfitting date
+back as far as the Elizabethan period, approximately 1558-1603.
+Following there came the Early Jacobean, the Early Queen Anne, and the
+Georgian.  The last includes the work of Chippendale, Heppelwhite,
+Sheraton, and the Adams, all of whom executed some beautiful designs.
+The so-called colonial furniture belongs also to the Georgian period,
+as does the "Debased Empire," corresponding to or following the Empire
+styles in France.  In the latter country the periods of vogue are known
+as Francis Premier, Henri Deux, Henri Quatre, Louis Treize, Louis
+Quatorze, Louis Quinze, and Louis Seize.  Under the designation of the
+"Quaint style" W. Davis Benn groups the "Liberty," Morris, and arts and
+crafts designs.  Mr. Benn's "Styles in Furniture" will be found helpful
+in both text and illustration to those who would learn to distinguish
+between the products of the various periods.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-078"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-078.jpg" ALT="A Chippendale secretary." BORDER="2" WIDTH="350" HEIGHT="591">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: A Chippendale secretary.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+MAHOGANY AND OAK
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Mahogany and oak are the best materials for furniture.  The former is
+cleverly imitated in a mahoganized birch, which presents a pleasing
+appearance and sometimes deceives those who are not familiar with the
+beautiful rich tones of the genuine article.  Mahogany adapts itself to
+almost any sensible style of interior decoration, is likely to be of
+careful manufacture, and is almost invariably cherished for its beauty.
+Like other highly finished woods it takes on a bluish tint in damp
+weather, and if not well protected, will demand attention more
+frequently than other materials.  But if its purchase can be afforded
+the care given it will scarcely be begrudged.  The eggshell (dull)
+finish requires less attention than the higher polish.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Next in degree to mahogany, oak in the golden, weathered, or fumed
+effect is handsome and durable, while it is somewhat less expensive.
+The moment one drops below genuine mahogany, however, a wary eye must
+be kept upon construction.  There are shifts innumerable to make cheap
+furniture that has an alluring appearance, and the variety of design in
+the moderate-priced materials will lead to confusion for those who do
+not exert a Spartan discrimination.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SUBSTANTIALITY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+To insure satisfaction there must first of all be substantiality&mdash;a
+quality which affects both comfort and appearance.  A chair may be
+beautiful, it may be comfortable, at the time of purchase, but if it be
+not substantial its glories will soon depart.  A superficial view
+cannot be conclusive.  The carefully made article built upon slender
+lines is often quite as strong as a more rugged creation hastily put
+together.  The chair that is properly constructed may be almost as
+solid as if it were of one piece, and still not require a block and
+tackle to move it.  The strongest article is made entirely of wood, and
+we find some of the old models so sturdily built that no rounds were
+required between the legs.  In chiffoniers, dressers, or side-boards a
+handsome exterior should not blind us to cheaply constructed drawers.
+The latter should be of strong material, properly fitted, and well
+sealed.  There need be no sagging, jamming, or accumulation of dust in
+drawers that are well constructed.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SUPERFLUITY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+California, with its pretty little bungalows, not only has pointed out
+to us the possibility of living satisfactorily in a small number of
+rooms, but has shown us something in the way of simple furnishings.
+Not until we see what may be "done without" do we realize how much that
+is superfluous crowds our floors.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A pretty good rule is to test everything first by its usefulness; if it
+is not useful, we may dispense with its purchase.  Even at that, it may
+be necessary to demand that the article shall be not only useful but
+absolutely indispensable, for between the beguiling advertisement and
+the crafty salesman, almost anything that is manufactured may be proved
+necessary.  At the best we shall probably purchase a-plenty, and the
+question of when a house reaches the point of overfurnishing is a
+difficult one to settle.  Let one of us, for instance, venture at
+midnight into a dark room&mdash;be the apartment ever so large&mdash;with nothing
+but a rocker in it, and the impression may be gained that the place has
+been turned into a furniture warehouse.  And some persons&mdash;none of us,
+to be sure!&mdash;are never happy while any of the floor or wall space is
+unoccupied.  So the world goes.  But if nine out of ten persons bought
+only what they could not do without, what they did purchase could be of
+a great deal better quality.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+No bit of furniture should be purchased for which there is not a
+suitable place in the house.  A piece may be very attractive in the
+salesroom, and its practical qualities may appear irresistible, while
+on our own floors it may be perfectly incongruous and perhaps, on
+account of its enforced location, almost useless.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If for no other reason, we should go slow with our purchases because we
+cannot know the real needs of our home until we have lived in it.
+Experience will make some articles superfluous and substitute what we
+had not thought to want.  There should be a regular saving fund or
+appropriation for keeping up the house fittings, and usually it is
+found that this fund grows more steadily if we have some definite
+purchases in view.  Leave some things to be "saved up for"; there will
+be less likelihood then of your being included in that large class to
+which the newspaper "small ads" appeal&mdash;"those who wish to trade what
+they don't want for what they do want."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+HALL FURNITURE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+In a hall of the simpler sort the only requirements are a high-backed
+chair or settee, a table for <I>cartes de visite</I>, an umbrella
+receptacle, and a mirror wall hanger with hooks for the use of guests.
+The time-honored halltree is no more, and long may it rest in peace.
+If there had been no other reasons for its passing, its abuse in the
+average household made it an eyesore.  Intended only for the
+convenience of the transient guest, its hooks were usually preëmpted by
+the entire outer wardrobe of the family.  A good plan is to have a coat
+closet built in, under the stairway or elsewhere near the place of
+egress, leaving the few inconspicuous hooks in the hall to afford ample
+provision for visitors.  An appropriation of $50 to $100 will fit up a
+small hall very satisfactorily.  A pretty hanging lantern of hammered
+copper, with open bottom and globe of opalescent glass, will add more
+than its cost of $12.50 to the good impression the hall is to make upon
+those it receives.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE FAMILY CHAIRS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Some good folk would banish the rocker unceremoniously from the living
+room, and we might not miss it so much as we think.  It is the
+adaptability of the rocker to comforting positions, rather than a love
+of rocking, that endears the chair to the majority, and when the same
+qualities are found in the reclining or easy chair we can well spare
+the projections that menace skirts and polished furniture, not to speak
+of the space they take up.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As a general thing it is the man of the house whose comfort is most
+sedulously looked after.  For him the easy chair, the slippers, the
+reading lamp, the smoking outfit, the house jacket, the evening paper.
+This fact is mentioned in no carping spirit.  Far be it from one of the
+less worthy sex to quarrel with the fate that has been ordained for us
+by our helpmeets; the latter should not be deprived of a whit of the
+joy that comes from viewing the lord of the household agreeably
+situated, and in that blissful state which breeds a kindly spirit
+toward all human kind, including milliners and ladies' tailors.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But too frequently the mistress of the household is supposed to pick up
+her comfort at odd times, or more likely there isn't any supposition at
+all.  For her, for the master, and for the other members of the family,
+there must be a personal interest in the living room, and this is best
+represented by the most comfortable chair to be had.  As persons are
+built of different heights and breadths, so the chairs should be.
+While the slender chap can snuggle down in the most capacious easy
+chair, the stout lady may be embarrassed when she finds the one single
+seat at hand proffering only a scanty breadth.  One may well provide
+for these contingencies, for of course it is not always possible to
+select our acquaintances in accordance with the capacity of our
+furniture.  Heights, too, should be varied somewhat, though it must be
+confessed that the joy of life (for others) is much increased by the
+sight of a six-foot (tall) gentleman of dignity gradually unfolding
+himself from the chair that was purchased for the particular use of
+Gwendolyn Ermyntrude, aged six.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE TABLE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+If the living room, among its other uses, takes the place of the
+library, the selection of a suitable library table will be a good test
+of the homemaker's discrimination.  The quality of this table should be
+at least equal to the best we have to show.  Whether it shall be
+squared, or oblong with oval ends, depends upon tastes; by all means it
+should be get-at-able.  That's what a library table is for.  Good
+designs in "arts and crafts" may be had as low as $16.50 in a small
+size; 72-inch, about $50.  Golden oak costs less, mahogany considerably
+more.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE DAVENPORT
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The davenport in mahogany or oak, in a plain or striped velour
+tapestry, felt filled, with good springs, built on straight lines with
+claw feet, broad arms, and heavy back, is a good article and will not
+leave much change out of a $50 bill.  That represents a fair price for
+a fair quality, and it would be better to do without the davenport than
+to go in for something too cheap.  The sort that have detached cushions
+in soft leather are very nice and practically dustless.  The same is
+true of easy chairs so provided.  A handsome weathered-oak davenport
+with cushions of this kind will be found marked somewhere about $65,
+while half that price pays for an easy chair of the same style.  The
+cushions are filled with felt.  Springs and fillings in davenports,
+easy chairs, and couches should be most thoroughly investigated.  If
+there are carvings they must be subjected to the severest tests of
+appropriateness, and in no event should they be where they will come in
+frequent contact with other articles or with persons.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+BOOKCASES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Bookcases in weathered oak, with the top sections of the doors in
+leaded glass, seem worth the prices at $28 for 30-inch, $43.50 for
+4-foot, and $47.50 for 5-foot; yet a simple 30-inch golden oak case
+"made in Grand Rapids," and of which no one need be ashamed, costs but
+$14.  Sectional cases are very convenient, and are now being designed
+in artistic styles, but are not yet altogether approvable for the
+parlor or living room.  For the library simply, they are to be
+recommended.  Bookcases and other heavy pieces should either set
+solidly upon the floor or have sufficient open space beneath them to
+permit cleaning.  Unless their contents are (mistakenly) hidden by
+curtains, the bookcases should not be placed in too strong sunlight, as
+some bindings fade rapidly.  Nor should they be near the heat
+radiators, or against a wall that may possess moisture.  The piano,
+too, must be protected against too great heat or moisture, and in a
+stone or brick house should be placed against a partition rather than
+the outside wall.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SUNDRIES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Useful, but not life-or-death essentials, are a tabouret at, say,
+$3.25, a footrest for a little less, and a magazine rack for $5 or $10.
+The problem of keeping periodicals in easy reach without too much of a
+"litter'ry" effect has not yet been solved.  The open rack is the best
+compromise between sightliness and utility, because it is more apt to
+be used than the more ambitious arrangements with doors.  In the
+general treatment of the living room the piano and its case are not to
+be overlooked, and the presence of a piano also suggests the music
+cabinet, with its problem similar to that of the magazine rack.  As
+music is not kept so well "stirred up," however, the cabinet with a
+tight door is "indicated."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+WILLOW FURNITURE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Willow furniture is used extensively in some country homes.  It is made
+of the French willow, and is not so cheap but is stronger than rattan.
+Best rockers in this material sell at about $20.  They are hardly to be
+considered in the permanent furnishings of the home, though there is no
+denying their cleanliness, coolness, and comfort, especially in summer.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE DINING TABLE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+For the dining room the sensible preference seems to be for a round
+table with straight lines of under construction.  The pillar base gives
+least interference with personal comfort, but even at that seems to be
+unescapable.  What has been said elsewhere about the choice of woods
+applies here also.  The high cost of a large-size mahogany table,
+however, will probably enable us to see some of the special beauties of
+golden oak.  A six-foot round table in the latter wood is priced at
+about $20.  Medium height chairs, with cane seats, $2.75; leather,
+$3.25.  Sideboards are now usually built in; otherwise the buffet
+table, free from excessive ornamentation, is given preference.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-088"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-088.jpg" ALT="The dining room." BORDER="2" WIDTH="491" HEIGHT="388">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: The dining room.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+DISCRIMINATION IN CHOICE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+A great deal of the factory-made furniture of the day is the veriest
+trash.  The best feature of it is that it cannot last long and will not
+survive to disgrace us in the eyes of a later and perhaps more
+discriminating generation.  For those who reside in flats, and are
+deprived of the inducement to plan for permanence, small blame can
+attach for hesitancy in making investments in the better sort of
+furniture that their tastes would lead them to choose.  This is the
+penalty they pay for evading the responsibilities of genuine home life
+in a house.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But good furniture is being built in these days.  It is not confined to
+hand work, or to the products of long-haired folk who set up a religion
+of cabinet-making.  In every city there are several grades of furniture
+dealers.  At the one extreme there is the house that handles nothing
+but trash; at the other the house that handles no trash at all.  The
+latter is the obvious choice; and if we pay a bit more for
+safety&mdash;well, do we not pay for our insurance against fire, and
+burglars, and other things?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If our house has been planned on a scale commensurate with our means,
+we shall find it no extravagance to complete the larger work of
+outfitting with articles that will bring pleasure and not vexation,
+that will need no apologies.  Surely no employment could be more
+interesting than the choice of these belongings which shall in many
+ways influence ourselves and those about us.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There is such a range of styles and costs that if we approach the
+problem intelligently we may "express ourselves" quite as accurately as
+though we were amateur craftsmen.  Indeed, we must express ourselves,
+whether we determine to do so or not; for if we simply follow our
+cruder instincts, as the child selects its toys, do we not reveal the
+absence of any real artistic self whatever?
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap05"></A>
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER V
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+HOUSEHOLD LINEN
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Most of us "women folk" have some one dear pet hobby which we love to
+humor and to cater to, and which variously expresses itself in china,
+bric-a-brac, books, collections of spoons or forks, and other things of
+beauty and joys forever.  But whatever our individual indulgences may
+be, one taste we share in common&mdash;the love of neat napery.  Her
+heartstrings must indeed be toughly seasoned who feels no thrill of
+pride as she looks upon her piles of shining, satiny table linen, and
+takes account of her sheet, pillowcase and towel treasure.  They are
+her stocks and bonds, giving forth daily their bounteous, beauteous
+yield of daintiness and comfort, and paying for themselves many times
+over by the atmosphere of nicety and refinement which they create.  For
+it is these touches, unobtrusive by their very delicacy, which
+introduce that intangible but very essential quality known as <I>tone</I>
+into the home harmony.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Though this is true of all household linen, it is, especially so of
+table linen, which seems to weave into its delicate patterns and
+traceries all the light and sunshine of the room, and to give them back
+to us in the warming, quickening good cheer which radiates from a table
+daintily dressed.  Its influence refines, as all that is chaste and
+pure must refine, and helps to make of mealtime something more than
+merely mastication.  Human nature's daily food seems to lose something
+of its grossness in its snowy setting, and to gain a spiritual savor
+which finds an outlet in "feasts of reason and flows of soul."  When we
+have immaculate table linen we dine; otherwise we simply eat, and there
+are whole decades of civilization between the two.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+LINEN, PAST AND PRESENT
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Linen is a fabric with a past: it clothed the high priests of Israel
+for their sacred offices, and comes as a voice from the tombs of Egypt,
+where it enwraps the mummies of the Pharaohs, telling of a skill in
+weaving so marvelous that even our improved machinery of to-day can
+produce nothing to approach it.  And then it comes on down through the
+centuries to those nearer and dearer days of our grandmothers, when it
+was spun and woven by gentle fingers; while the halo of romance hovers
+over it even now as the German Hausfrau fills the dowry chest of her
+daughter in anticipation of the time when she, in turn, shall become a
+housewife.  Small wonder that we love it, and guard jealously against a
+stain on its unblemished escutcheon.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+BLEACHED AND "HALF-BLEACHED"
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Belfast, Ireland, is the home of linen and damask.  There are
+manufactories in both Scotland and France, but it is in Belfast that
+the fabric attains to the highest perfection, and "Irish linen" has
+come to be synonymous with excellence of design and weaving and
+luster&mdash;a most desirable trilogy.  The prospective purchaser of table
+linen should go to her task fortified with some information on the
+subject, that she may not find herself totally at the mercy of the
+salesman, who often knows little about his line of goods beyond their
+prices.  First of all she will probably he asked whether she prefers
+bleached or unbleached damask.  The latter&mdash;called "half-bleach" in
+trade vernacular&mdash;is made in Scotland and comes in cheap and medium
+grades alone.  Though it lacks the choiceness of design and the beauty
+and fineness of the Belfast bleached linens, it is good for everyday
+wear and quickly whitens when laid in the sun on grass or snow; while
+the fact that its cost is somewhat less than that of the corresponding
+quality in the bleached damask, and that it wears better, recommends it
+to many.  Occasionally the chemicals used in the bleaching process are
+made overstrong to hasten whitening, with the result that the fibers
+rot after a while and little cut-like cracks appear in the fabric.
+This is not usual, but of course the unbleached damask precludes all
+possibility of such an occurrence.  One firm in Belfast still
+conscientiously employs the old grass-and-sun system of bleaching, and
+their damask is plainly marked "Old Bleach."  The half-bleach is sold
+both by the yard and in patterns.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+DAMASK
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Damask, by the way, takes its name from the city of Damascus where the
+fabric was first made, and is simply "linen so woven that a pattern is
+produced by the different directions of the thread," plain damask being
+the same fabric, but unfigured.  The expression "double damask" need
+occasion no alarm; it does not imply double cost, a double cloth, or
+double anything except a double, or duplicate, design, produced by the
+introduction of an extra thread so woven in that the figure appears
+exactly the same on both sides of the cloth, making it reversible.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+QUALITY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The next thing will be to decide between buying by the yard and buying
+a pattern cloth in which the border continues without a break all the
+way around, adding about ten per cent to the price.  The designs in
+both cloths are the same in corresponding qualities.  We are knights
+and ladies of the round table these days, and cloths woven specially
+for use thereon, with an all-round center design, come only in
+patterns.  Cloths of this description are used also on square tables,
+as the wreath effect is very decorative.  As to the quality of damask,
+it depends not so much upon weight&mdash;for the finest cloths are by no
+means the heaviest&mdash;as upon the size of the threads and the closeness
+and firmness with which they are woven.  Avoid the loosely woven
+fabric; it will neither wear nor look so well as the one in which the
+threads are more compact.  In the better damasks the threads are
+smoother and finer in finish.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+DESIGN
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Styles in table linens change from time to time and render it difficult
+to say what may or may not be used with propriety, except that the
+general principle of coarse, heavy-looking designs being in poor taste
+always holds good.  One pattern alone has proven itself, and stood the
+test of time so satisfactorily that it is as high as ever in the good
+housekeeper's favor, with no prospect of falling from grace&mdash;our old
+friend the dainty, modest snowdrop, a quiet, unobtrusive little figure
+in a garden array of roses, English violets, lilacs, tulips, irises,
+and poppies&mdash;for these are flowery times in linens.  Occasionally we
+meet with a scroll or fern design, though the latter is gradually
+falling into disuse as being too stiff to twine and weave into graceful
+lines.  So true to nature and so exquisitely woven are these posy
+patterns that they form in themselves a most charming table decoration.
+In order to secure perfect reproduction a manufacturer in Belfast has
+established and maintains a greenhouse where his designers draw direct
+from the natural flower.  This care is but the outgrowth of the more
+refined living which demands that beauty shall walk hand-in-hand with
+utility.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PRICE AND SIZE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Before our housekeeper starts a-shopping she must lock up her zeal for
+economy lest it lead her away from the straight and narrow way of good
+taste into that broader path which leads to the bargain counter.  She
+may as well make up her mind at once that desirable table linen is not
+cheap, the sorts offered at a very low price being neither economical
+nor desirable, and that a cheap cloth which cheapens all of its
+surroundings is dearly bought at any price.  Occasionally the
+experienced shopper can pick up at a sale of odd-length or soiled
+damasks something which is really a good offering, particularly during
+the annual linen sale which falls in January.  But as a rule beware of
+bargains!  The fabric is liable to be a "second" with some
+imperfection, or to contain a thread of cotton which gives it a rough
+look when laundered, and there is generally a shortage in width&mdash;which
+suggests the advisability of measuring the table top before buying, for
+cloths come in different widths, and one which is too narrow looks
+out-grown and awkward and&mdash;stingy!  The average table is about 4 feet
+across, and requires a cloth 2 yards square, though in buying by the
+yard it is safe to allow an extra quarter for straightening the edges
+and hemming.  The cloth should hang at least a foot below the edge of
+the table, with an increase of half a yard in length for each
+additional table leaf.  A cloth 2 yards square will seat four people; 2
+by 2 1/2, six; 2 by 3, eight; 2 by 3 1/2, ten; and 2 by 4, twelve.  A
+wider table calls for a half or a quarter of a yard more in the width
+of the cloth, at some little additional cost, as fewer cloths in extra
+widths are made or called for.  Usually a good pattern runs through
+three qualities of table linen, with napkins in two sizes to
+match&mdash;22-inch for breakfast and luncheon use, and 24-inch for dinner.
+These are the standard sizes most generally used, though napkins are to
+be had both larger and smaller.  A napkin should be soft and pliable,
+and large enough to cover the knees well.  Prices on all-linen bleached
+satin damask pattern cloths, with accompanying napkins, are about as
+appear in the list on the opposite page:
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<TABLE BORDER WIDTH="100%">
+
+<TR>
+<TH ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" COLSPAN="4">CLOTHS.</TH>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> GOOD QUALITY </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> BETTER   </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%"> EXTRA GOOD</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;x 2 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;yards, each
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%">$2.00-$2.75     </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">$3.50   </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%">$4.50-$5.25</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;x 2 1/2 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%">2.50- 3.50     </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">4.50    </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%">5.75- 6.75</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;x 3 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%">3.00- 4.25</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">5.25    </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%">6.75- 8.00</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;x 3 1/2 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%">3.50- 4.85   </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">6.25   </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%"> 8.00- 9.25</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;x 4 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%">4.00- 5.50  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">7.00    </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%">9.00-10.75</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+2 1/4 x 2 1/4 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%">2.90- 3.75  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">4.50    </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%">6.00- 7.75</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+2 1/2 x 2 1/2 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> 4.25- 4.50      </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> 5.25      </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%"> 7.50- 8.75  </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+2 1/2 x 3 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> 5.00- 5.50      </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">6.25       </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%">  9.00-10.50 </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+2 1/2 x 3 1/2 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> 6.25- 6.50    </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> 7.50     </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%"> 10.50-12.25  </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+2 1/2 x 4 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%">  7.00- ---- </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> 8.50     </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%"> 12.00-14.00  </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+2 1/2 x 4 1/2 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> ---------- </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> ---- </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%"> 13.50-14.75  </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+2 1/2 x 5 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> ---------- </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> ---- </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%">15.00-17.50   </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+2 3/4 x 2 3/4 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> ---------- </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> ---- </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%">11.00-13.00   </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+3&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;x 3 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> ---------- </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> ---- </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%"> 15.00-16.00  </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+86&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;x &nbsp;&nbsp;90 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;inches,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> 3.50  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> &nbsp;  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%"> &nbsp;    </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+86&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;x 108 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%">4.25   </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> &nbsp;    </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%"> &nbsp;    </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+86&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;x 136 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> 5.00  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> &nbsp;    </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%"> &nbsp;    </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+86&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;x 144 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> 5.75  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> &nbsp;    </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%"> &nbsp;    </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TH ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" COLSPAN="4">NAPKINS.</TH>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">  22    x 22   inches, dozen   </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> $2.50-$3.00  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">$3.75  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%">$5.00-$5.50   </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+  23    x 23 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> 3.00 ---- </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">  5.25    </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%">  7.00- 7.50  </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+ 24    x 24  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> 3.00- 3.75  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> ---- </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%"> &nbsp;  </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+ 25    x 25  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> 3.50 ---- </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> 5.25  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%">&nbsp;   </TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%">
+  27    x 27  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%"> 6.35- 7.50   </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> ----  </TD>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="22%">&nbsp;</TD>
+</TR>
+
+</TABLE>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P>
+The 3x3 yards cloth is called a banquet cloth, and is one for which the
+average housekeeper would have little use.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+NECESSARY SUPPLY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The amount of table linen to be bought for the first "fitting out"
+depends upon the fatness of the pocketbook and the room available for
+stowing it away.  Since there are so many other expenses at this time
+the best way will probably be to buy all that will be needed for a
+year, and then add to it one or two cloths with their napkins each
+succeeding year.  Three cloths of the right length for everyday use,
+and one long "family-gathering" cloth, with a dozen napkins to match
+each, will be a good start.  If the special-occasion cloth seems to be
+too costly, two short cloths of duplicate pattern can be substituted
+for it, the centerpiece and a clever arrangement of decorations hiding
+the joining.  If table linen is to be stored away and not used for some
+time after its purchase, the dressing which it contains must be
+thoroughly washed out, else the chemicals are liable to rot the fabric.
+It is advisable, too, to put not-to-be-used damask away rough-dry,
+otherwise it may crack, in the folds.  The use of colored table linens
+is in the worst possible taste, except on the servants' table.  Those
+flaming ferocities known as "turkey-red" cloths, which seem to fairly
+fly at one, are not only inartistic but altogether too suggestive of
+economy in laundering to be appetizing table companions.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PLAIN, HEMSTITCHED, OR DRAWN
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Cloths bought by the yard must be evened at the ends by drawing a
+thread, and hemmed by hand, never stitched on the machine.  The inch
+hem of a few years ago has been superseded by the very narrow one which
+is always in good taste, regardless of style.  Napkins come by the
+piece and must be divided and hemmed on two sides, rubbing well between
+the hands first to remove the stiffness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There is nothing handsomer or more elegant than the fine, hemmed table
+linen, but if a hemstitched cloth is desired, or one containing some
+drawn-work design, it is better to buy the material and do the work
+oneself; otherwise; the expense goes into the work, not the linen, and
+the cost is usually about double that of the same cloth plainly
+finished.  Hemstitching and fancy work are appropriate only on cloths
+for the luncheon table, which may be of either plain or figured damask,
+or of heavy linen, which is often effectively combined with Battenberg
+and linen laces.  Neither drawn work nor hemstitching wears well,
+drawing the threads seeming to weaken the fabric.  Very pretty luncheon
+cloths can be purchased in different sizes for $1.50, $1.75, $2.00,
+$2.75, etc., according to size, material, and elaboration, with
+accompanying napkins, 18 by 18 inches, for $2.50 or more a dozen.  A
+cloth just the size of the table top is a convenient luncheon size.
+These cloths save much wear on the large cloths, and laundry work as
+well.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+DOILIES AND TABLE DRESSING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The pretty present-day fashion of using individual plate doilies on a
+polished table at breakfast and luncheon is also labor-saving.  The
+plate doilies, either square, oval, or round, and of plain damask or
+smooth, closely woven, rather heavy linen, are hemstitched or finished
+with a padded scallop worked with white cotton.  The round doily is
+most used, and offers a delightful field to the worker in over-and-over
+embroidery for the display of her skill.  Linen lace combinations are
+also used, but they are rather for dress-up than for daily use.  The
+plate doilies should be at least 9 inches wide, with smaller
+corresponding ones on which to set the glass of water or the hot cup,
+and an extra one or two for small dishes for relishes and the like that
+may be kept on the table, etc.  They can he bought for 25 cents a piece
+and upward, but the average housekeeper enjoys making her own, taking
+them for "pick-up" work.  Small fringed napkins are also used in the
+same way, and for tray covers, but fringe soon grows to look
+"dog-eared," and mats in the laundering.  Still another dressing for
+the bare table is the long hemstitched linen strip, 12 inches wide,
+which runs the length of the table, hanging over the end, and is
+crossed at the middle by a second strip extending over the sides, two
+strips thus seating four people.  When six are to be seated the
+cross-piece is moved to one side and a third corresponding strip placed
+about 18 inches from it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The list of table linen is incomplete without a damask carving cloth to
+match each tablecloth, which it protects from spatterings from the
+platter.  This also may be fashioned of plain linen, should be about
+three-quarters of a yard wide and a yard long, and either hemstitched
+or scalloped&mdash;embroidered, too, if one cares to put that much energy
+into work which will show so little.  And then there must be some
+doilies to overlay the Canton-flannel-covered asbestos mats for use
+under hot dishes.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CENTERPIECES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Styles in centerpieces are fleeting; just now all-white holds sway, and
+of a surety there is nothing daintier.  Although pretty centers can be
+purchased all the way up from $1, here again the mistress's industrious
+fingers come into play, for there is a certain unbuyable satisfaction
+in working a little of one's very self into the table adornment, and
+really handsome centerpieces are quite expensive.  They run in sizes
+from 12 to 45 inches.  The center with doilies to match is pretty and
+desirable.  It is quite as easy to arrange them in this way as to
+gather in an ill-assorted, mismated collection.  Those for daily use
+should be rather simple and of a quality which will not suffer from
+frequent intercourse with the washtub.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+MONOGRAMS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The fashion of embroidering monograms on table linen must be handled
+with care; the working over-and-over of the padded letters with fine
+cotton thread is a nice task which requires experience and skill.  The
+cloth monograms are from 2 to 3 inches high and are placed at one side
+of the center, toward the corner.  Either the full monogram or an
+initial is appropriate in the corner of the napkin, and to be in the
+best taste should never be more than an inch high.  These letters are
+either plain, in circlets, or surrounded with running vines, and add
+that distinction to the napery which handwork always imparts.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CARE OF TABLE LINEN
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Table linen, like friendship, must be kept constantly in repair.  Look
+out for the thin places and darn before they have a chance to wear
+through.  Ravelings from the cloth should be kept for this purpose.  A
+carefully applied patch or darn is scarcely noticeable after
+laundering.  The hardest wear comes where the cloth hangs over the edge
+of the table, at head and foot.  When it begins to be thin at these
+places cut off one end at the worn point, if the cloth is sufficiently
+long to warrant it, and hem the raw edge.  This draws the other worn
+place well up on the table where the friction is much less,
+considerably lengthening the life of the cloth.  The cut-off end may be
+converted into fringed napkins, on which to lay croquettes, fried
+potatoes, etc., doilies for bread and cake plates, children's napkins,
+or tray covers.  Old table linen passes through several stages of
+decline before it becomes absolutely useless; when too much worn for
+table purposes it enwraps our bread and cake and strains our jellies,
+and when at last it has won the well-earned rest of age, it still waits
+in neat rolls to bandage our cuts and bruises.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+HOW TO LAUNDER
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+There is a saying that "Old linen whitens best," to which we might also
+add that it looks best, gaining additional smoothness and gloss with
+each laundering.  Table linen should never dry on the line, but be
+brought in while still damp, very carefully folded, and ironed
+bone-dry, with abundant "elbowgrease."  This is the only way to give it
+a "satin gloss."  <I>Never</I> use starch.  The pieces should be folded
+evenly and carefully, with but one crease&mdash;down the middle&mdash;and not
+checker-boarded with dozens of lines.  Centers and large doilies are
+best disposed of by rolling over a round stick well padded.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+TABLE PADS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Much wear and tear on both table and cloth is prevented by the use of a
+double-faced Canton-flannel pad, which prevents the cloth from cutting
+through on the edges, gives it body, softens the clatter of the dishes,
+and absorbs liquids.  It comes in 1 1/2- and 1 3/4-yard widths and
+sells for 65 to 85 cents a yard.  Pads of asbestos are also used, but
+are far more expensive.  It is a good plan to have two if possible&mdash;one
+for use on the everyday table, and a longer one to cover the
+family-gathering table.  Covers for the sideboard and any small table
+used in the dining room are of hemstitched or scalloped linen, either
+plain or embroidered&mdash;never ruffled or fluffy.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+READY-MADE BED LINEN
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Buying bed linen is not so very serious a matter.  Drygoods stores
+offer sheets and pillowcases ready made to fit any sized bed or pillow
+at prices little, if any, greater than the cost of those made at home.
+Merchants say that they sell one hundred sheets ready made to one by
+the yard, which speaks well, not for their goods alone, but for the
+spirit of housewifely economy which maintains that labor saved is time
+and strength earned.  Moreover, the deluded seeker after bed beauty who
+wastes her precious hours in hemstitching sheets and
+pillowcases&mdash;cotton ones at that&mdash;is a reckless spendthrift, and needs
+a course in the economics of common sense.  Nothing is more desirable
+than the simple elegance of the plain, broad hem, nor more
+disheartening than hemstitching which has broken from its moorings
+while the rest of the sheet is still perfectly good&mdash;a way it has.
+Hem-stitching may answer on linen sheets which are not in constant use,
+but ordinarily let us have the more profitable plainness.  Good sheets
+are always torn&mdash;not cut&mdash;and finished with a 2 1/2- or 3-inch hem at
+the top and an inch hem at the bottom, the finished sheet measuring not
+less than 2 3/4 yards.  There must be ample length to turn back well
+over the blankets and to tuck in at the foot, for it is a most
+irritating sensation to waken in the night with the wool tickling one's
+toes and scratching one's chin.  Sheets are to be had in varying widths
+to suit different sized beds.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PRICE AND QUALITY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The 2 3/4-yard length in an average sheet of good quality costs 90
+cents for a double bed, 75 cents for a three-quarter bed, and 45 cents
+for a single bed, with hemstitched sheets of corresponding quality at
+the same price.  It is hardly worth while to pay more than this, while
+very good sheets are to be had for 75 cents, with a decrease in price
+as the width decreases.  Half-bleach double-bed sheets of good quality
+cost 85 and 70 cents, and so on, and are more especially for servants'
+beds.  They are popularly supposed to outwear the bleached, but are
+somewhat trying bedfellows until whitened.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Plain or hemstitched pillowcases cost from 25 to 75 cents a pair, each
+additional width raising the price 5 cents.  The average or
+sleeping-size pillow is 22 1/2 by 36 1/2 inches, and calls for a case
+enough larger to slip on easily, but not loose nor long enough to hang
+over the sides of the bed.  If pillows of different sizes are in use
+their cases should be numbered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Bed linen should be firmly woven, with a thread rather coarse than
+fine.  The amount purchased must be regulated by the number of beds to
+be furnished, allowing three sheets and three pairs of cases to each.
+The supply can always be easily added to, but if expedient for any
+reason to buy in large quantities, set apart enough to supply all the
+beds and keep the rest in reserve, otherwise it will all give out at
+once.  If the housewife is so unfortunately situated that she is forced
+to make her own bed linen, she will do well to buy her material by the
+piece&mdash;40 to 50 yards.  All hems can be run on the machine.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+REAL LINEN
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Though not everyone likes the "feel" of linen, most housekeepers are
+ambitious to include a certain amount with their other bed linens, for
+use in the summer or during illness, because of its non-absorbent
+qualities.  Sheets cost $3, $3.50, $4, $5, $6, and on up to $17, the
+more expensive ones being embellished with hemstitching, scallops, or
+lace.  Pillowcases to correspond sell at from $1.25 up.  Linen for this
+purpose is always bleached, the 90-inch sheeting being $1 to $3 a yard,
+the 45-inch pillowcasing 50 cents to $1.50 a yard, and 50-inch casing
+75 cents to $2 a yard.  Inch-high monograms or letters may be
+embroidered in white at the middle of sheets and pillowcases, just
+above the hem.  When sheets wear thin down the center, tear and "turn,"
+whipping the selvages together and hemming the torn edges, which become
+the new edges of the sheet.  Old bed linen makes the finest kind of
+cleaning cloths, and should be folded neatly away for that purpose,
+sheets being reserved for the ironing board.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SUGGESTIONS ABOUT TOWELS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Towels are best purchased by the dozen, huck of Irish bleached linen
+being best for all-around use.  These have good absorbent qualities,
+plain or hemstitched hems, measure from 18 by 36 inches to 24 by 42
+inches, and cost from $2.50 to $6 a dozen.  Some of these are "Old
+Bleach" linen, and therefore both desirable and durable.  Pass by
+towels with colored borders; the colored part is always cotton, and is
+in poor taste anyway.  Some huck towels have damask borders; other
+towels are of all-damask, costing from $6 to $12 a dozen, but huck is
+the stand-by.  Fringed towels, of course, are not to be considered for
+a moment.  Each member of the family should have his own individual
+towel, or set of towels, distinguished by some mark, particularly
+children, who find it hard to learn that towels are for drying, not
+cleansing, purposes.  Those for their use may be smaller and cheaper.
+Turkish or bath towels are of either cotton or linen, the latter being
+more for friction purposes and costing $6 to $12 a dozen.  The cotton
+absorbs better and is most generally used for the bath.  Good values in
+towels of this kind are to be had for $2.50, $2.85, $3, and $4.50 a
+dozen.  Good crash face cloths cost 5 cents and even less.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Household linens must include, too, the 6 barred-linen kitchen towels
+at 10, 12, or 15 cents a yard, for drying silver and glass; and 6
+heavier towels, either barred or crash, for china and other ware, at
+the same price, with 3 roller towels at 10 cents per yard; while last,
+but by no means least, come the dozen neatly hemmed cheesecloth dusters
+at 5 cents a yard, for men must work and women must sweep&mdash;and dust!
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap06"></A>
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER VI
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE KITCHEN
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The old condition of "Queen-Anne-in-the-front-and-Mary-Ann-in-the-back"
+in the home furnishing, when the largest outlay of money and taste was
+put into the "front room" and the kitchen took the hindermost, has
+gradually given way before the fact that a woman is known, not by the
+drawing-room, but by the kitchen, she keeps.  Given the requisite
+qualifications for the proper furnishing, care, and ordering of her
+kitchen, and it can usually be said of her with truth that she is
+mistress of the entire home-making and home-keeping situation.  If any
+one room in the home was conceived solely for the relief of man's
+estate, that room is the kitchen, and it has supplied the energy which
+has sent forth many a one to fight a winning battle with the world, the
+flesh, and the devil; and while it is, alas, too true that it is the
+rock upon which many a domestic ship has gone to pieces, it is the true
+foundation of the home and, therefore, of the nation.  Wherefore let us
+first look well to our kitchens and then live up to them.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE PLAN
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The kitchen of our grandmothers was a large, rambling affair, with
+numerous storerooms, closets, and pantries, the care of which involved
+a stupendous outlay of time and strength.  But the demands of our
+modern and more strenuous life necessitate strict economy of both, and
+the result is a kitchen sufficiently large for all practical purposes,
+with every space utilized and everything convenient to the hand.  The
+amount of woodwork is reduced to a minimum, since wood is a harboring
+place for insects and germs.  Where it must be used it is of hard wood,
+or of pine painted and varnished, the varnish destroying those
+qualities in paint which are deleterious to health.  The plumbing must
+be open, with no dark corners in which dust may hide.  Odors from
+cooking pass out through a register in the chimney, and ventilation is
+afforded by transom and window.  Blessed indeed is the kitchen with
+opposite windows, which insure a perfect circulation of air.  So much
+for the general working plan.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+LOCATION AND FINISH
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+For some reason best known to themselves architects almost invariably
+give to the kitchen the location with the least agreeable outlook, sun
+and scenery being seemingly designed for the exclusive use of living
+and dining rooms; whereas the housekeeper realizes the great value of
+the sun as an aid to sanitation and as a soul strengthener, and wishes
+that its beneficent influence might be shed over kitchen, cook, and
+cookery.  But the frequent impossibility of this only increases the
+necessity for simulating sunshine within, and so we select cream white,
+warm, light grays or browns, Indian red, or bronze green&mdash;which is
+particularly good with oak woodwork&mdash;for walls and ceilings.
+Waterproof paper may be used, but is not particularly durable.  Far
+better is the enameled paint, requiring three coats, or painted burlap.
+Or our thoughts may turn with longing to a white-tiled kitchen, with
+its air of spotless purity, but, too often, "beyond the reach of you
+and me."  Why not substitute for it the white marbled oilcloth which
+produces much the same effect, and can be smoothly fitted if a little
+glue is added to the paste with which it is put on?  A combination of
+white woodwork with blue walls and ceiling is charming, particularly
+where the blue-enameled porcelain-lined cooking utensils are used, and
+the same idea can be carried out in the floor covering.  White with
+yellow is also dainty.  Calcimine is not desirable in the kitchen, as
+it cannot be cleaned and is, therefore, unsanitary.  Two tablespoonfuls
+of kerosene added to the cleaning water will keep woodwork, walls, and
+ceilings fresh and glossy.  A long-handled mopholder fitted with a
+coarse carriage sponge will facilitate the cleaning of the latter.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-114"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-114.jpg" ALT="The kitchen." BORDER="2" WIDTH="560" HEIGHT="385">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: The kitchen.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE FLOOR
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Despite the fact that we are enjoined to "look up, not down," the floor
+seems to be the focal point to anyone entering the kitchen, and it
+becomes a source of pride or humiliation to the occupant according to
+its condition.  A beautiful, snowy hardwood floor, "clean enough to eat
+on," is a delight, but it has such an insatiable appetite for spots
+after the newness has worn off that it requires frequent
+scrubbing&mdash;twice a week at least&mdash;and on a dry day, if possible, with
+doors and windows opened during the operation, all of which means
+energy misapplied.  To be sure, the new "colonial" cotton-rag rugs,
+woven in harmony with the general color scheme, protect the floor and
+help to relieve the strain of much standing, and can he washed and
+dried as satisfactorily as any piece of cotton cloth; while raw oil,
+applied with a soft cloth or a handful of waste every two months, will
+keep the floor in good condition.  But the housekeeper who chooses the
+better part covers her floor with linoleum at comparatively small cost,
+a piece good both in quality and design selling at 60 cents a square
+yard.  In this, too, the color idea can be carried out, the smaller
+designs being preferable.  Neutral tints follow wood-carpeting designs,
+are neat, and less apt to soil than the lighter patterns.  It is a wise
+plan in buying to allow enough linoleum for three smaller pieces to be
+placed before stove, table, and sink, thus saving wear and tear on the
+large piece.  Thus covered, the floor is easily cleaned with a damp
+cloth.  It must be thoroughly swept once a day, followed by a general
+dusting of the room, with brushings up between times.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE WINDOWS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Kitchen windows must he washed once a week&mdash;oftener in fly time.  A
+dainty valance, or sash curtains of muslin, dimity, or other summer
+wash goods, give an attractive and homey touch to the room.  Each
+window should have a shade with a double fixture, fastened at the
+middle of the casement and adjusted upward and below from that point.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE SINK
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The sink, unless it is porcelain-lined, should be kept well painted and
+enameled, white being preferable to any color.  Faucets can be kept
+bright by rubbing with whiting and alcohol, followed by a vigorous
+polishing with a bit of flannel.  It surely cannot be necessary to
+suggest the dangers arising from an untidy sink in which refuse of
+various kinds&mdash;tea leaves, coffee grounds, vegetable parings, and the
+like&mdash;is allowed to accumulate.  Unsanitary conditions about the sink
+not only are unsightly, but attract roaches and breed germs which are a
+menace to life and health.  The rinsing water from coffee and tea pots
+and cooking utensils should be poured into the sink strainer, which
+catches the odds and ends of refuse and keeps them from clogging the
+drain pipe.  Grease must never be poured into the sink, nor dish nor
+cleaning cloths used after they are worn enough to shed lint.  Boiling
+water and ammonia should be poured down the drain pipe once a day,
+which treatment must be supplemented once a week with a dose of
+disinfectant&mdash;chloride of lime, copperas, or potash in boiling water.
+An occasional inspection by a plumber makes assurance doubly sure that
+the condition of the drain pipe is as it should be.  All refuse ought
+to be burned at once or put into a covered garbage can and disposed of
+as soon as possible.  The can itself must be scalded every day with sal
+soda water, thoroughly dried, and lined with thick, clean paper.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE PANTRY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The same treatment accorded the kitchen in decoration and care must be
+bestowed also upon the pantry, which should be dry and well ventilated.
+After a thorough scrubbing with soap and water, with the aid of a dish
+mop rinse the shelves with boiling water, dry carefully, and cover with
+plain white paper, using the ornamental shelf paper for the edges.
+White table oilcloth makes a good covering, and comes specially
+prepared with a fancy border for that purpose.  The convenient pantry
+is equipped with both shelves and drawers, the latter to contain the
+neatly folded piles of dish, glass, and hand towels, cheesecloth
+dusters, holders, and cleaning cloths.  There are usually four shelves,
+the top one being reserved for articles of infrequent use.  On the
+others are arranged the kitchen dishes, pans, and all utensils which do
+not hang, together with jars and cans containing food.  Leave nothing
+in paper bags or boxes to attract insects, soil the shelves, and give a
+disorderly appearance to an otherwise tidy pantry.  Glass fruit jars
+are desirable repositories for small dry groceries&mdash;tea, coffee, rice,
+tapioca, raisins, currants, and the like&mdash;though very dainty and
+serviceable covered porcelain jars in blue and white are made
+especially for this purpose, those of medium size costing 25 cents
+each, the smaller ones less, the larger more.  Jars or cans of japanned
+tin, designed for like use, are less expensive, but also less
+attractive, and in the course of time are liable to rust, particularly
+in summer, or where the climate is at all damp.  The shelves should be
+wiped off and regulated once a week, and crockery and utensils kept as
+bright and shining as plenty of soap and hot water can make them.  The
+pantry requires special care during the summer, when dust and flies are
+prone to corrupt its spotlessness.  A wall pocket hung on the door will
+be found a convenient dropping place for twine, scissors, and papers.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+INSECTS AND THEIR EXTERMINATION
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+It is not just pleasant to associate cockroaches and ants with our
+kitchens and pantries, but where heat and moisture and food are, there
+insects will be also, for they seem to enjoy a taste of high life and
+to thrive on it.  Keep the house clean, dry, and well aired, and all
+dish and cleaning cloths sweet and fresh by washing and drying
+immediately after use, with a weekly boiling in borax water; dispose
+carefully of all food, and then wage a war of extermination.  This is
+all that will avail in an insect-infested house.  Hunt out, if
+possible, the nests or breeding places of ants and saturate with
+boiling water or with kerosene.  Wash all woodwork, shelves, and
+drawers with carbolic-acid water and inject it into any crack or
+opening where the pests appear.  It has been suggested that ants can be
+kept out of drawers and closets by a "dead line" drawn with a brush
+dipped in corrosive sublimate one ounce, muriate of ammonia two ounces,
+and water one pint, while a powder of tartar emetic, dissolved in a
+saucer of water, seems to be effective in driving them away.  Sponges
+wet with sweetened water attract them in large numbers, and when full
+should be plunged in boiling water.  Another successful "trap" is a
+plate thinly spread with lard, this also to be dropped into boiling
+water when filled.  In order to protect the table from an invasion
+stand the legs in dishes of tar water to a depth of four inches.  Ants
+have a decided distaste for the odors of pennyroyal and oil of cedar, a
+few drops of either on bits of cotton frequently sufficing to drive
+them away entirely.  As for cockroaches, there appear to be almost as
+many "exterminators" as there are housewives; but what is their poison
+in one home seems to make them wax and grow fat in another.  Borax and
+powdered sugar, scattered thickly over shelves and around baseboards
+and sink, is a favorite remedy with many, but it is an unsightly mess,
+particularly in summer, when the sugar melts and becomes sticky.  After
+all, experience has demonstrated that the one really effectual method
+of extermination is to besiege the roaches in their own bailiwick&mdash;the
+pipes and woodwork about the sink&mdash;with a large bellows filled with a
+good, reliable insect powder.  Exit roaches!
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE REFRIGERATOR AND ITS CARE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The refrigerator may or may not stand in the pantry, according to
+convenience, or as there is sewer connection for it.  Some authorities
+maintain that there is grave danger from sewer gas where the
+refrigerator is connected directly with the sewer, and that, therefore,
+the only safe way to dispose of the waste water is to catch it in a pan
+placed beneath the refrigerator, unless the house is so built that the
+waste pipe can be continued down into the cellar and there empty its
+contents into a sink.  A good, zinc-lined refrigerator, interlined with
+charcoal, with a hundred-pound capacity, a removable ice pan, which
+facilitates cleaning, and three shelves, is to be had for $16.50.  In
+selecting a refrigerator it is well to choose one of medium size, as a
+larger one entails waste of ice, while a smaller necessitates the
+placing near together of foods which should be kept apart, as butter
+and milk with fish, fruit, etc.  If one cares to invest in the
+higher-priced refrigerators, of course those lined with tile,
+porcelain, or enamel are very desirable, as they are easily kept clean
+and do not absorb odors.  But for the average income and use, a
+first-class zinc-lined refrigerator answers every purpose.  It should
+be thoroughly cleansed, on the mornings when the ice is to be renewed,
+with hot sal soda water followed by a cold bath and a thorough drying.
+The drain pipe must not be overlooked, but given the same sal soda
+treatment, otherwise it becomes coated and a fruitful source of germs.
+If, after this has been done, a musty odor still clings about the
+refrigerator, remove the shelves and boil in the clothes boiler for
+twenty minutes.  Pieces of charcoal placed in the corners of the
+refrigerator and frequently renewed will absorb much of the odor.
+Never place warm food in the refrigerator, nor food of any kind on the
+shelves, unless it is first placed on a plate or platter.  It is
+economy to keep the ice chamber well filled, and all ice should be well
+washed before being placed therein.  Some housekeepers cover the ice,
+with newspapers or carpet.  This no doubt helps to preserve it, but it
+also keeps the cold from the food chambers.  No food and nothing
+containing it should ever be placed directly on the ice.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+FURNISHING THE KITCHEN
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+And now, having cleaned and decorated our kitchen and pantry, and
+provided for the refrigeration and partial disposal of our food,
+suppose we turn our attention to the fascinating task of selecting the
+different parts of the machinery which turns out that finished
+masterpiece&mdash;a perfect meal&mdash;bearing in mind in the meantime that the
+saying, "Art is the expression of joy in one's work," applies to
+nothing more truly than to the art of cookery, and that no tools
+necessary to its perfect success nor to her comfort and convenience
+should be denied that master artist, the cook, be she mistress or maid.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE STOVE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Of paramount importance is, of course, the stove, and what kind it
+shall be, whether gas, coal, or oil.  Those of us who have grown
+accustomed to the immunity from those inevitable accompaniments of a
+coal range, ashes, soot, dust, and heat, afforded by the gas range,
+with its easily regulated broiler and oven, could hardly be persuaded
+to go back to first principles, as it were, and the coal range.  But
+when this is necessary, either for warmth or because there is no gas
+connection in the house, one has a wide choice of first-class stoves
+and can hardly go astray in selecting one.  Twenty-one dollars will buy
+a good, durable stove with all modern improvements and a large oven.  A
+stove with the same capacity but manufactured under a world-famous name
+sells for $32, while between the two in price is one at $28.  Two firms
+manufacture, in connection with their regular line of ranges, a
+three-plate gas stove which can be attached directly to the range, and
+sells for $6.  A portable steel oven, covering two burners, for use on
+gas and oil stoves alike, adds to the convenience of the gas plate, and
+sells for $2.  If a gas range is desired, an excellent one with a large
+oven, broiler, and all conveniences may be purchased for $18, one with
+a smaller oven for $15.  It might be well to suggest in passing that a
+small oven is poor economy.  Water backs, for both gas and coal ranges,
+are $3.50 each.  Where gas is unobtainable a three-burner wickless
+oil-stove plate will be found to give very good satisfaction, and can
+be placed on the coal range or on a table or box.  The range of the
+same capacity is $1 more, with an increase in price corresponding with
+the number of burners, until we have the five-burner stove at $11.  To
+do away with the odor which is apt to result from the use of oil as
+fuel, remove the burners, boil in sal soda water, dry thoroughly, and
+return to the stove.  In setting up a stove look carefully to it that
+the height is right, otherwise the cook's back is sure to suffer.  If
+too low, blocks can be placed under the legs to raise it to a
+comfortable height.  A whisk broom hung near the stove is useful in
+removing crumbs, dust, etc., and keeping it tidy.  A rack behind the
+stove, on which to hang the spoons and forks used in cooking, is a
+great convenience and a saving to the table top.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE TABLE AND ITS CARE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The table should stand on casters and be placed in a good light as far
+from the stove as may be.  The latest product of the manufacturer's
+genius in this line contains two drawers&mdash;one spaced off into
+compartments for the different knives, forks, and spoons for kitchen
+use&mdash;a molding board, and three zinc-lined bins, one large one for
+wheat flour, and two smaller one for graham flour, corn meal, etc.
+When one considers the economy of steps between kitchen and pantry
+which it makes possible, its price, $6.75, is not large, while it
+obviates the necessity for purchasing bins and molding board.  Our
+friend, the white table oilcloth, tacked smoothly in place, gives a
+dainty top which is easily kept clean with a damp cloth&mdash;another
+labor-saving device, which stands between cook and scrubbing brush.  A
+zinc table cover is preferred by some housewives, as it absorbs no
+grease and is readily brightened with scouring soap and hot water.
+Separate zinc-covered table tops can be had for $1.50.  The
+marble-topped table is not desirable, for, though it undoubtedly is an
+aid to the making of good pastry, it stains easily, dissolves in some
+acids, and clogs with oils.  The easiest way to keep the table clean
+and neat is simply to&mdash;keep it so.  When the mixing of cake, pudding,
+etc., is in process, a large bowl should be near at hand, and into it
+should go egg beater, spoons, and forks when the cook is through using
+them, after which they, with all other soiled utensils, should be
+carried to the sink, washed, dried, and put away.  Never lay eggshells
+upon the table nor allow anything to dry on the utensils.  If, as
+occasionally happens even in the best-regulated kitchens, one is baking
+in too great a hurry to observe all these precautions, a heavy paper
+spread on the table will catch all the droppings and can be rolled up
+and burned.  Jars containing sugar, spices, etc., which have been in
+use, should be wiped with a damp cloth before returning to the pantry.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE CHAIRS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The first aid to the cook should be at least one comfortable chair,
+neither a rocking chair nor one upholstered, both of which are out of
+place in the kitchen; but one low enough to rest in easily while
+shelling peas or doing some of the numerous tasks which do not require
+the use of the table.  A chair of this kind has a cane seat and high
+back and can be purchased for $1.25, the other chair to be of the
+regulation kitchen style at 55 cents.  The second aid is a 24-inch
+office stool at 85 cents, for use while washing dishes, preparing
+vegetables, etc.  This sort of a stool is light, easily moved about,
+and means a great saving in strength.  Though it has sometimes been
+dubbed a "nuisance" by the uninitiated, the woman who has learned its
+value finds it a very present help and wonders how she ever did without
+it.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE KITCHEN CABINET
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Occasionally it happens that a house is built with such slight regard
+for pantry room that we are constrained to wonder if, at the last
+minute, the pantry was not tucked into a little space for which there
+was absolutely no other use, and there left to be a means of grace to
+the thrifty housewife, whose pride it is to see her pots and pans in
+orderly array and with plenty of room to shine in.  At this point there
+comes to her rescue the kitchen cabinet, which not only relieves the
+congestion in the pantry, but adds in no small measure to the
+attractiveness of the kitchen.  These cabinets come in the natural
+woods, and should, as nearly as possible, match the woodwork of the
+kitchen.  Many have the satin finish which renders them impervious to
+grease, and all are fitted out with molding boards, shelves, cupboards,
+and drawers of various sizes.  So convenient is a cabinet of this kind,
+and so economical of steps, that it might well be called "the complete
+housewife."  First and foremost, it accommodates the kitchen dishes,
+plates, platters, and saucers, standing on edge of course, with cups
+hanging from small hooks, and pitchers, bowls, etc., variously
+arranged.  Then come the jars of spice, sugar, salt, tea, and
+coffee&mdash;all groceries, in fact, which are in most frequent use.  Where
+the decorative design in both jars and dishes is carried out in the
+blue and white, with a utensil or two of the same coloring, the effect
+is truly charming, though this is, of course, a matter of individual
+taste.  The cupboards are handy hiding places for the less ornamental
+bottles, brushes, etc., while the base, which is really nothing more
+nor less than a very complete kitchen table, usually has a shelf for
+kettles, stone jars, etc.  A good cabinet can be had for $10, a more
+commodious one for $16, and so on.  The cabinets without bases range
+from a tiny one, just large enough to hold six spice jars, at $1, to
+one, with five drawers, shelves, and cupboards with glass doors, for
+$6.  Any price beyond this simply means elaboration of design without
+additional increase of capacity or convenience.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+KITCHEN UTENSILS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+In selecting dishes and cooking utensils it is well to remember that
+cheapness does not always spell economy, and that one buys not alone
+for the present, but for the future as well.  Utensils which require
+scouring are not economical, either, for scouring is friction, and
+"friction means loss of energy."  Scouring has gone out with the heavy
+ironware which required it, in whose stead we have the pretty porcelain
+enamel ware and the less expensive agate ware, both of which need only
+a thorough washing in hot, soapy water, rinsing in boiling water, and
+careful drying.  Ware of this kind helps to produce the kitchen
+restful, and so, indirectly, the cook rested.  A well-cared-for kitchen
+is always more or less attractive, but why not make it rather more so
+than less?  Taste and harmony add nothing to the expense of furnishing,
+and there is a certain dignity and inspiration, as well as
+satisfaction, in being able to "bring forth butter in a lordly dish."
+Kitchen crockery is being rapidly supplanted by the porcelain enamel
+dishes, which, though rather more expensive in the beginning, are
+unbreakable, and so cheaper in the long run.  They are even invading
+the domain of the faithful yellow mixing bowl and becoming decidedly
+popular therein, being light in weight and more easily handled.  The
+complete equipment of the kitchen is a more costly operation than one
+is apt to imagine, individual items amounting comparatively to so
+little.  But the sum total is usually a rather surprising figure.  And
+so, remembering that Rome was not built in a day, carefully select
+those things which are really the essentials of every day, adding the
+useful non-essentials bit by bit.  The size and number of utensils must
+be governed by the size of the family in which they are to be used.
+Never buy anything of copper for kitchen use, as the rust to which it
+is liable is a dangerous poison.  There is one utensil only which is
+better to be of iron&mdash;the soup kettle&mdash;as it makes possible the slow
+simmering which is necessary for good soups and stews.  It is not worth
+while to buy knives of anything but wrought steel, which are best
+cleaned with pumice stone.  Cheesecloth for fish bags and strainers,
+and strong cotton for pudding bags must not be overlooked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And so, with kitchen complete, artistic, and satisfactory in every
+detail, it remains but to emphasize two facts&mdash;that perfect cleanliness
+is absolutely essential to health, and that she who looketh well to the
+ways of her kitchen eateth not the bread of idleness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The following list may be too extensive for some purposes, not suited
+to others, but out of it the new housekeeper can select what she thinks
+her establishment will need, and estimate the price of stocking her
+kitchen with those necessaries which make for good housekeeping:
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="table">
+1 dozen individual jelly molds........................ $0.60<BR>
+1 griddle.............................................   .35<BR>
+1 small funnel........................................   .03<BR>
+ 1 large funnel........................................   .06<BR>
+ 1 gas toaster.........................................   .55<BR>
+ 1 coal toaster........................................   .08<BR>
+ 1 gas broiler.........................................   .65<BR>
+ 1 coal broiler........................................   .32<BR>
+ 1 six-quart iron soup kettle..........................  1.50<BR>
+ 1 skimmer.............................................   .14<BR>
+ 1 small ladle.........................................   .09<BR>
+ 1 porcelain enamel dipper.............................   .40<BR>
+ 1 porcelain enamel sink strainer......................   .40<BR>
+ 1 towel rack..........................................   .10<BR>
+ 1 clock...............................................  1.00<BR>
+ 1 purée sieve, with pestle............................   .18<BR>
+ 2 galvanized iron refrigerator pans...................   .50<BR>
+ 1 dozen dish towels...................................  1.20<BR>
+ 6 dishcloths..........................................   .30<BR>
+ 1 set of scales.......................................   .95<BR>
+ 1 vegetable slicer....................................   .25<BR>
+ 2 butter paddles......................................   .12<BR>
+ 1 can opener..........................................   .08<BR>
+ 1 potato ricer........................................   .25<BR>
+ 1 apple corer.........................................   .05<BR>
+ 1 chopping bowl.......................................   .15<BR>
+ 1 tea kettle..........................................  1.05<BR>
+ 1 ice pick............................................   .12<BR>
+ 1 pair scissors.......................................   .23<BR>
+ 1 scrub brush.........................................   .20<BR>
+ 1 sink brush..........................................   .08<BR>
+ 1 mop handle..........................................   .38<BR>
+ 1 oil can.............................................   .35<BR>
+ 1 whisk broom.........................................   .15<BR>
+ 1 small porcelain enamel pitcher......................   .26<BR>
+ 1 two-quart porcelain enamel pitcher..................   .55<BR>
+ 1 cake turner.........................................   .08<BR>
+ 1 porcelain enamel wash basin.........................   .28<BR>
+ 1 potato scoop........................................   .18<BR>
+ 1 towel roller........................................   .10<BR>
+ 1 rolling-pin.........................................   .15<BR>
+ 1 four-quart porcelain enamel saucepan, with cover....   .57<BR>
+ 1 eight-quart porcelain enamel bread bowl.............   .72<BR>
+ 1 gravy strainer......................................   .18<BR>
+ 1 nutmeg grater.......................................   .09<BR>
+ 1 spatula.............................................   .25<BR>
+ 1 egg beater..........................................   .10<BR>
+ 1 dish mop............................................   .05<BR>
+ 2 iron baking pans....................................   .20<BR>
+ 1 collander...........................................   .35<BR>
+ 1 ten-inch porcelain enamel bowl......................   .35<BR>
+ 2 eight-inch porcelain enamel bowls...................   .48<BR>
+ 3 five-inch porcelain enamel bowls....................   .33<BR>
+ 1 fryer and basket....................................  1.50<BR>
+ 4 bread pans..........................................   .60<BR>
+ 1 two-quart double boiler.............................   .95<BR>
+ 2 dish pans (agate)...................................  1.10<BR>
+ 1 omelet pan..........................................   .10<BR>
+ 1 porcelain enamel teapot.............................   .65<BR>
+ 1 porcelain enamel coffeepot..........................   .85<BR>
+ 6 porcelain enamel plates.............................   .78<BR>
+ 1 porcelain enamel platter............................   .40<BR>
+ 1 porcelain enamel platter (small)....................   .35<BR>
+ 6 porcelain enamel cups and saucers...................  1.14<BR>
+ Dredging boxes for salt, pepper, and flour............   .35<BR>
+ 3 pie tins. ..........................................   .12<BR>
+ 1 galvanized iron garbage can, with cover.............   .50<BR>
+ 1 large dripping pan..................................   .17<BR>
+ 1 small dripping pan..................................   .15<BR>
+ 1 lemon squeezer......................................   .05<BR>
+ 1 molding board.......................................   .40<BR>
+ 4 layer-cake tins.....................................   .16<BR>
+ 2 porcelain sugar jars................................   .50<BR>
+ 6 porcelain spice jars................................   .60<BR>
+ 1 half-pint tin cup...................................   .05<BR>
+ 1 six-quart milk pan..................................   .23<BR>
+ 1 four-quart milk pan.................................   .17<BR>
+ 3 wrought-steel knives................................   .48<BR>
+ 3 wrought-steel forks.................................   .48<BR>
+ 1 egg spoon...........................................   .08<BR>
+ 1 dozen muffin rings..................................   .46<BR>
+ 1 biscuit pan.........................................   .25<BR>
+ 1 round fluted cake tin...............................   .12<BR>
+ 2 basting spoons......................................   .24<BR>
+ 6 kitchen knives......................................   .50<BR>
+ 6 kitchen forks.......................................   .50<BR>
+ 6 kitchen teaspoons...................................   .48<BR>
+ 3 kitchen tablespoons.................................   .15<BR>
+ 3 asbestos mats.......................................   .15<BR>
+ 1 chopping knife......................................   .20<BR>
+ 1 wire dishcloth......................................   .12<BR>
+ 1 flour scoop.........................................   .19<BR>
+ 1 sugar scoop.........................................   .10<BR>
+ 1 meat grinder........................................  1.50<BR>
+ 1 soap shaker.........................................   .10<BR>
+ 1 flour sifter........................................   .25<BR>
+ 1 coffee mill.........................................   .50<BR>
+ 2 measuring cups......................................   .15<BR>
+ 1 meat fork...........................................   .09<BR>
+ 1 larding needle......................................   .10<BR>
+ 2 brooms..............................................   .60<BR>
+ 1 long-handled hair broom.............................  1.45<BR>
+ 1 dustpan.............................................   .12<BR>
+ 1 scouring box........................................   .50<BR>
+ 1 draining rack.......................................   .10<BR>
+ 1 bread knife.........................................   .25<BR>
+ 1 cake knife..........................................   .20<BR>
+ 1 meat knife .........................................   .55<BR>
+ 1 peeling knife.......................................   .10<BR>
+ 1 bread box...........................................   .70<BR>
+ 1 cake box............................................   .70<BR>
+ 1 three-quart porcelain enamel saucepan...............   .36<BR>
+ 1 oblong loaf-cake tin................................   .15<BR>
+ 1 jelly mold..........................................   .30<BR>
+ 1 wooden spoon........................................   .05<BR>
+ 1 salt box............................................   .25<BR>
+ 1 pepper box..........................................   .10<BR>
+ 1 graduated quart measure.............................   .16<BR>
+ 3 small vegetable brushes.............................   .15<BR>
+ 1 dozen glass fruit jars..............................   .60<BR>
+ 2 two-quart porcelain enamel saucepans................  1.00<BR>
+ 1 grater..............................................   .18<BR>
+ 1 paper scrub pail....................................   .25<BR>
+ 2 two-quart agate pans................................   .36
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap07"></A>
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER VII
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE LAUNDRY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+What visions of dampness and disorder, of air malodorous with steam and
+soap, of meals delayed and hurriedly prepared, of tempers ruffled and
+the domestic machinery all disarranged and the discomforts of home
+prominently in the foreground, are called forth by that magic
+word&mdash;washday!  And yet, maligned though it be, it really is the day of
+all the week the best; for does it not minister more than any one other
+to our comfort and self-respect and general well-being?  It may be
+"blue Monday" or blue Tuesday or blue any-other-day, but we very soon
+come out of the azure when it is achieved and we find ourselves
+entering upon another week's enjoyment of that virtue which is akin to
+godliness.  In the brief interim of upheaval we may possibly wish we
+could hark back to the days of the "forty-niner," who solved his
+individual problem of personal cleanliness by simply dropping his
+soiled clothing into a boiling spring, where it was turned and churned
+and twisted and finally flung out, a clean and purified testimonial to
+Mother Nature's ability as a laundress.  Or perhaps the pretty pastoral
+of the peasant girl knee deep in the brook, rubbing her household linen
+on the stones, hath even greater charms.  But the trouble is that we
+are neither "forty-niners" nor peasants, but just plain, latter-day
+housekeepers with a laundry problem to face, and finding that it, like
+most other problems, is best solved by attacking it boldly,
+systematically, and according to certain fixed rules.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-138"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-138.jpg" ALT="The laundry." BORDER="2" WIDTH="550" HEIGHT="391">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: The laundry.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+LAUNDRY REQUISITES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The home laundry must be well ventilated and lighted, and in the
+basement if possible, for obvious reasons, the chief being the relief
+thus afforded to the otherwise congested kitchen and overburdened
+kitchen stove, while at the same time one other menace to health&mdash;the
+steam generated by the washing and drying&mdash;is removed from the main
+part of the house.  It is highly essential that the laundry be properly
+and completely equipped for the work of washing, boiling, drying, and
+ironing.  Stationary tubs are much to be desired, those porcelain-lined
+being more sanitary than either soapstone, which has a tendency to
+absorb grease, or wood, which absorbs the uncleanness from the soiled
+linen.  It is especially necessary that the tubs be as impervious as
+possible when the linen is soaked overnight.  If tubs are to be bought,
+the paper ones have a decided advantage over the more well-known cedar
+ones in being much lighter and consequently more easily handled, with
+only a slight difference in price.  It seems so well worth while to
+minimize the strain of heavy lifting when and wherever one can, since
+washing at best involves much hard work and fatigue.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE STOVE AND FURNISHINGS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The stove for laundry use may be either gas, oil, or coal, the latter
+being considered the most economical of fuel, while it often comes in
+very handy in the preparation of foods which require long stewing or
+simmering.  The wringer should be of medium size, either wooden or
+iron-framed, the former having the advantage of lightness, the latter
+of strength.  The screws must be loosened after each washing and
+thoroughly dried.  Any particles of rust can be removed with kerosene.
+The following list gives a very fair idea of the essentials of the
+well-furnished laundry, and their cost:
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="table">
+ 2 paper tubs................................ $2.40<BR>
+ 1 wringer...................................  3.75<BR>
+ 1 block-tin boiler with copper bottom.......  2.15<BR>
+ 1 washboard.................................   .25<BR>
+ 1 paper pail................................   .25<BR>
+ 1 long-handled starch spoon.................   .08<BR>
+ 1 long-handled dipper.......................   .12<BR>
+ 1 set clothes bars .........................   .95<BR>
+ 1 wash bench ...............................   .75<BR>
+ 1 fifty-foot hemp line......................   .20<BR>
+ 1 ironing board, or ) ......................   .95<BR>
+ 1 skirt-board&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ) ......................   .50<BR>
+ 3 Mrs. Potts' nickel-plated irons...........  2.85<BR>
+ 1 sleeve and ruffle iron....................   .35<BR>
+ 1 iron rest.................................   .08<BR>
+ 1 clothes stick.............................   .10<BR>
+ 1 clothes basket............................   .80<BR>
+ 5 dozen clothespins.........................   .10<BR>
+ 2 pieces beeswax............................   .05
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+IRONS AND HOLDERS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+If the ordinary flatirons are preferred, they may be had at 5 cents a
+pound.  They require, of course, the use of a good, stout holder,
+asbestos covered with ticking affording the best protection to the
+hand.  Slip cases are nice for use of this kind, as they can be taken
+off and washed.  Pad the ironing board with Canton flannel or a coarse
+blanket, then draw tightly over it a white cotton cloth and fasten on
+the under side.  The padding must be absolutely smooth and without a
+wrinkle.  And there must be a piece of cheesecloth with which to wipe
+possible dust from the line, a scrubbing brush for the cleaning-up
+process which closes the washing drama, and the various preparations
+used to remove stains and assist in the cleansing of the linen and
+clothing&mdash;borax, starch, bluing, ammonia, oxalic acid, soda, kerosene,
+turpentine, etc.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PREPARING THE "WASH"
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+With all the "properties" in readiness, the fire burning well, and
+plenty of hot water to draw upon, the curtain rises on the laundress
+sorting the flannels, table linen, fine underwear, towels, and bed
+linen, colored clothes and stockings into separate piles, each to be
+disposed of in its turn, from fine articles down through to coarse,
+laying aside any which have stains.  These stains she removes in a
+variety of ways, according to their nature, but removed they must be
+before going into the tub, where, in most instances, the hot suds will
+render them ineradicable, although it has the reverse effect on dirt.
+It is a wise plan to mark, with a black thread before putting in the
+wash, any stains which are apt to be overlooked by the laundress, and
+those on large pieces, such as bedspreads.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+REMOVING STAINS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The removal of stains from white goods is comparatively easy.  Fruit
+and wine stains are removed by stretching the fabric over a bowl and
+pouring boiling water through the stain, repeating until it disappears.
+Boiling milk is sometimes applied successfully to wine stains in the
+same way.  A thick layer of salt rubbed into the stained portion and
+followed with the boiling-water treatment is also effective.  Obstinate
+fruit stains yield to a thorough moistening with lemon, a good rubbing
+with salt (a combination which is to be found all prepared at the drug
+store under the name of Salts of Lemon), and the application of boiling
+water.  When nothing else avails, immerse the stained portion in a weak
+solution of Javelle water&mdash;one half cup to one pail of boiling
+water&mdash;allow it to soak a few minutes, and then rinse thoroughly.
+Javelle water can be procured of the druggist, but is as well prepared
+at home by dissolving four pounds of ordinary washing soda in one
+gallon of water, boiling ten minutes, and then adding to it one pound
+of chloride of lime.  It should be kept well corked, and resorted to in
+extreme cases alone, as it is violent in its action on the clothes.
+For this reason special care must be given to rinsing after its use.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Tea and coffee stains usually surrender to boiling water, but if they
+prove obdurate rub in a little powdered borax and pour on more boiling
+water.  Chocolate stains can be removed in the same way.  Sprinkling
+the stain with borax and soaking first in cold water facilitates the
+action of the boiling water.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Rub iron rust with lemon and salt, and lay in the sun, repeating until
+the spot disappears.  This is usually all that is necessary, but if the
+stain is very stubborn, spread over a bowl containing one quart of
+water and one teaspoonful of borax.  Apply hydrochloric acid, drop by
+drop, to the stain until it brightens, then dip at once into the water.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If an ink stain is fresh, soak in milk, renewing the milk when it
+becomes discolored.  If very dry and well set use lemon and salt or the
+Javelle-water treatment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mildew, which results from allowing damp clothes to lie in the basket
+for a length of time, is obstinate and difficult to remove.  Boil in
+salted buttermilk; or wet with lemon juice and stand in the sun.  If
+these treatments are ineffectual, resort to diluted oxalic acid or
+Javelle water, a careful rinsing to follow the application.  Grass
+stains may be treated in a like manner, or washed in alcohol.  Ammonia
+and water, applied while the stain is fresh, will often remove it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Remove paint stains with benzene or turpentine, machine oil with cold
+water and Ivory soap, vaseline with turpentine.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Peroxide of hydrogen applied to blood stains while they are still moist
+causes them to disappear at once.  Soaking in cold water till the
+stains turn brown, then washing in warm water with soap is the usual
+treatment.  If the stain is on thick goods, make a paste of raw starch
+and apply several times.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Pencil marks on linen should be rubbed off with an eraser, as hot water
+sets them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Soap and water is the best agent for removing stains from colored
+goods, <I>provided the color is fast</I>.  Moisten the article, soap the
+stain, and after a few minutes wash alternately with oil of turpentine
+and water.  If not satisfactorily removed make a mixture of yolk of egg
+and oil of turpentine, spread on the stain, allow to dry, scrape off,
+and wash thoroughly in hot water.  Tampering with stains on garments
+which are not warranted "fast color" is very risky, and often leaves
+the second state of the garments worse than the first.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SOAKING AND WASHING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The prologue of sorting the clothes and removing the stains being at an
+end, we are ready for the real "business" of the wash day&mdash;the washing
+itself&mdash;unless the laundress prefers to soak the clothes overnight.  If
+so, dampen, soap well, particularly the most soiled spots, roll up and
+pack in the bottom of the tub, pour over tepid water, and leave till
+morning.  Only the bed and body linen need be subjected to this
+treatment, as the table linen is rarely sufficiently soiled to require
+it, and the colored clothes and the stockings must never, under any
+circumstances, be allowed to stay in water beyond the time necessary to
+wash and rinse them.  The water, if only hard water be obtainable, may
+be softened by the addition of a little ammonia or borax.  Water which
+has been discolored by soil after heavy rains or by the repairing of
+water pipes, should be strained through Canton flannel before use.
+After soaking, the linen should be put through the wringer, which will
+take away much of the soil with the water, and then washed.  As to the
+way in which this should be done there are various opinions, most
+methods in use by experienced laundresses being reliable.  Each,
+however, usually has her favorite method of procedure which it is
+perhaps as well to allow her to follow.  Pity 'tis, 'tis true, that
+many housekeepers are so ignorant of how the wash-day programme should
+really be conducted that they are incapable of directing the
+incompetent laundress.  The mistress of the house needs also to be
+mistress of the laundry, guiding operations there as elsewhere, seeing
+to it that body and table linens are not washed together, flannels
+boiled, clothing rotted by overindulgence in sal soda, nor any other
+crimes committed against law and order in the laundry.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+WASHING POWDERS AND SOAP
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+If bleaches of any kind are to be used&mdash;washing powders, sal soda,
+borax, and the like&mdash;it must be in either the soaking water or the
+boiler, and <I>very</I> sparingly.  Indeed, the use of bleaches at any time
+is a custom more honored in the breach than the observance.  Though
+there is no hard-and-fast rule as to the order of precedence, it is
+well to wash the woolens first, after shaking them free from lint and
+dust.  Prepare two tubs of lukewarm suds, the second very light, adding
+a little borax dissolved in boiling water to each.  Never apply soap
+directly to the flannel, nor rub on a board, which mats the wool, but
+rub with the hands, squeezing and dipping up and down in the first
+water till clean, rinse in the second water, which should be of about
+the same temperature as the first, put through the wringer, shake well,
+pull into shape, and hang in the shade to dry.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+WASHING WOOLENS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Woolens must never hang in the sun nor near the fire, as the too-quick
+drying causes them to shrink and harden.  When nearly dry, press on the
+wrong side with a moderately hot iron.  The rinsing water may be used
+for the first cotton wash.  If both colored and white flannels are to
+be washed, the former should be done first, thus avoiding the lint
+washed from the latter.  Drying can be accelerated by pressing
+repeatedly between soft cloths.  If the ordinary washing fails to
+remove any of the spots, spread on a smooth board and rub with a soft,
+wet, soapy brush.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+WASHING THE WHITE CLOTHES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Next comes the washing of the table linen, then the body linen, and
+then the bed linen, the process for each being the same, though the
+table linen requires the least rubbing.  Wash in hot water in which the
+hand can be comfortably borne, soaping each piece well before it is
+rubbed, and paying particular attention to the hems of the sheets; drop
+into a second tub of clear, hot water, rinse, and wring into a boiler
+about half filled with cold water to which has been added one
+tablespoon of kerosene and sufficient soap chips to produce a good
+suds.  Bring the water to a boil and boil ten minutes, stirring
+occasionally with the clothes stick, Too long boiling yellows the
+clothes, and crowding the boiler is to be avoided.  From the boiler the
+clothes are lifted to a tub of clear, cold water, thoroughly rinsed,
+transferred to the tub of bluing water where they are well and evenly
+saturated, wrung out, and those which are not to be starched hung on
+the line where sun and breeze are most active.  The bluing must be
+thoroughly mixed with the water.  Clothes which have been carefully
+washed and rinsed need but little bluing.  Hang sheets and tablecloths
+out straight and stretch the selvages even.  Pillowcases should be hung
+by the seam opposite the hem.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+STARCH
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Prepare the starch by dissolving one half cup of starch in cold water,
+pour on this one quart of boiling water, and boil till clear and white,
+stirring constantly.  When nearly ready to take from the stove add a
+little borax, lard, butter, or white wax.  A teaspoonful of granulated
+sugar is believed by many to be the most desirable addition.  This will
+be of the right consistency for ordinary articles&mdash;skirts, aprons, etc.
+The same degree of strength in starch will not suit all kinds of
+fabrics, collars, cuffs, etc., requiring the stronger solution made by
+doubling the amount of starch; thin lawns and other fine materials the
+weaker produced by doubling the amount of water.  Dip each article in
+the hot starch, those requiring the most stiffening being dipped first,
+because it is necessary to thin the starch.  See that the starch is
+evenly distributed, press out as much as possible with the hands, put
+through the wringer, shake out all creases, and pin evenly on the line.
+Additional stiffness is given by dipping the already starched and dried
+article in raw starch, which is made by moistening a handful of starch
+in a quart of cold water and rubbing in enough Ivory or other fine
+white soap to produce a very slight suds.  Squeeze out the superfluous
+moisture, roll in a clean white cloth, and leave for half an hour.
+Iron while still damp.  In stiffening pillowcases dilute the starch
+until it is of the consistency of milk.  Mourning starch should be used
+for black goods.  Never hang starched things out in freezing, damp, or
+windy weather.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+COLORED CLOTHES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Colored articles must be washed, starched, dried, and ironed as
+speedily as possible.  Prepare warm suds with Ivory or Castile soap and
+add to it a handful of salt to set the color.  Wash each piece through
+this, and rinse through two clear waters to which just enough vinegar
+to taste has been added, the latter to brighten the color, then stiffen
+in cool starch and hang in the shade.  When washing delicate colored
+fabrics a tablespoon of ox gall may be substituted for the salt.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+STOCKINGS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Last come the stockings, which should be washed in clean water, first
+on the right side, then on the wrong, special care being bestowed upon
+the feet.  Rinse in clear water, with a final rinsing in hot water to
+soften the fiber, and hang on the line wrong side out, toes up.  Woolen
+stockings are washed in the same way as flannels.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+DAINTY LAUNDERING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The dainty task of laundering centerpieces and doilies usually devolves
+upon their owner, unless the laundress has demonstrated her ability to
+cleanse and iron them properly.  Wash in warm Ivory or Castile
+soapsuds, squeezing, dipping, and rubbing between the hands until
+clean, rinse thoroughly&mdash;otherwise the soap will yellow&mdash;bluing the
+last rinsing water very slightly, squeeze out (never wring) as much
+moisture as possible, and hang on the line, in the shade if out of
+doors.  While still very damp lay face down on a thick flannel pad
+covered with a white cloth, and iron till dry.  If the piece is large
+it can be turned and ironed lightly on the right side where there is no
+embroidery.  Colored embroideries must never be sprinkled and rolled.
+Iron the linen of large lace-trimmed centerpieces, then lay on a bed or
+other flat surface, and stretch the lace by carefully pinning down each
+point.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The cleansing of laces is best accomplished by basting on strips of
+cheesecloth, fastening down each point, and soaking for some time in
+warm, soapy water.  Squeeze out and put into fresh soapy water,
+repeating the process until the lace is perfectly clean, then rinse in
+clear boras water&mdash;four teaspoonfuls to one pint.  Place the
+cheesecloth, lace down, on a flannel or other soft pad, and iron until
+dry.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+HOW TO WASH SILK
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Put white and light-colored silks and pongees through strong, tepid
+white soapsuds, then through a second weaker suds, rinse, press out the
+water with the hands, shake out all wrinkles, spread on a clean sheet,
+and roll tight.  Cover with a cheesecloth and iron while still damp
+with a not too hot iron.  No portion of silk should be allowed to dry
+before ironing.  If this occurs do not sprinkle, but dampen by rolling
+in a wet cloth.  In laundering pure white silk, slightly blue the
+rinsing water.  A slight firmness can be imparted to any silk by the
+addition of one teaspoon of gum arabic to each pint of the rinsing
+water.  Silk hose are laundered just as other silk, except that instead
+of being rolled they must be dried as quickly as possible and ironed
+under a damp cloth.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+WASHING BLANKETS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Do not allow blankets to become very much soiled before laundering,
+When this becomes necessary, put to soak for fifteen minutes in plain
+warm water&mdash;soft, if possible.  Then prepare a jelly with one pound of
+soap to each blanket, and boiling water, pour into a tub of warm water
+and lather well, wring the blankets from the soaking water into this
+and let soak for ten minutes, then rub between the hands, bit by bit,
+until as clean as possible, wring into the first rinsing water, which
+should be just warm, then rinse a second time in tepid water, and dry
+well without exposing to great heat.  Instead of being hung, blankets
+can be dried on curtain stretchers.  When dry rub with a piece of rough
+flannel; this makes them fluffy and soft.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+WASHING CURTAINS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Curtains and draperies should be shaken and brushed free from all the
+dust possible, before washing.  Lace curtains, and especially those
+which are very fine or much worn, need dainty and careful handling.
+Soak for an hour or two in warm water containing a little borax, then
+squeeze out the water and drop into a boiler half filled with cold
+water to which have been added one half bar of soap, shaved thin, two
+tablespoonfuls of ammonia, and one of turpentine.  Bring to a boil and
+let stand at the boiling point, without boiling, for half an hour,
+stirring occasionally with the clothes stick, rinse thoroughly, starch
+well with thick boiled starch, and stretch on frames to dry.  If frames
+are not available, pin to a carpet which has been smoothly spread with
+a clean sheet.  When a pure white is desired, add a little bluing to
+the starch water.  Water tinted with coffee will produce an écru
+effect, while tea will give a more decided hue.  Muslin curtains are
+laundered like any other fine white goods.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+TIDYING UP AND SPRINKLING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The last article being hung on the line, each implement used in the
+process of washing must be cleaned, dried, and put in its place, the
+laundry floor scrubbed, and everything made spick and span; then comes
+the sprinkling and rolling of the piles of snowy, sweet-smelling linen,
+all full of fresh air and sunshine, to make a little rest time after
+the vigorous exercise which precedes it.  It must be done with care as
+much depends upon it.  Table linen, unless taken from the line while
+still moist, should be sprinkled very damp, folded evenly, rolled and
+wrapped in a white cloth, and placed in the clothes basket, which has
+been previously lined with an old sheet.  Bed linen and towels require
+very little dampening; they, too, to be rolled and placed with the
+table linen.  Sprinkle body linen well, particularly the lace and
+embroidery trimmings, roll tight, wrap, and add to the growing pile in
+the basket.  The kitchen towels which have just come from the line may
+be utilized for wrapping purposes.  Handkerchiefs receive the same
+treatment as napkins in sprinkling, folding, and ironing.  Although
+everything irons more easily after being rolled for some time, thus
+evenly distributing the dampness, an exception must be made of colored
+clothing, which must not be sprinkled more than half an hour before it
+is ironed.  When the sprinkling is all done, cover the basket with a
+damp cloth, then with a dry one, and leave till ironing time.  If a
+coal range is in use, see that the fire is burning steadily,
+replenishing from time to time, first on one side, then on the other,
+brush off the top of the stove, wipe the irons, and put on to heat.  If
+they heat slowly, invert a large dish pan over them.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CARE OF IRONS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+When not in use, irons can be protected from dampness and resulting
+rust by covering with mutton fat or paraffine, rubbed on while slightly
+warm.  It is easily removed when the irons are wanted for use.  Rust
+spots can be removed by applying olive oil, leaving for a few days, and
+then rubbing over with unslaked lime.  Scrub with soap and water,
+rinse, dry, rub with beeswax, and wipe off with a clean cloth.  The
+soap and water treatment, followed by a vigorous rubbing on brick-dust,
+should be given frequently, irrespective of rust.  Irons must neither
+be allowed to become red-hot nor to stand on the range between usings,
+or roughness will result.  When not in use, stand on end on a shelf.
+Rubbing first with beeswax and then with a clean cloth will prevent the
+irons from sticking to the starched things.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+HOW TO IRON
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Before beginning to iron have everything in readiness&mdash;beeswax, a heavy
+paper on which to test the iron, a dish of water, and a soft cloth or a
+small sponge for dampening surfaces which have become too dry to iron
+well, or which have been poorly ironed and need doing over.  Stand the
+ironing table in the best light which can be found, with the ironing
+stand at the right and the clothes at the left, and work as rapidly as
+consistent with good results.  There is no royal road to ironing, but
+with perseverance and care the home laundress can become quite expert,
+even though she cannot hope to compete with the work turned out by
+those who do nothing but iron six days in the week.  Give the iron a
+good, steady pressure, lifting from the board as little as possible,
+and then&mdash;iron!  Take the bed linen first, giving a little extra press
+to the hems of the sheets.  Many housewives have a theory that unironed
+sheets are the more hygienic; that ironing destroys the life and
+freshness imparted by the sun and air.  Such being the case, the sheets
+can be evenly and carefully folded and put through the wringer, which
+will give them a certain smoothness.  Towels may be treated in the same
+way, while flannels, knit wear, and stockings may, if one chooses, be
+folded and put away unironed.  Table linen must be smoothed over on the
+wrong side till partially dry, and then ironed rapidly, with good hot
+irons and strong pressure on the right side, lengthwise and parallel
+with the selvage, until dry.  This brings out the pattern and imparts a
+satiny gloss to the fabric, leaving it dainty, soft, and immaculate.
+Iron all embroideries on the wrong side.  Trimmings and ruffles must be
+ironed before doing the body of the garment, going well up into the
+gathers with a light, pointed iron, carefully avoiding pressing in
+wrinkles or unexpected pleats.  Iron frills, either plain or with a
+narrow edge, on the right side to give the necessary gloss.  Bands,
+hems, and all double parts must be ironed on both sides.  Iron colored
+clothes&mdash;lawns, dimities, percales, chambrays, etc.&mdash;on the wrong side,
+with an iron not too hot, otherwise the color is apt to be injured.
+The home laundress is usually not quite equal to the task of ironing
+shirts, which would far better go to the laundry; but when done at home
+from choice or necessity, plenty of patience and muscle must be
+applied.  Iron the body of the shirt first, then draw the bosom tightly
+over a board and attack it with the regular irons, wipe over quickly
+with a damp cloth and press hard with the polishing iron.  The ironing
+of very stiffly starched articles may be facilitated by covering with
+cheesecloth and pressing until partially dry; then remove the cloth and
+iron dry.  As each piece is ironed, hang on bars or line until
+thoroughly dried and aired.  A certain amount of moisture remains; even
+after the ironing, and must be entirely removed before the final
+sorting and folding and putting away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And so the wash-day drama comes to an end.  We survey with pride and
+complaisance the piles of clean linen, shining with spotless elegance,
+and as we read therein a whole sermon on the "Gospel of Cleanliness,"
+we conclude that it is decidedly worth while, and rejoice that
+fifty-two times a year this is a "washing-day world."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap08"></A>
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER VIII
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+TABLE FURNISHINGS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The mistress no doubt has a housewifely taste for receipts, and may,
+perhaps, find the following formula of service to her in her
+home-making:
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+DINING-ROOM CHEER
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+One set of fine, spotless table linen sprinkled&mdash;not too thickly&mdash;with
+pretty glass, china, and silver, and well lightened with brightness
+tempered to the right consistency not to dazzle.  To this add a few
+sunny faces, some good conversation spiced with gayety&mdash;the
+unpalatable, distasteful portions having been previously eliminated.
+Then quietly and by degrees add food which has been carefully and
+daintily prepared and arranged.  Over all scatter little flecks of
+kindliness and courtesy till an inward glow is produced, and keep at
+this point from half an hour to an hour, or longer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This receipt may be depended upon to give satisfaction under any and
+all conditions, and is compounded of ingredients which exemplary home
+makers have always at hand.  If conscientiously followed failure is
+impossible.  "Its use is a good habit."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+STOCKING THE CHINA CUPBOARD
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Of its component parts the more substantial ones are perhaps the most
+easily acquired; not in hit-or-miss, anything-to-get-it-done fashion,
+but with a view to carrying out some definite idea of table adornment,
+which is quite the most charming part of the home building.  Dishes are
+more or less mixed up with poesy, which is full of "flowing bowls,"
+"enchanted cups," "dishes for the gods," "flagons of ale," and other
+appetizing suggestions; and it would be rather a good thing to keep the
+poetry in mind during the fitting out, that there may be nothing
+aggressively cheap nor loudly assertive, but each piece harmoniously
+congenial to its fellows.  There need be no hurry&mdash;that is one of the
+delights o' it&mdash;and the shopping may mean only "looking," for the good
+buyer believes that many dishes are to be examined but few chosen&mdash;a
+meat set here, a salad set there, a piece of cut glass somewhere
+else&mdash;here a little and there a little, with time to get acquainted
+with and enjoy each added treasure as it comes.  It is a rare
+experience, this stocking the china cupboard; one likely to be
+prolonged through one's entire housekeeping experience, thanks be!
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE GROUNDWORK
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+There is so much exquisitely patterned and inexpensive china, glass,
+and porcelain turned out these days that one cannot wander very far
+afield in buying unless she gets lost among the intricacies of
+castors&mdash;pickle and otherwise&mdash;ironstone china, colored and imitation
+cut glass, and butter dishes with domelike covers.  Probably the
+persons who invented these have gone to join hands with the perpetrator
+of the red tablecloth.  May their works soon follow them!  Complete
+sets of dishes are giving way to the character and diversity imparted
+to the table by odd pieces and sets for different courses.  However, a
+pretty, inexpensive set of porcelain or china&mdash;something which will
+bear acquaintance, and of some easily replaced standard pattern&mdash;is a
+good beginning, for one rarely starts out with a full equipment of fine
+china, and even so, there should be something stronger to bear the
+heaviest brunt of wear.  All complete sets contain one hundred and
+seven pieces, and include one dozen each of dinner, breakfast, tea,
+soup, and butter plates, and cups and saucers of medium size, three
+platters of various sizes, vegetable dishes, covered and coverless, and
+a gravy boat.  Tureen, sugar bowl, and cream pitcher, and after-dinner
+coffees are not included, but may be ordered extra.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The choice in everyday sets lies between plain white&mdash;preferably the
+French china, known as Haviland, which can be bought for $35&mdash;and the
+blue-and-white English porcelain of different makes&mdash;Copeland, Trenton,
+etc., a desirable set of which costs $15 and higher.  All-white is
+entirely blameless from the standpoint of good taste, and has a dainty
+fineness in the Haviland of which one rarely tires, while it never
+clashes with anything else on the table.  It is so infinitely
+preferable to cheap, gaudy decorations, so sincerely and honestly what
+it seems to be, that it has a certain self-respecting quality which one
+cannot help but admire.  Blue-and-white has an attraction which has
+never died since it had its birth in the original Delft, which is
+copied so extensively now in Japan and China.  And though the porcelain
+is but an imitation, it is a clever one, and one which leaves little to
+be desired in decorative value and general effect.  The design may
+strike one at first as being a little heavy, but it improves on
+acquaintance, and it has been very aptly said that the fact of its
+having survived enthusiasm should vouch for its worth.  Porcelain has a
+good glaze which does not readily crack or break.  Advancing in the
+scale of cost and fineness, we come to that most beautiful of all
+chinas&mdash;the gold-and-white&mdash;which can be had at from $50 a set up to as
+high as $1,500.  The gilding is in coin gold, the effect of richness
+tempered with chastity being carried through all grades in varying
+intensity.  It "expresses itself beyond expression," and is an honor to
+any table.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+COURSE SETS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+When it comes to the purchase of course sets, different tastes can find
+instant gratification in numberless colorings and designs.
+Overdecoration and large floral devices must be avoided, but any
+delicately expressed pattern is good, and here again the gold-and-white
+seems to fulfill all demands.  Soup, salad, tea, butter, and other
+plates can be had in china from 30 cents apiece up.  Articles of this
+kind, in a standard pattern, may be bought one or two at a time, and
+added to as ability permits until the set is completed.  Any unusual
+design runs through two years, after which it can be obtained only from
+the factory.  A dozen of each is a good number to aim at, for there
+will be many occasions which will call out one's whole dish brigade and
+keep it actively engaged.  The old joke about having to wash dishes
+between courses, and sending the ice cream afloat on a warm plate,
+really loses its amusing aspect when it becomes an actual experience.
+Unless the mistress prefers to serve her soup at the table, a tureen is
+not a necessity, but if used, it must match the soup plates.  It is a
+somewhat fluctuating fashion, out at present.  Soup plates are not the
+great flaring affairs of yore.  They either follow the old shape, much
+reduced, or are in the nature of a large sauce dish.  The meat set of
+platters, plates, and vegetable dishes comes into play at all meals,
+tea plates can be put to a variety of uses&mdash;in fact, many dishes
+supplement one another at a saving of expense and numbers.  If one has
+a handsome glass bowl sufficiently large, a special salad bowl is not
+an essential, but a china bowl demands plates to match.  Hand-painted
+china, in sets or odd pieces, is pretty&mdash;sometimes&mdash;if artistically
+designed and perfectly executed, but a little goes a long way.  Don't
+be the innocent victim of some well-meaning relative with the
+china-painting bee.  Gently but firmly refuse to sacrifice the beauty
+of your table to family ties; they ought to be able to stand the
+strain, but your table cannot.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+ODD PIECES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Japanese and Chinese ware is steadily gaining in favor&mdash;another
+instance in which imitation is permissible, for the "real thing" is
+undoubtedly costly.  The quaint conceits in creams and sugars,
+chocolate pots, bonbon dishes, and plates, with their storks and
+chrysanthemums, their almond-eyed damsels and mandarins, are always
+interesting.  The fad of odd cups and saucers is fast developing into a
+fixed fashion, and a good one, which is a particular boon to the giver
+of gifts on Christmas and other anniversaries when "presents endear
+absents."  Pretty styles in all sizes of different French, German, and
+English makes can be found at 50 cents and up, with special reductions
+at sale times.  Larger plates, to accommodate both the slice of bread
+and the butter ball, have taken the place of the tiny butter plate, and
+should properly match the meat set.  A touch of gold with any china
+decoration gives it a certain character and richness.  The chop
+platter&mdash;among the nice-to-haves and bought as an odd piece&mdash;belongs in
+the lightning change category, for it may serve us our chops and peas
+during the first course, our molded jelly salad during the second, and
+our brick of ice cream or other dessert during the third.  The range in
+price is from $1 up to $5 and $6 for the choicest designs.  Then there
+are berry sets of a bowl and six saucers, both being turned to account
+for different uses, and costing in Haviland as low as $1.75.  And there
+must be some small bowls or large sauce dishes for breakfast use, if
+our housewife is cereally inclined, and a china tile or two on little
+legs to go under the coffee and tea pots.  The china pudding dish, with
+its tray and its heat-proof baking pan, is a pretty and convenient
+accessory, saving the bother of veiling the crackled complexion of the
+ordinary baking dish with a napkin, These cannot be had for less than
+$3.50 and are made in silver also, minus the tray and plus a cover.
+The teapot, true symbol of hospitality, has come down from the high
+estate to which it was formerly created, and is a fat, squatty affair
+now.  Dainty sets of teapot, cream, and sugar matching&mdash;a nobby little
+outfit&mdash;are to be had for $2, in gold-and-white, $3, etc.  There are
+after-dinner coffee sets, too.  Needless to say there must not be even
+the slightest acquaintance between fine china or porcelain and the hot
+oven if you value their glaze.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-166"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-166.jpg" ALT="Wedgwood pottery, and silver of antique design." BORDER="2" WIDTH="378" HEIGHT="581">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: Wedgwood pottery, and silver of antique design.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SILVER AND PLATE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Of the purchase of silver there is little to say.  Unless her friends
+have been very generous in their gifts of solid ware, the mistress
+usually acquires it a little at a time, contenting herself with the
+plated for general use.  Here the souvenir fork or spoon frequently
+steps into the breach, but in default of any other, good shining plated
+ware presents just as good an appearance as the solid and serves every
+purpose until the plate begins to show wear, when it should be renewed
+without delay.  The plainer the pattern the better.  Medium-sized
+knives and forks of the best Rogers triple plate sell for $7 a dozen,
+teas for 10 cents less, fruit knives for $3.  Teaspoons in the dainty
+Seville pattern, with only a beaded trimming around the handle, are $4
+a dozen, dessert spoons $3.25 a half dozen, and tablespoons $3.75.  A
+gravy ladle costs $1.25.  The infinite variety of odd forks and spoons
+for various uses is best acquired with the other solid silver.  Plated
+ware ought never to serve acids nor top salt shakers, since both acid,
+and salt when damp, corrode the plating.  Solid salt and pepper shakers
+can be had as low as $1 a pair, cut glass with solid tops for $1 and
+$1.50.  If individual salt dishes are used, they must be accompanied by
+tiny solid salt spoons at 35 cents apiece and up.  Very nice though not
+altogether necessary accompaniments of the bread-and-butter plates are
+the individual butter knives at $10 a dozen.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If steel-bladed knives are preferred to silver, the medium size, with
+composition handles of celluloid and rubber, are $4.50 a dozen, with
+accompanying forks with silver-plated tines at $7.50.  The carving
+knife, broad, long, and strong, with its fork, good steel both, can be
+had for $2.75, with a game knife, its blade short and pointed and its
+handle long, with its fork, $2.50.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+GLASS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Cut glass is another of the can-do-withouts, except, perhaps, the
+carafe, now used instead of the old-fashioned water pitcher, at $3,
+$3.50, etc.; cruets for vinegar and oil, simply cut and in good style,
+for as low as $1.50 each; and the finger bowls, one for each person.
+The last, of thin crystal and perfectly plain save for a sunburst of
+cutting underneath, are $3 a dozen, with others more elaborate, and
+costly in proportion.  Tumblers, thin, dainty, and delightful, cut a
+little at the bottom, are $1.50 a dozen, and far pleasanter to drink
+from than their elaborately cut and artistic brethren.  Occasionally a
+pretty little olive dish can be picked up for as low as $1.50 or $2,
+but rather perfect and inoffensive plainness than imitation cut, cheap,
+crude, and clumsy.  The American cut glass is considered the choicest.
+Side by side with it, and preferred by many as being less ostentatious,
+is the beautiful Bohemian glass, with its exquisite traceries in gold
+and delicate colors.  Only in this glass is color permissible, and then
+principally in receptacles for flowers.  There is reason to believe
+that it was from a Bohemian glass plate the King of Hearts stole the
+tarts on a certain memorable occasion, and if so, one can readily
+understand why the temptation was so irresistible to him.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-170"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-170.jpg" ALT="A collection of eighteenth-century cut glass." BORDER="2" WIDTH="574" HEIGHT="340">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: A collection of eighteenth-century cut glass.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+ARRANGEMENT
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+To put all our pretty things on the table in such a way that the result
+shall be a picture of daintiness, grace, and symmetry is seemingly a
+simple matter, but the trick of good taste and a mathematical eye are
+both involved in it.  The manner of setting and serving the table
+varies somewhat with each meal, but a few suggestions apply to all
+alike.  The center of the table must be exactly under the chandelier,
+and covered with the pretty centerpiece with its dish of ferns, a vase
+of posies, or a potted plant in a white crinkled tissue-paper pinafore.
+Nothing else has the decorative value of the table posy, however
+simple, which seems to breathe out some of its outdoor life and
+freshness, and should never be omitted.  Twenty inches must be allowed
+for each cover, or place, to give elbow room, and all that belongs to
+it should be accurately and evenly placed.  At the right go the
+knives&mdash;sharp edges in&mdash;and spoons, with open bowls up, in the order in
+which they are to be used, beginning at the right.  At the points of
+the knives stands the water glass.  At the left are arranged the forks,
+tines up, also in the order of use, beginning at the left, with the
+butter plate, on which rests the butter knife, a little above the
+forks.  The napkin&mdash;which should be folded four times in ironing and
+never tortured into fantastic shapes, restaurant fashion&mdash;lies either
+at the left of the forks or on the plate at the center of the cover.
+If many spoons are to be used, the soup spoon alone rests beside the
+knife, with the others above the plate.  Individual salt cellars go
+above the plates, shakers at the sides or corners of the table, within
+easy reach, and one carafe is usually allowed for every three or four
+people.  Carving cloths are laid before the plates are put on, with the
+carving knife at the right, the fork at the left.  Water is poured,
+butter passed, and bread arranged on the table just before the meal is
+served.  Extra dishes and the plates for use during the different
+courses stand in readiness on a little side table, silver and glass
+alone being appropriate to the sideboard.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+DUTIES OF THE WAITRESS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The maid stands behind the master or mistress to serve the plate of
+meat, the bowl of soup, and so on, taking it on her tray and placing it
+with her right hand from the right of the person served.  All plates
+are placed by the waitress, while she serves all vegetables, sauces,
+etc., from the left, holding the dish on her tray or, if it be a heavy
+one, in her hand, within easy reach.  Soiled dishes she removes from
+the right with her right hand, placing them on her tray one at a time,
+platter and serving dishes first, then individual dishes and silver
+until everything belonging to the course has been removed.  Crumbs are
+taken up from the left with a crumb knife or napkin, never with a
+brush.  Many housekeepers prefer to dismiss the maid after the main
+part of the meal is served, ringing for her when her services are
+necessary, thus insuring a greater privacy during the charmed hour, and
+affording an opportunity for those little thoughtful attentions when
+each serves his neighbor as himself.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE BREAKFAST TABLE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The breakfast table is usually laid with centerpiece and plate doilies
+these days, and it may not be ill-timed to suggest that every effort be
+made to have this meal cheery and attractive, for it is, alas, too
+often suggestive of funeral baked meats and left-over megrims from the
+night before.  If fruit is to be served, followed by a cereal and a
+meat or other heavier course, each place is provided with a fruit plate
+with its doily and knife, a breakfast knife and fork, a dessert spoon,
+two teaspoons, and a finger bowl.  The fruit should be on the table
+when the family assemble, with the cups and saucers and other
+accompaniments of the coffee service arranged before the mistress's
+place.  Warm sauce dishes for the cereal and warm plates for the course
+which follows it must be in readiness.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+LUNCHEON
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Luncheon is the simplest, daintiest, most informal meal of the
+day&mdash;just a little halting place between breakfast and dinner, where
+one's pretty china comes out strongly.  The setting of the doily-spread
+table follows the usual arrangement.  Everything necessary for serving
+tea is placed at the head of the table, with the meat or other
+substantial dish at the opposite end.  Most of the food is placed on
+the table before the meal is announced, and as there are usually but
+two courses the plates are changed only once.  The only difference
+between luncheon and tea being the hour of serving, the same rules
+govern both.  The lunch cloth or the hemstitched linen strips may be
+used instead of the place doilies.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+DINNER
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Dinner is a more solemn matter.  On goes our immaculate tablecloth now,
+over a thick pad, its one crease exactly in the middle of the table,
+and all wrinkles and unevennesses made smooth and straight.
+Centerpiece and posy go squarely&mdash;or roundly&mdash;in the center, with
+silver, salts, and carving set arranged as usual.  The butter plate is
+frequently omitted from this meal, an oblong slice of bread, a dinner
+roll, or a bread stick being placed between the folds of each napkin,
+or on the butter plate, if used, with the butter ball and knife.  If
+soup is to be served, the spoon is placed at the right of the knives.
+There is a preference for the use of a "service plate" at this
+meal&mdash;the plate which is at each place when dinner is announced, and is
+not removed until the first hot course after the soup&mdash;but this is
+usually dispensed with when there is but one servant.  Proper cutlery
+for carving has its place before the carver, the carving cloth being
+removed before dessert.  If black coffee is served as the last course,
+the after-dinner coffee spoons are placed in the saucers before
+serving.  Finger bowls appear the last thing.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE FORMAL DINNER
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The formal dinner follows the general idea and arrangement of the
+family dinner, with considerable elaboration.  Out come our dress-up
+table linen, china, glass, and silver, and we add certain festive
+touches in the way of vines and cut flowers loosely and gracefully
+disposed in glass or silver bowls and vases.  At the four sides of the
+centerpiece go the dainty glass candlesticks, which cost 35 cents
+apiece, coming up to 91 cents with the candle lamp, candle, mica
+chimney, and shade complete, the shade matching the flowers in color.
+The lesser light which thus rules the night casts a witching glamour
+over the table, shadowing imperfections, softening features, warming
+heart cockles, and loosening tongues.  Yellow is always good, green
+cool in summer, red heavy, and pink of the right shades genial.  Lace
+and ribbon have been banished from the table as being inconsistent with
+simplicity, but a small bunch of flowers or a single flower at each
+place gives a pretty touch.  The water glass is moved over to the top
+of the plate now, to make room for the wine glasses which are grouped
+above the knives.  The oyster fork is placed at the right of the soup
+spoon, the fish fork at the left of the other forks.  Overmuch silver
+savors of ostentation; therefore, if many courses are to be served, the
+sherbet spoon may go above the plate, the other extra silver to be
+supplied from the side table when needed.  Fancy dishes containing
+olives, salted nuts, and confections are arranged on the table, all
+other dishes being served from the kitchen or side table.  It being
+taken for granted that the food is properly seasoned, no condiments are
+on the table.  Place cards rest on the napkins.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE FORMAL LUNCHEON
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The formal luncheon table closely follows the formal dinner table,
+except that place doilies are used instead of the tablecloth.  The
+bouillon spoon replaces the soup spoon, and other changes in the silver
+may be necessitated by the lighter character of the food served.  The
+room may be darkened and candles used if the hostess so elect.  If
+additional light is required at either dinner or luncheon, it should
+come through shades harmonizing with the candle shades, and hung not
+higher than the heads of the guests.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+WASHING GLASS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+And after this, the deluge&mdash;of dishwashing!  The cleansing of the glass
+opens the session.  If much fine or heavily cut glass is to be washed,
+cover the draining board and the bottom of the pan with a soft, folded
+cloth.  Wash one piece at a time in water not too hot&mdash;about three
+quarts of cold water to one of boiling, to which a <I>very</I> little white
+soap, with a tablespoon of ammonia, has been added&mdash;going well into the
+cuttings with a brush; then rinse in water a little hotter than the
+first, leave for a moment, and turn upside down on the board to drain
+until the next piece is ready.  Then dry with a soft towel, or plunge
+into a box of nonresinous sawdust, better warm, which absorbs moisture
+not reached by the cloth.  Remove from the sawdust, brush carefully,
+and polish with a soft cloth.  If kept free from dust, sawdust can be
+dried and used indefinitely.  Care must be taken that there is no sand
+in dishpan or cloth to give the glass a scratch which may end in a
+crack or break.  Put a spoonful of finely chopped raw potatoes, or
+crushed eggshells, or half a dozen buckshot into decanters, carafes,
+jugs, and narrow-mouthed pitchers, with a little warm soda or ammonia
+water, and shake vigorously till all stain is removed, rinse and dry.
+The water in which glass is washed must be kept absolutely free from
+greasy substances.  If milk, ice cream, or custard has been used, rinse
+off with cold, then blood-warm water before washing.  Cut glass must
+never be subjected to marked differences in temperature, and for this
+reason should not be held under the faucets, as the heat cannot be
+regulated.  Glass with gilt decoration must be washed quickly and
+carefully with water free from either soda or ammonia, which attack the
+gilt, and dried gently.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+WASHING AND CLEANING SILVER
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The silver comes next, careful washing obviating the necessity for
+cleaning oftener than once a month.  Knives, forks, and spoons, which
+were separated into piles when taken from the table, are washed first,
+then the other pieces in use, in hot white soapsuds with a little
+ammonia, rinsed with clear scalding water, dried with a soft towel, one
+at a time, and rubbed vigorously, when all are done, with chamois or
+Canton flannel.  Egg or vegetable stains can be removed with wet salt,
+black marks with ammonia and whiting.  Only enough silver to supply the
+family use is kept out; the handsome jelly bowls, cream jugs, etc., are
+wrapped in white tissue paper, placed with a small piece of gum camphor
+in labeled Canton flannel bags, closing with double draw strings, and
+are then locked away in a trunk or a flannel-lined box with a
+close-fitting lid.  If put away clean and bright, as they should be,
+they retain their luster and only need polishing once a year.  When the
+regular silver-cleaning day comes around, wash and dry the silver in
+the prescribed way, and rub with sifted whiting wet with alcohol,
+leaving no part untouched, and allow to dry on.  When all the pieces
+have been treated thus, rub with a flannel cloth and polish with a
+silver brush.  Regular brushes are made for this purpose and are
+invaluable in getting into the ornamental work.  Never make the mistake
+of applying a tooth or nail brush, which will surely scratch and mar
+the fine surface.  Most silver polishes are made of chalk prepared in
+different ways, but beware of the one which cleans too quickly: it is
+liable to remove the silver with the tarnish.  Silver must not be
+allowed to become badly stained, thus necessitating hard rubbing and
+additional wear and tear.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+HOW TO WASH CHINA
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+China washing requires a pan nearly full of water of a temperature not
+uncomfortable to the hand, beaten into a good suds with a soap shaker.
+Very hot water, or a sudden change from cold to hot, is apt to crack
+the fine glaze.  Use a dish mop for the cleanest dishes, and, beginning
+with the cups and saucers, and placing only a few in the pan at a time,
+wash quickly without allowing to soak, rinse in water a little hotter
+than the first, and wipe until perfectly dry and shiny.  Pouring hot
+water over china and leaving it to drain itself dry may save time, but
+it will be at the expense of the polish.  Spread the dishes out on the
+table to cool&mdash;piling them while hot injures the glaze&mdash;and put away
+the first washing before commencing on the heavy, greasy things.  The
+washing water must be changed as soon as a greasy scum collects around
+the sides of the pan.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CARE OF KNIVES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Bone-, wood-, or pearl-handled knives should never go into the dishpan,
+but be stood, blade down, in a pitcher containing a little water and
+soda, the blades having first been wiped off with paper, and left till
+everything else is done.  They are then washed singly with clean suds,
+special care being bestowed upon the juncture of the blade with the
+handle, rinsed, and dried immediately.  If stained, rub with half of a
+potato or with a cork dipped in powdered pumice stone, wipe dry, wash,
+and polish with a little bath brick or sapolio.  Clean carving knives
+and forks in the same way, going around the joinings with a rag-covered
+skewer.  Spots can be removed from ivory handles with tripoli mixed
+with sweet oil; from mother-of-pearl with sifted whiting and alcohol,
+which is washed off and followed with a polishing with dry whiting and
+a flannel cloth.  Cover rusted knife blades with sweet oil, rub in
+well, and leave for forty-eight hours, then rub with slaked lime.
+Britannia, pewter, and block tin in table use are polished the same as
+silver.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap09"></A>
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER IX
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE BEDROOM
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The bedroom is very like an old familiar friend: it sees us as we
+really are, tempting us to throw off all veneer of pretense or
+worldliness and rest in just being ourselves&mdash;a rest so sweet and
+wholesome and good that we go from it recreated and strengthened.  In
+the spirit of truest friendship it exacts nothing, but by its subtle,
+quiet sympathy charms away our restlessness and presents us anew to
+that person known as our better self.  The friend of our choice is the
+one who wears well; who never intrudes, never wearies, never pains us;
+whose influence is one of rest, of restoration, of reinspiration&mdash;the
+embodiment of the true mission of the bedroom.  It, like our friend,
+must be able to survive with honor the test of that familiarity which
+comes with intimacy&mdash;whether it shall breed contempt or content.  And
+so as we plan it, let us endeavor to temper our likes and dislikes with
+judgment until we can be reasonably sure that it will be a room
+pleasant to live with, and companionable, which will not irritate our
+moods into becoming moodier, nor our weariness into becoming wearier.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+LIGHT AND AIR
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Of first importance, of course, are light and air; these we must have,
+and sun if possible.  One good warm ray of sunshine is a more effective
+destroyer of disease and "dumps" than all the drugs on the market;
+while good ventilation is one of the most valuable as well as one of
+the cheapest and most ignored assets of the home, particularly of the
+bedroom, where our hereditary enemy, the microbe, loves especially to
+linger.  Given air and light, we have the best possible start toward
+our rest room and upon its exposure and size depends largely what we
+shall add unto it in the way of furnishings and decorations.  Dark
+walls and floors wrap one in gloom and have no place in any bedroom.  A
+warm, sunny exposure invites the use of contrastingly cool light blues,
+grays, greens, and creams; while the glow of delicate pinks and yellows
+helps to make a sunshine in the shadows of a north light.  East and
+west lights adapt themselves to the tasteful use of almost any color,
+saving and excepting red, which cannot be mentioned in the same breath
+with rest and has the red-rag-to-the-bull effect on nerves.  If an
+overstrong affection for it demands its use, it must be indulged in
+sparingly and much scattered and tempered with white.  Though a certain
+sympathetic warmth should be expressed in the bedroom coloring, we want
+rather to feel than to see it, and too much becomes a weariness.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CARPETS VERSUS RUGS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Beginning with the base, as becomes a good builder, and working upward,
+floor coverings which cover without covering, if one may indulge in an
+Irishism, are far preferable to those which extend from wall to wall.
+Carpets undoubtedly have their uses: they make over well into rugs,
+supply heat to the feet, particularly in summer, and to the disposition
+during the semiannual house cleaning.  They also cover a multitude of
+moths.  But they belong to the dark ages of unenlightened womanhood
+whose chief end was to keep house, and have been jostled into the
+background by bare floors or mattings, with rugs.  Hardwood floors
+certainly are nice and seem to wear an air of conscious pride of birth,
+but their humbler self-made brethren of common pine, stained and
+varnished or oiled, answer the purpose fully as well.  It really
+amounts to a case of rugs make the floor, for if they are pretty and
+conveniently disposed about it, the floor itself receives very little
+attention.  Small rugs before bed, dresser, and chiffonier will suffice
+in a small room, and can be easily taken out and cleaned, but a more
+commodious room requires the dressed look imparted by the larger rug.
+Whatever its size, avoid large figures and strong colors, choosing
+rather a small, somewhat indistinct pattern woven in the deeper shades
+of the other decorations of the room, at the same time supplying a
+foundation which, without calling attention to itself, becomes a good
+support for the general decorative plan&mdash;a base strong but neither
+heavy nor striking.  Since we were made to stand erect and look up, it
+is irritating to have one's eyes drawn downward by the unattractive
+attraction of an ugly rug.  The colonial cotton rag rugs are quite the
+most desirable for bedroom use, from a sanitary as well as an artistic
+standpoint, and are woven to produce charming effects.  The usual
+combination is two colors&mdash;white with blue, yellow, green, or pink,
+black with red, different shades of the same color, etc.  Occasionally
+three colors are used, but more are apt to destroy the dainty
+simplicity which is the chief charm of rugs of this kind.  They are
+woven like any other rag rug, and of any dimensions.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+MATTINGS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Mattings, if preferred to the bare floor, come in a variety of patterns
+and colors and look neat and fresh, and cool in summer if used without
+rugs.  They are a yard wide and range in price from 10 to 50 cents a
+yard for the Chinese, and from 20 to 60 cents for the Japanese.  There
+is very little choice between the two, though the Chinese wears a
+little better, perhaps.  Matting is easily broken and should not be
+used where the bed must be drawn away from the wall to be made, or
+heavy furniture moved about.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+WALL COVERING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Passing from floor to walls, we reach that portion of the room which
+gives it its real atmosphere and supplies a background for all that it
+contains, of both "things and people."  The bedroom seems to be
+preeminently a woman's room: here she reads and writes, rests and sews;
+it is her help in trouble, her refuge in times of storm.  The
+intangible something which surrounds the eternal feminine clings about
+her room and tells a very truthful tale of the individuality of its
+occupant.  Her favorite color peeps out from wall and drapery; her
+books, well-thumbed and hearing evidences of intimate association, lie
+cozily about, and her workbasket reveals the source of certain dainty
+covers and indescribable nothings which so materially refine the whole
+aspect of the room.  Though she receives her formal calls in the
+drawing-room, it is in her bedroom that those confidential chats, so
+dear to the feminine heart, take place; therefore its background must
+be chosen with some idea of its becomingness, and the happy medium in
+color and tint selected, softening and becoming to all alike.  As
+absence of manners is good manners, so absence of effect is, after all,
+the best effect.  First and foremost, avoid the plague of white walls
+and ceilings, which cast a ghastly light over the whole room and make
+one fairly shiver with cold.  The general plan is to shade the color up
+from floor to ceiling, and this is accomplished in so many differing
+and equally attractive ways that it is impossible to do more than offer
+suggestions which may be elaborated to suit individual tastes and
+conditions.  Of course calcimine is the simplest and cheapest style of
+decoration, and recommends itself to the anti-germ disciple because it
+can be renewed annually at slight expense.  The only difficulty lies in
+getting just the right tint, for decorators, though no doubt worthy of
+their hire, are not always capable of handling the artistic side of
+their business, and an uncongenial shade gets on the nerves after a
+while.  The same thing holds true of painted walls and ceilings, though
+they too are hygienically good.  When we come to papers, we are lost in
+a maze of stripes and garlands and nosegays, either alone or in
+combination.  Prettiness is by no means synonymous with expense these
+days, when the general patterns and colors of costly papers are
+successfully reproduced in the cheaper grades.  Tapestry papers are too
+heavy for bedrooms.  Those figured with that mathematical precision
+which drives the beholder to counting and thence to incipient insanity,
+and others on which we fancy we can trace the features of our friends,
+are always distracting, especially during illness, when restfulness is
+so essential.  The plain cartridge-papered wall with frieze and ceiling
+either flowered or of a light shade of the same or a contrasting color
+is never obtrusive and always in good taste.  With a flowered wall a
+plain ceiling is a relief, and vice versa.  Figures in both walls and
+ceiling are tiring, besides having none of the effect resulting from
+contrast.  Walls in plain stripes need to be livened with a fancy
+ceiling, or ceiling and frieze, with their background always of the
+lightest tint in the side wall.  One room of particular charm was all
+in yellow.  The molding had been dropped three feet from the ceiling,
+giving the impression of a low ceiling and that snugness which goes
+with it, and up to it ran the satin-striped paper, while over frieze
+and ceiling ran a riot of yellow roses.  And here was asserted the
+ingenuity of its occupant, who had cut out some of the roses and draped
+them at the corners and by door and window casings, where they seemed
+to cling after being spilled from the garden above.  This same idea can
+be worked out with garlands or bunches of different flowers, bow knots,
+or other distinct designs.  No large figures of any description should
+be introduced into a small room, and the whole effect of the decoration
+must be cheerful without being boisterous, gay, or striking.  If the
+ceiling is low, the wall paper continues up to it without a frieze, the
+molding&mdash;which corresponds with the woodwork&mdash;being fastened where wall
+and ceiling join.  Backgrounds of amber, cream, fawn, rose, blue, or
+pale green, with their designs in soft contrasting colors, are the
+strictly bedroom papers.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+BEDROOM WOODWORK
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The very prettiest bedroom woodwork is of white enamel, which has that
+light, airy look we so want to catch, and never quarrels with either
+furniture or decorations.  But of woodwork painted in any color beware,
+take care!  Finely finished hardwood has the honesty of true worth and
+needs no dressing up; but its poor relation, that hideous product of
+old-time dark stain and varnish is only a kill-beauty, and should be
+wiped out of existence with a dose of white paint.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+BEDROOM DRAPERIES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+In selecting bedroom draperies, two "don'ts" must be strictly observed:
+don't use flowered drapery with a flowered wall, and don't buy heavy,
+unwashable hangings of woolen, damask, satin, or brocade, which not
+only are out of harmony with the whole idea of bedroom simplicity, but
+shut out air and sunlight, make the room seem stuffy, and collect and
+hold dust and odors.  The patterns of chintzes, cretonnes, and
+silkolenes are manufactured to follow closely the paper designs, and
+where flowered ceiling and frieze are used with a plain wall, the same
+color and design may be carried out in bed and window draperies, and in
+couch and chair coverings.  With a flowered or much-figured wall snowy
+curtains of Swiss, muslin, or net, with ruffles of lace or of the same
+material, are prettier than anything else; and for that matter, they
+are appropriate with any style of decoration and can always be kept
+fresh and dainty.  But elaborate lace curtains which have seen better
+days elsewhere are most emphatically <I>not</I> for bedrooms, and should
+find another asylum.  A pretty window drapery is the thin white curtain
+with a colored figured inner curtain.  The use of figured draperies
+demands a good sense of proportion and of the eternal fitness of
+things, else it easily degenerates into abuse.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-194"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-194.jpg" ALT="The bedroom." BORDER="2" WIDTH="532" HEIGHT="388">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: The bedroom.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+BEDROOM FURNISHING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The bedroom furniture must be chosen rather with a view to fitness than
+to fashion.  "Sets" are no more.  How stereotyped and assertive they
+were, and undecorative!  Bed, dresser, and washstand, forcibly
+recalling to one the big bear, middle-sized bear, and little bear of
+nursery lore, were clumsy and heavy and bad, even in hardwood; but when
+they were simply stained imitations of the real thing, and ornate with
+wooden knobs, machine carving, and ungraceful lines, they were truly
+unspeakable.  The bed with its fat bolster, on top of which, like Ossa
+on Pelion piled, stood the pillows, perhaps covered with shams which
+bade one "Good night" and "Good morning" in red cotton embroidery&mdash;was
+especially hideous as contrasted with our present-day enameled or brass
+bed, and belongs to the dark ages of crocheted "tidies," plush-covered
+photograph albums, "whatnots," prickly, slippery haircloth furniture,
+and other household idols which bring thoughts that lie too deep for
+tears.  Only two styles of sets find a welcome in the up-to-date
+home&mdash;the rich, dark, mellow mahogany, which is too costly for the
+average pocketbook, and the white enameled.  Even so the component
+parts differ from those of a few years back; then the dresser was
+considered an absolute essential; now we frequently prefer the more
+graceful dressing table, with its small drawer or two for the
+unornamental toilet accessories, or the compromise between the two&mdash;the
+princess dresser&mdash;with the roomy chest of drawers or chiffonier.  The
+all-white furniture gives the room an air of chaste purity and is no
+more expensive than a set in any other good wood, but must be well
+enameled or it will be impossible to keep it clean.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CAREFUL SELECTION
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The trend of popular sentiment is toward the metal bed, with
+accompanying furniture in plain or bird's-eye maple, mahogany, dark
+oak, curly birch, or mahogany-birch.  Dressers range in price from $9
+to $50; princess dressers from $10.50 to $50; chiffoniers from $10 to
+$35; and dressing tables from $10 to $50.  Furniture, like friends,
+cannot be acquired promiscuously without unpleasant consequences.
+There is no economy in buying cheap, veneered pieces which will be&mdash;or
+ought to be&mdash;always an eyesore.  The truly thrifty homemaker will wait
+until she can afford to buy something genuinely good, and then buy it
+with the conviction that she is laying up treasures of future happiness
+and contentment.  The "good" piece is exactly what it claims to be,
+without pretense or artificiality, of hardwood of course, of simple
+construction, and graceful, artistic lines, its few decorations carved,
+not glued on.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+TOILET AND DRESSING TABLES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Simplicity must be the keynote of all bedroom furnishings.  The middle
+course in price is the safe one to follow, leaning toward the greater
+rather than toward the lesser cost.  If there is a bathroom
+conveniently near, it is better to dispense with a washstand; but if
+its use is imperative, make it as little obtrusive as possible.  The
+home carpenter can easily fashion one from a plain pine table, hung
+with a valance to match the other draperies.  If a marble-topped table
+is available, so much the better.  Toilet sets can be purchased for $4
+and up, and should be of simple design and decoration, plain white or
+gold-and-white being advisable for general use, as neither will clash
+with anything else in the room.  A very satisfactory set in the
+gold-and-white is to be had for $8.  A dainty dressing table follows
+the idea of a makeshift washstand.  It should be made of a sizeable
+drygoods box, with shelves, and the top padded and covered to match the
+drapery.  The mirror which hangs over it may be draped, or simply
+framed in white enamel, gold, or whatever blends with the room.
+Overdraping not only looks fussy, but means additional bother and care.
+The drapery is thrown over a frame fastened above the mirror.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+FURTHER COMFORTS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+In addition to what is considered the regulation bedroom furniture,
+there should be a small table at the head of the bed for the glass of
+water, the candle or night lamp, and books of devotion; a couch for the
+mistress's rest hours, and to save the immaculateness of the bed; a
+comfortable rocker, with a low sewing chair and one or two with
+straight backs; and, when two people occupy the room, a screen which
+insures some degree of privacy and affords a protection from draughts.
+If one is restricted in closet room, a box couch is a great
+convenience; if in sleeping room, an iron cot or a folding sanitary
+couch, which becomes a bed by night, is invaluable.  A chintz,
+cretonne, or other washable cover, with plenty of pretty pillows to
+invite indolence, can be used on either, with an afghan or some other
+sort of pretty "throw."  Though upholstered furniture is out of place
+here, chair cushions corresponding with wall paper or draperies give a
+touch of cozy comfort.  One room with dove-gray walls dotted with
+white, and all other furniture of white enamel, had mahogany chairs of
+severe simplicity of design, with backs and seats covered with
+rose-strewn cretonne which extended in a box-plaited flounce to the
+floor.  This was the only touch of color, save a water color or two, in
+a room overflowing with restfulness and that "charm which lulls to
+sleep."  Willow chairs are pretty and appropriate, too.  The screen,
+with its panels draped in harmony with other hangings, should match the
+furniture.  The new willow screens are light, dainty, and easily moved.
+A table, footstool or two, and desk can be added if desired.  A greater
+length of mirror than that afforded by the dresser glass can be secured
+by setting a full-length mirror into the panels of one of the doors&mdash;a
+fashion both pretty and convenient.  Have a care that all mirrors are
+of plate glass, for the foreshortened, distorted image which looks back
+at one from an imperfect looking-glass has a depressing effect on one's
+vanity.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE BEDSTEAD
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+And now to the <I>pièce de résistance</I> of the room, the
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;". . . delicious bed!<BR>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;That heaven on earth to the weary head!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Furnished complete it represents a considerable sum, but here again it
+is well not to count the cost too closely, for the return in comfort
+and refreshment cannot be estimated in dollars and cents.  The change
+from wooden to metal beds is desirable in every way.  Besides being so
+much more hygienic, they seem to take up less room, and admit of a
+freer circulation of air; they can be painted over and freshened up
+when necessary, and look well with any furniture.  The best patterns
+are formed by parallel bars and circles, those with simple lilies
+conveying the idea of solidity, and with the least ornamentation, being
+preferable always.  The extension foot facilitates the arrangement of
+spread or valance, and if drapery is desired, beds with head posts
+fitted with canopy frames or "testers" are to be had.  Brass beds are
+the most expensive of metal beds, costing from $22 to $55, or as much
+more as one cares to pay.  They have to be handled with great care&mdash;or
+rather, not handled at all unless through the medium of a soft cloth.
+The <I>vernis Martin</I> bed of gilded iron produces the same general
+effect, and is but little more costly than the enamel bed, but, after
+all, it is only another "imitation."  Enameled beds can be had for from
+$2 all the way up to $31.  It cannot, of a surety, be necessary to warn
+against those hideous embodiments of bad taste, colored beds, with
+their funereal blacks, lurid reds, and sickly blues, greens, and
+yellows.  Enough said!  And avoid too much brass trimming.  The bed
+should stand on casters&mdash;wooden&mdash;and not too high.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SPRING, MATTRESS, AND PILLOWS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Those two friends to nightly comfort, a first-class spring and a hair
+mattress, are vastly important.  If the still, small voice of economy
+whispers that other mattresses are "just as good," stifle it.  The hair
+mattress is the only really sanitary one, since it can be washed and
+made over and plumped up times without number, and surely no other
+enjoys the distinction of descending from generation to generation,
+with the other family treasures.  Hair mattresses cost from $10 up,
+according to the length of the hair, but a good one of full size cannot
+be had under $30.  Felt mattresses, from $7.25 to $13.50, are next in
+desirability, the best of these, warranted not to cake, being
+preferable to the cheap hair mattress with short hair.  Then come moss
+mattresses with cotton tops, $4.70 to $8; husk with cotton tops, $3.15
+to $4; and excelsior, cotton-topped, $2 to $4.  Mattresses in two
+unequal parts, the larger going at the head of the bed and the smaller
+at the foot, are more easily handled and turned than those in one
+piece.  A slip of heavy white cotton cloth covering the mattress
+entire, is a great protection, and should be washed at stated intervals.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Box springs are luxuriously comfortable, an average spring,
+felt-topped, costing $17&mdash;hair-topped, $18.50.  Those topped with tow
+and moss are less expensive.  There is only one objection to the box
+spring: when the bedbug once effects an entrance therein, the days of
+that spring are numbered, for there is no evicting him.  Woven wire and
+coil springs run from $2.25 up, according to the number of coils,
+wires, and weight.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mattress and pillows are covered to match, these days, in all sorts of
+charming colors and designs, if one cares to add a little to the cost.
+Over the mattress goes a quilted cotton pad, interlined with one
+thickness of cotton batting.  Pads can be made at home, or purchased
+for $1.25, $1.50, or $1.75, according to the size of the bed.  The
+unbleached cost 25 cents less.  Some housekeepers prefer a flannel pad
+as being more porous, and therefore more easily aired.  Each bed should
+have its own pair of white woolen blankets, an average pair costing
+about $5, but a really "worth-while" one is scarcely obtainable under
+$12 or $15.  A little cotton mixed with the wool is not objectionable,
+as it prevents so much of the shrinkage to which wool is liable.  Heavy
+and uncomfortable "comforts," which supply in weight what they lack in
+warmth, are neither desirable nor healthful.  Folded across the foot of
+the bed should lie the extra covering for cold nights, either an
+eiderdown or less costly quilt, daintily covered with cheesecloth,
+silkolene, etc.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Two night pillows to a bed are the usual allowance.  Good live-goose
+feather pillows sell for from $3 to $7, depending on the size, and
+should be provided with extra cotton slips, buttoning on, to protect
+the tick.  The feather bolster has had its day.  Its descendant, the
+bedroll of hair, paste-board, or <I>papier maché</I>, is for ornament only,
+and is used as a finish at the head of the bed with fancy draperies or
+coverings, which it matches.  Shams, too, are going out, with other
+things which are not what they seem.  The thought of untidiness always
+underlies their freshness, and so we prefer to put the night pillows in
+the closet during the day and let the bedroll or the day pillows take
+their place.  If there is a shortage of pillows, the night cases can be
+exchanged for pretty ruffled ones of lawn, muslin, dimity, or linen.
+If one still clings to shams, corresponding sheet shams should also be
+used.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+BED DECORATION
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+There remains yet to be found anything more airily, chastely dainty
+than the all-white bed with its plain or fringed Marseilles spread and
+its ruffled pillows.  Though drapery has a picturesque effect, it
+interferes to a certain extent with the free circulation of air, and
+affords a lurking place for our insidious enemy&mdash;the microbe.  If used
+at all, it should only be in a large, well-ventilated room, and
+sparingly, for a fussy, overloaded bed looks anything but restful.  If
+considerable color has already been introduced into the room, the bed
+drapery, cover, and valance should be of some thin white washable
+material&mdash;dimity, Swiss, and the like.  But with plain papers, flowered
+cretonne, chintz, etc., are appropriate.  The canopy top is covered
+with the material, stretched smooth, and either plain or plaited, and
+the drapery gathered about the back, sides, and front of this, from
+which it hangs in soft folds to within two or three inches of the
+floor.  It should be simply tied back.  The canopy projects not more
+than half a yard beyond the head of the bed, and may be either oblong
+or semicircular.  Very thin white material is used over a color.
+Whatever the material, it must, of course, be washable and kept
+immaculate.  The newest bed, all enameled and with a bent bar of iron
+at head and foot, lends itself to a pretty style of drapery, which is
+simply a plain, fitted white slip-over case for head and foot, finished
+with a valance of the same depth as that of the counterpane, which
+leaves no metal visible anywhere about the bed.  Pretty Marseilles
+spreads may be had for $3; cheaper ones in honeycomb follow the same
+designs.  The white spread, with a colored thread introduced, may
+answer for the maid's room&mdash;never for the mistress's.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SIMPLICITY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+When two persons occupy a room, twin beds furnished exactly alike are
+preferable to the double bed.  An exclusively man's room demands
+somewhat different treatment, though the general principles of
+furnishing apply to all bedrooms.  A man abhors drapery, and usually
+prefers an ascetic simplicity to what he is pleased to term
+"flub-dubs."  His notions of art are liable to express themselves in
+pipes, steins, and other masculine bric-a-brac; but whatever his wills
+and wonts on the furnishing question, his room must show care and
+attention.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The rule of elimination is a good one to follow in bedroom pictures; no
+"rogue's gallery" of photographs, no useless, meaningless, and trivial
+pictures, but just a madonna or two, perhaps a photographic copy of
+some old master, with a favorite illuminated quotation&mdash;something to
+help and quiet and inspire.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Tables, dresser, and chiffonier should have each its spotless cover of
+hemstitched or scalloped linen, or ruffled lawn or Swiss&mdash;anything but
+towels.  They will answer, of course, but we want a little more than
+just answering.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CARE OF BEDROOM AND BED
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Much of the refinement of the bedroom depends upon its daily care.
+This begins with its airing the first thing in the morning.  The bed is
+stripped of its coverings, which are spread over two chairs placed
+before the open window; the mattress is half turned over, and night
+clothes and pillows are placed near the window.  The slops are then
+emptied, bowl and all toilet articles washed in hot water and dried,
+pitcher emptied and refilled with fresh water, and soiled towels
+replaced by clean ones.  Soiled towels must never be used to clean the
+crockery.  Cleaning cloths for bedroom use should be kept for that
+purpose alone.  Once a week slop receptacles must be scalded with sal
+soda water and stood in the sun.  After an hour the windows may be
+closed and the bed made.  The first thing is to turn the mattress&mdash;end
+for end one day, side for side the next&mdash;and then comes the pad, and
+after it the sheets.  The lower one is put on right side up, drawn
+tight, and tucked in smoothly all around; the upper should be wrong
+side up, drawn well up to the head, and tucked in at the bottom, and
+the blankets brought up to within half a yard of the head, with the
+open end at the top.  When all is straight and even, the upper sheet is
+turned back smoothly over the blankets and both are tucked snugly in.
+The counterpane, which was folded and laid aside during the night, then
+goes on, and is brought down evenly over the foot and sides of the bed,
+the bedroll or day pillows are added, and the bed is itself again.  On
+Saturday the bottom sheet is replaced by the top sheet, which, in turn,
+is replaced by a clean one, and the pillowcases are changed.  The
+spread usually needs changing about once a month.  The night pillows
+are now beaten and put away, and night clothes are hung in the closet.
+Other articles are put in their places, the dresser top is brushed off
+and its various contents properly arranged, litter is taken up with
+dustpan and brush, or carpet-sweeper, and the room is dusted.  Opened
+windows at night are a foregone conclusion.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+VERMIN AND THEIR EXTERMINATION
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Though it seems indelicate to suggest the possibility of a bug in a
+well-kept, charming chamber, even the best housekeeping is not always
+proof against feeling "things at night."  Metal beds are rather
+inhospitable to bugs, and if carefully examined, with the mattress,
+once a week, there is small danger of their getting a foothold.  If
+traces are discovered, hunt out the bugs and exterminate them if
+possible, and sprinkle bed and mattress with a good, reliable insect
+powder; or spray with gasolene, or wood alcohol and corrosive
+sublimate, and keep the room shut up for a few hours.  Baseboard and
+moldings should also be treated in this way.  If, after repeating
+several times, this proves ineffectual, smoke out the room with
+sulphur, first removing all silver and brass articles and winding those
+which cannot be moved with cloth.  Then proceed according to directions
+for fumigating the closet, using a pound of sulphur for a room of
+average size.  If the room has become badly infested, it will be best
+to tear off the wall and ceiling paper, and fill all cracks and
+crevices with plaster of Paris.  Such shreds of self-respect as these
+terrors by night may possess cannot long survive such treatment, and
+they will soon depart to that country from whose bourne no bug returns.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap10"></A>
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER X
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE BATHROOM
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+With the subject of the bathroom before us, it would seem to be in
+order to promulgate the only really true theory of bathing.  But this
+is not a treatise upon hygiene, and the world already has been flooded
+with advice on this subject, ranging from the urgings of those
+amphibiously inclined folk who would each day run the whole gamut of
+splash, souse, and scrub, to the theories of the dauntless Chicago
+doctor who would put all humanity on a level by abolishing bathing
+altogether.  So we shall merely discuss the means of making the
+bathroom attractive and serviceable, trusting to our individual good
+sense for its proper use.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Everyone has heard of the good woman who was showing some friends about
+her new home.  The bathtub was an object of special pride.  "Why," she
+exclaimed, in a glow of enthusiasm, "it's so nice that we can scarcely
+wait till Saturday night."  We may laugh at her naïveté, but there is a
+good deal more of the "waiting for Saturday night" proposition than is
+good for&mdash;some of our neighbors.  And, on the other hand, there is more
+of the heroic sort of bathing by faithful devotees of cleanliness than
+is necessary.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The persistent spirit will have his bath, if it has to be with bowl and
+sponge in a cold room.  But while most persons are persistently
+cleanly, bathing in the interest of healthfulness should be regular,
+and it should be enjoyable, and it cannot be either unless the bathroom
+is properly equipped and is ready for service when wanted.  Even at
+some extra cost, it should be made possible to secure hot water
+promptly, and without agitating the whole household, at any reasonable
+hour of any day of the week.  No family that we ever knew went bankrupt
+on account of the cost of hot water for bathing, and if they did they
+would have a pretty valid excuse.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PLUMBING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The bathroom is the heart of the plumbing problem, and it is not
+necessary to declare that the plumbing is the most important feature of
+the house, so far as health is concerned.  Did we examine an old house
+(one of even ten years ago) with a view to purchasing or renting, the
+condition of the plumbing would be a first consideration.  If it were
+not safe and in good order, we should have to make it so, for of course
+no one who is mentally competent would take any chances on such a
+menace to the family welfare.  And to repair antiquated plumbing is an
+ungrateful task, while to replace it entirely requires both courage and
+a willingness to let go of one's money in large wads.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Now, we want to remember that we shall wish to have our plumbing
+satisfactory, not only when the house is new, but ten years later, when
+it is not new.  To make sure of this, we need first of all to know
+something of modern methods and equipment.  Then we should employ a
+capable plumber, though he may cost us more than the merely passable
+sort.  Finally, we should supplement good workmanship with the best
+materials.  It may be noted that after the supply houses have evolved
+the best materials, in the sense that the materials are convenient,
+good to look at, and perfectly sanitary, they add frills and
+decorations that bring up the cost to any amount we insist upon
+spending.  But we can get what we really require without paying for the
+frills, if we exhibit tolerable ability in the selection of essentials.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Open plumbing is, of course, the only sort that any self-respecting
+plumber of these days would consent to put in; if he hints at anything
+else, we may well be suspicious of him.  Not only should the plumbing
+be where we can see and get at it, but sinks, lavatories, and tubs
+should have no inclosures that may retain filth or become water-soaked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Sewer gas is not the only evil to be guarded against, but it is the
+greatest.  It is also the subtlest, for in some of its most deadly
+forms it is inodorous, and usually does its work before we become
+conscious of its existence.  The poisonous gas is not necessarily
+generated in the sewer, but may be created anywhere in the pipes that
+obstructions or uneven surfaces permit filth to accumulate.  If,
+however, the plumbing is modern and of substantial quality to begin
+with, has stood all the tests, and is accessible and fairly well
+understood by at least one member of the household, reasonable
+vigilance will obviate practically all worry about sewer gas.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+BATHROOM LOCATION AND FURNISHING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Usually the bathroom is placed in a central location on the second
+floor, accessible, if possible, by both rear and front stairways.  In a
+small house the upper floor is always advisable, as the bathroom should
+be well retired from the living quarters.  Where the space can be
+spared, there should be a closet, however, on the main floor, or at
+least in the basement, where it will be readily accessible from the
+back part of the house.  If the bathtub is popular with the household,
+it is in constant use, and for this reason the closet is in some cases
+cut off from it, and is reached by a separate door.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-212"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-212.jpg" ALT="The bathroom." BORDER="2" WIDTH="371" HEIGHT="505">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: The bathroom.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+The principal thought being to eliminate anything which will retain
+water, tile or rubber flooring is preeminently best for the bathroom.
+If wood is substituted, it should be oak or maple, thoroughly oiled.
+Nothing should rest upon the floor to prevent any portion of the
+surface from being thoroughly cleaned.  A tile wainscoting is almost
+indispensable.  Paper will not stand steam and moisture, and calcimine
+is scarcely better.  Canvas or burlap above a four- or five-foot
+wainscoting makes an attractive combination.  All-white is not called
+for, but light tints of green, buff, or terra cotta will give a
+softening touch of color without destroying the general effect of
+immaculateness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Art glass in the window can scarcely fail to add to the attractiveness
+of the room.  It may be had for from 75 cents to $3.50 per square foot.
+A rug is an essential, but it should be of a sort that will not readily
+absorb and retain water.  Speaking of the window, it must be observed
+that outdoor ventilation, without disturbing privacy, should be made
+possible.  Often a bathroom becomes quite suffocating, and with weakly
+persons the danger of being overcome in a locked room is not to be left
+out of consideration.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE TUB
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The tub may be of enameled iron or of porcelain.  The former costs very
+much less and is almost as satisfactory as the latter, though in the
+cheaper sorts at least the enamel will eventually crack.  Of course it
+can be reenameled, but in most things for the home there will be enough
+of repairing without counting too much upon the ease with which it may
+be done.  That which will go longest without any repairs is usually
+best.  Still, as between the two kinds of tubs, one can scarcely make a
+mistake either way, and the difference in price will govern the
+decision of most of us.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To be consistent in our thought of keeping the floor clear, we should
+have a bathtub that rests upon legs.  It should not, if avoidable, be
+placed under the window, and if it can be several inches from the wall,
+it is more easily cleaned on the outside, and the space next to the
+wall need not accumulate&mdash;or at least retain&mdash;soap, towels, and sponges
+that elude the grasp of the bather.  Tubs come in lengths from four to
+six feet, and cost accordingly.  The comfort of a six-foot bath to
+persons of any considerable elongation is always manifest, while a
+four-foot tub is merely better than a footbath.  Where hot water is not
+on tap in unlimited quantities, five feet is a fair compromise.  In
+porcelain enameled ware a tub of this size costs from $27 to $60,
+without fittings.  The better-class goods, included in this range, are
+warranted not to crack or "craze."  Porcelain prices are almost double
+those mentioned.  If we want stripings or pretty flowers or highly
+ornamented legs for the tub, we will be permitted to pay for them, but
+they are scarcely requisites in the bathroom economy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Waste and overflow arrangements for the tub must be well looked after.
+When the master of the household is likely at any time to turn on the
+water for a dip and then become absorbed in studying the latest
+automobile catalogue, one feels safer to know that the superfluous
+water will find a ready outlet through the pipes, rather than the
+floors and halls.  The same precautions are to be observed with the
+lavatory, where young America may choose to devote himself to original
+experiments in hydrostatics instead of performing the simple process of
+expeditiously removing the grime from his digits.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE LAVATORY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Anything that is all of one piece is likely to prove more lasting than
+the other kinds, in the lavatory.  There are various combinations, some
+of them including handsome marble tops, but basin and top should not be
+separate.  If the wall is tile, the back that fits to it is not
+essential; but if the back is used, it should be of a piece with the
+slab, bowl, and apron, to avoid ugly cracks and breakage.  The bracket
+form is usually regarded as most convenient, as legs are often in the
+way, unobtrusive looking as they may be.  Another method of attachment
+is by a concealed wall hanger.  The pedestal design is somewhat more
+artistic, but additionally expensive not only in the beginning, but
+afterward in the event of damage.  Lavatories in enameled iron cost
+from $16 to $75, including fittings and pipes above floor.  Some people
+like running water in their bedrooms, and a private lavatory is certain
+to be appreciated by visitors.  Objection has been made that the
+introduction of plumbing into the bedroom affords a new source of
+sewer-gas poisoning, but with modern materials and workmanship this
+need not be feared.  For the bedroom the supply man will recommend the
+pedestal arrangement, costing about $50; but less expensive forms might
+serve.  Of course every additional outlet, such as this, increases the
+piping bill and outlay for labor.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE CLOSET
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+So far as the health of the family is concerned, the most important
+feature of the bathroom is the closet.  Here it would be simply folly
+for us to let any consideration of dollars prompt us to substitute an
+inferior or out-of-date apparatus for the safe kind.  It would be
+better to sell the piano or even to steal the money from the baby's
+bank.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The only safety against sewer gas in the closet is to prevent it (the
+gas) from entering the house, and to make sure that gas from the water
+pipes is given an adequate exit and compelled to make use of it.  The
+old-style washout closet was a pretty good assurance that the one gas
+would get in and that the other could not get out.  The siphon closet
+of recent manufacture seems to be a much more dependable sort of
+contraption, though we need not accept as gospel the makers' assertion
+that it is perfection.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The most reliable way to shut out gas is with water.  Even in the old
+closets it was supposed that the outlet pipe would be kept covered with
+water, but as one could not see where the water was or was not, the
+supposition wasn't always to be regarded as proper material for an
+affidavit.  Many a person has moped around and growled at the weather
+or the cook or anything he could think of to blame, when it was the
+cheap old plumbing arrangement he hadn't thought of that was at the
+bottom of his misery.  Sometimes, too, we think a little sewer gas is
+preferable to the plumber and his bill; but that is a very silly
+thought indeed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The siphon closet not only overflows, but it siphons, or draws out, the
+contents of the bowl.  This is replaced with clear water, which
+completely shuts off the outlet pipe.  Comparing the actions of the two
+systems, we readily see the better cleansing power of the double
+action, while the seal on the vent pipe is always evident.  A good
+siphon closet costs from $30 to $50, and unless we find something still
+safer we would better choose it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The low tank is preferable in many ways to the sort that is attached to
+the wall near the ceiling.  It is more compact, can be installed under
+windows or stairways, and looks better.  Besides, it is not so noisy
+and operates with greater ease, with either chain or push button.  The
+extra cost is slight.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+HOT WATER AND HOW TO GET IT
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+We have named the essentials for use in a bathroom.  But there are
+other features that add much to its convenience and attractiveness.
+Some of these need not be purchased at once; in fact, it is better
+here, as elsewhere in the house, to let many things wait upon a
+demonstration of their need.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A bathroom without plenty of hot water accessible is not, as we have
+previously hinted, likely to become a popular resort.  When the wash
+boiler and the tea kettle have to be heated on the range and brought up
+in a precarious progress that threatens a scalding for fingers, feet,
+and floors, to even hint the possibility of the entire household's
+insisting upon a daily hot bath suggests lunacy.  But if the hot-water
+tank is dependent upon the furnace or other house-heating arrangement,
+summer is likely to find it out of commission, with the chief element
+of a good bath obtainable only with much ado.  Then some special means
+of heating water is required.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There are many devices, most of them using gas, and disposed to be
+cantankerous late at night when all but the would-be bather have
+retired.  The gas heaters are placed either in connection with the
+water tank in kitchen or basement, or above the tub, the water running
+in coils over the heater.  These arrangements are speedy and
+comparatively economical.  They are slightly dangerous, however; not
+that they are likely to explode, but from the fact that the gas,
+particularly if of a poor quality&mdash;which is usually the case&mdash;rapidly
+vitiates the air of the room, and may cause fainting or even
+suffocation.  If the apparatus is properly adjusted, and one makes sure
+of the ventilation, heating the water and admitting fresh air before
+entering the tub, no distress need be anticipated.  There are also
+gasolene and kerosene heaters, and an electric coil placed in the water
+is the safest and cleanest but not the quickest or cheapest scheme of
+all.  Its cost is from $5 to $20.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+None of these heating attachments is sure to prove fully satisfactory,
+but any one of them is likely to add a great deal to the
+serviceableness of the bathroom.  To many wholesome people one ideal of
+living is to be able to take a dip whenever one wants it, not merely
+when one can get it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A seat of wood, in natural finish or white enamel, is a handy
+appurtenance to the tub.  It will cost us 50 or 75 cents at a
+department store, or we can pay four or five times as much for a
+fancier quality at the supply house.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+BATHROOM FITTINGS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Of soap holders there are innumerable designs: nickel plated or rubber.
+The latter will hardly be chosen.  A sort that will come as near as any
+to permitting one to grasp the soap without sending it to the far
+corner of the room has a grooved bottom and is retailed for 45 cents.
+A sponge holder at the same price will keep that useful article within
+reach, and for the towels there are bars, rings, and projecting arms.
+Nickel-plated brass or glass bars are preferred, as the rings are
+elusive affairs for both hands and towels, while the projecting arms
+are usually unsubstantial, and if placed too high, constantly threaten
+to stimulate the artificial-eye market.  The bars, if strongly attached
+to the wall, sometimes are a friend in need when one is getting in or
+out of the tub or regaining equilibrium after balancing on one foot.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A mirror of good plate but simple design should be in the room, not
+necessarily over the lavatory, but better so.  Nice ones may be had for
+$3 or more.  There are tooth-brush and tumbler holders galore, and some
+one of these arrangements will be found useful.  The kind that provides
+for a toothpowder box, and has numbered compartments for brushes, is
+best, though there is something to be said for the retention of such
+articles within the private domains of their individual owners.  An
+attachment for toilet paper may be had for a quarter or for a dollar,
+and a workable one is worth while, as is a good quality of paper.  A
+glass shelf, costing anywhere from $1.75 to $12, is almost a necessity,
+but there are better places than the bathroom for the medicine cabinet.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A single-tube shower-bath attachment of the simplest sort is a lot
+better than none, and need not cost over 50 cents.  The more adaptable
+kind, with two ends, will be found ticketed at about $2.  Thence up to
+the elaborate fittings at $250 there are many variations.  Sitz baths
+and footbaths are rather superfluous in the ordinary bathroom, but we
+can spend a hundred dollars for the one and half that for the other
+without being taken for plutocrats.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A very fair bathroom, such as would please most of us, may be equipped
+on a scale about as follows:
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="table">
+Bathtub...............................  $36.00
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Five feet long, three-inch roll rim, porcelain enameled, nickel-plated
+double bath cock, supply pipes, connected waste and overflow with
+cleanout.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="table">
+Lavatory...............................  30.00
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Twenty by twenty-four inches, porcelain enameled, slab, bowl and apron
+on four sides in one piece, nickel-plated waste, low-pattern
+compression faucets with china indexes, supply pipes with compression
+stops, and vented traps.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="table">
+Closet.................................  35.00
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Porcelain enameled, siphonic, oak saddle seat and cover, oak tank (low
+set) with marble top and push button, nickel-plated supply pipe with
+compression stop.
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="table">
+Total for main essentials.............. $101.00
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="table">
+ Tub seat, natural oak.................  $0.50<BR>
+ Soap holder...........................    &nbsp;.90<BR>
+ Sponge holder.........................    &nbsp;.95<BR>
+ Toothbrush and tumbler holder.........   &nbsp;.75<BR>
+ Glass shelf...........................   1.75<BR>
+ Shower attachment.....................   2.00<BR>
+ Mirror................................   3.00<BR>
+ Robe hooks............................   &nbsp;.75<BR>
+ Towel bars............................   1.00<BR>
+ Toilet-paper holder...................    &nbsp;.50<BR>
+ Towel basket..........................   1.00
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="table">
+ Grand total...........................$113.10
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap11"></A>
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XI
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CELLAR, ATTIC, AND CLOSETS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Modern city and town life, with butcher and grocer so conveniently
+near, has done away to some extent with the cellar of ye olden
+tyme&mdash;dubbed one of the aids to "successful diplomacy," the other being
+that very necessary adjunct, a good cook.  Those were truly days of
+bounteous hospitality and plenty which filled the cellar with barrels
+of apples of every variety, bins of potatoes, bushels of turnips and
+onions, barrels of pork "put down," corned beef, kegs of cider turning
+to vinegar, crocks of pickles and preserves of all kinds, quarters of
+beef, pans of sausage, tubs of lard and butter, and&mdash;oh, fruits and
+good things of the earth which we now know only as "a tale that is
+told."  But the cellar of to-day accommodates itself to to-day's needs,
+for though we may still lay in some commodities in quantity, we know
+the things of to-morrow can be had from the market on comparatively
+short notice.  Nevertheless, the things of to-day&mdash;and some other
+things&mdash;must be carefully stowed away, and the deeps of the house made
+hygienic, for as the cellar, so will the house be also, and to this
+might be added that as the floor, so will the cellar be also.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE CELLAR FLOOR
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+In country places, where there is no sewage to contaminate the soil, a
+hard, well-beaten dirt floor is not particularly objectionable, except
+that it cannot well be cleaned.  Boards raised from the ground by small
+blocks nailed to the under side, and leading to bins, cupboards, and
+furnace room, should be laid across it to prevent the tracking of dirt
+to the upper rooms, and these little walks must be swept and kept free
+from dirt and dust.  If the cellar is floored with boards, the flooring
+should be raised sufficiently to allow free circulation of air beneath
+it; but the only strictly sanitary flooring is of concrete, six inches
+thick, covered from wall to wall with Portland or other good cement.
+Cellars, being below the street, and therefore receiving some of the
+surface drainage, are prone to dampness, and, are easily contaminated
+by leakage from drains and sewers, and other filth communicated to them
+through the soil.  These conditions are largely counteracted by the
+concrete and cement flooring, which also bars the entrance of ants and
+other vermin.  The communication of damp cellar air, polluted by
+noxious gases from sewers and decaying vegetable matter, to the upper
+parts of the house is responsible for many an otherwise unexplainable
+case of rheumatism, consumption, typhoid, and other diseases, and any
+outlay of time and money which can render the cellar wholesome and
+immune to ravages of agents external and beyond our control, must not
+be grudged.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+VENTILATION
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+One who owns his home can adopt preventive measures, such as outside
+area ways or air spaces, impossible to the renter; but certain ounces
+of prevention are available to all.  For instance: if drain pipes run
+through the cellar, have them examined often for leaks; if there is an
+open drain, wash it out frequently with copperas and water, and give it
+an occasional flushing with chloride of lime or lye in strong solution
+to destroy any possible odor arising from it; and see that the roof
+drains do not empty too near the house, thus dampening the cellar
+walls.  Whitewash the walls semiannually, not only for sanitary reasons
+but to lighten the "darkness visible," and above all else&mdash;<I>have
+sufficient ventilation</I>!  A perfect circulation of air is insured when
+there are opposite windows; but whatever their location, all windows
+should hang from the top on hinges, or be so put in that they can be
+easily removed from the inside; for open they must be, and that all the
+year round, except in the coldest winter weather, and even then they
+can be opened during the warmer hours of the middle of the day without
+danger of freezing the contents of the cellar.  The cellar can be
+protected from invasion from without by galvanized iron netting, and
+wire screens will exclude the flies.  Both screens must, however, be so
+adjusted that they will not interfere with the opening and closing of
+the windows.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE PARTITIONED CELLAR
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The cellar which is partitioned off into small rooms is more easily
+cared for and kept in order than that which consists of just the one
+large space.  Rough pine-board partitions cost very little, and one to
+shut off the furnace (provided there be one) from the rest of the room
+is absolutely necessary, since the heat which it generates must not be
+allowed to spread and so spoil the cellar for cold-storage purposes,
+for warm, damp air hastens the degeneration of vegetables and meats.
+Unless some other provision is made in the cellar plan for the coal, a
+strong bin, with one section movable, should be built for it in the
+furnace room.  To the posts of this bin hang the shovels&mdash;one large and
+one small&mdash;used in handling the coal.  The premature burial of many a
+shovel might have been prevented had its owner only bethought him of
+those simple expedients, hammer and nails.  A strip of leather nailed
+to another post supports ax or hatchet, while near by is the neat pile
+of kindling which its sharp edge has made&mdash;perhaps out of old and
+useless boxes and barrels.  These must not be allowed to accumulate,
+but be chopped up at once.  Logs and large sticks have each their own
+pile, while chips, sawdust, and shavings take up their abode in a large
+basket or box.  The ashes from the furnace go into boxes and barrels
+outside of the house.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+ORDER IN THE CELLAR
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The cellar is primarily a storing place for food, and not an asylum for
+hopelessly maimed and decrepit furniture.  If there is any which is
+mendable, mend and use it; if not, consign it to the kindling pile at
+once, there to round out its career of usefulness.  Odds and ends of
+rubbish collect very quickly and make a cellar unsightly and difficult
+to keep in order.  If necessary to keep certain boxes for future
+packing purposes, pile them neatly against the wall where they will be
+out of the way, or else send them up to the attic.  When there are no
+rooms partitioned off for their accommodation provide bins, or their
+cheaper substitutes, barrels or boxes, for vegetables and fruits&mdash;boxes
+preferably, since they are more shallow and their contents can thus be
+spread out more.  Vegetables and fruits should be looked over
+frequently, and anything showing signs of decay removed.  Instead of
+placing boxes and barrels, vinegar kegs, firkins, stone jars, etc.,
+directly on the floor, stand them on bricks, small stones, or pieces of
+board.  When so placed, they are more easily handled and moved in
+cleaning, and the circulation of air beneath prevents dampness and
+consequent decay.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SHELVES AND CLOSETS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+A swinging shelf&mdash;double or single&mdash;held by supports at the four
+corners, securely nailed to the joists of the floor above, is almost
+indispensable to the convenience of the cellar.  It should be about
+three feet wide and from six to eight feet in length, and may be
+covered on three sides with galvanized wire fly netting, the fourth
+side to have double frame doors, also wire-covered, and swinging
+outward.  Ordinary cotton netting can he used instead of the wire, and
+is of course cheaper, but must he renewed each year, while the wire
+will last indefinitely.  And so we have evolved a cool, flyless place
+for our pans of milk, meats, cooked and uncooked, fresh vegetables,
+cakes, pastry, etc.  If poultry or meat is to be hung here for a little
+while, wrap it in brown paper or unbleached muslin.  Wash the shelves
+once a week with sal soda water and dry thoroughly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A windowless closet as far as possible from the furnace, and best built
+under some small extension, thus giving it three cool stone walls, is
+the place where preserves and jellies keep best.  Label each jar and
+glass distinctly and arrange in rows on the shelves, taller ones
+behind, shorter in front.  If there is no closet of this kind, a
+cupboard, standing firmly on the floor, can easily be built, for
+preserves must have darkness as well as coolness; otherwise they are
+apt to turn dark and to ferment.  The shelves of the fruit closet must
+be examined frequently for traces of that stickiness which tells that
+some bottle of fruit is "working" and leaking.  Pickles keep better in
+crocks on the cellar bottom.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Laundry tubs and scrub pails are usually kept, bottom up, in the
+cellar.  All articles stored there should be well wrapped in strong
+paper and securely tied, and it will be found a great convenience,
+especially at cleaning time, to hang many things from the ceiling
+beams.  The cellar should be swept and put to rights every two weeks,
+cobwebs brushed down, and all corners well looked after.  Here, as
+nowhere else, is the personal supervision of the housewife essential.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE ATTIC
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+It is with a lump in our throats and an ache in our hearts that we turn
+our thoughts wistfully backward to that place of hallowed memories,
+which is itself becoming simply a memory&mdash;the attic!  What happy hours
+we spent there, rummaging among its treasures, soothed by its twilight
+quiet, and a little awed by the ghosts of the past which seemed to
+hover about each old chest and horsehair trunk and gayly flowered
+carpet bag; each andiron and foot warmer and spinning wheel and warming
+pan!  Roof and floor of wide, rough boards, stained by age and leaks;
+tiny, cobweb-curtained windows; everything dusty, dim, mysterious!
+Where is it now?  Gone&mdash;pushed aside by the march of civilization;
+supplanted by the modern lathed and plastered attic, with its smoothly
+laid floor, which harbors neither mice nor memories.  And though we
+sigh as we say so, the attic of to-day <I>is</I> a better kept, more
+compact, more hygienic affair than its ancestor; for we have grown to
+realize that sentiment must sometimes be sacrificed to sense.  Whatever
+comes we must have hygiene, even at the expense of the little spirit
+germ which seems sometimes to develop best in the "dim religious
+light."  For we cannot forget Victor Hugo and Balzac and Tom Moore in
+their attics.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+ORDER AND CARE OF ATTIC
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Frequently so much of the attic space is finished off for bed and other
+rooms that what remains is somewhat limited, and cannot be turned into
+a catch-all for the may-be-usefuls.  Indeed, only such things as have
+true worth should go into it, whatever its size, these to be carefully
+stowed away, like things together&mdash;boxes, furniture, winter stovepipes
+with their elbows, piles of magazines systematically tied together by
+years, trunks, etc.  In each trunk place its own special key and strap,
+and when garments or other articles are packed therein, fasten to the
+lid a complete list of its contents.  Upholstered furniture must be
+closely covered with old muslin or ticking.  The family tool chest
+seems to fit into the attic, as well as the small boxes of nails, rolls
+of wire, screws, bolts, and the hundred odds and ends of hardware which
+the lord of the house must be able to lay his hand on when he wants to
+do any tinkering about the place.  A semiannual sweeping, mopping, and
+dusting will keep the attic in good condition if thoroughly done, with
+the help of the "place for everything, and everything in its place," a
+precept as well as an example which has entered prominently into the
+upbringing of most of us.  Here is another spot where corners and
+cobwebs like to hobnob, and such intimacy must be sternly discouraged.
+If old garments are kept in the attic, they should be either packed
+away in labeled boxes or trunks, or hung on a line stretched across the
+room and carefully covered with an old sheet.  This line is also
+serviceable when rainy days and lack of other room make it necessary,
+to dry the washing here.  The modern attic is for utility only, and so
+its story is soon told.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CLOSETS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+If woman's rights would only usurp one more of what have hitherto been
+almost exclusively man's rights&mdash;the profession of architecture&mdash;she
+would in truth become the architect, not only of her own fortune, but
+of the fortunes of a suffering sisterhood, whose great plaint is, "So
+many things and no place to put them!"  For who ever knew a mere man,
+architect and artist of the beautiful though he were, who had even the
+beginning of a realization of the absolute necessity for closets&mdash;large
+ones, light ones, and plenty of them?  In his special castle, boxes,
+bundles, and clothing seem to have a magic way of disposing of
+themselves, "somewhere, somewhen, somehow," and so it does not occur to
+him that his own particular Clorinda is conducting a private condensing
+plant which could put those of the large packers to the blush.  But let
+him have just one experience of straightening out and putting to
+rights, and then only will he appreciate that closets are even more
+essential than cozy corners and unexpected nooks and crannies for
+holding pieces of statuary and collecting dust.  If a woman could be
+the "& Company" of every firm of architects, there would be an
+evolution in home building which would lengthen the lives and shorten
+the labors of "lady-managers" in many lands.  When that comfortable
+wish becomes a reality, let us hope that "Let there be light" will be
+printed in large black letters across the space to be occupied by each
+closet in every house plan, for the average closet is so dark that even
+a self-respecting family skeleton would decline to occupy it, evil
+though its deeds are supposed to be.  The downpour of the miscellaneous
+collection of a closet's shelves upon the blind groper after some
+particular package thereon, gives convincing proof that absence of
+light means presence of confusion; while it also invites the elusive
+moth to come in and make himself at home&mdash;which he does.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE LINEN CLOSET
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+But after all, it is a blessed good thing to have some closets, even
+dark ones, and proper care and attention will go a long way toward
+remedying their defects.  Clothes closets we must have, china closets
+we usually have, and linen closets we sometimes have, not always.  To
+the housewife who possesses a linen closet it is a source of particular
+pride, and the stocking and care of it her very special pleasure.  Its
+drawers should be deep and its shelves wide and well apart&mdash;not less
+than eighteen inches, and even more in the case of the upper ones, for
+the accommodation of the reserve supply of blankets, quilts, and other
+bed coverings.  Arrange on the lower shelves the piles of counterpanes,
+sheets, and pillowcases in constant use, linen and cotton in separate
+piles, and those of the same size together.  Washcloths and towels,
+heavy, fine, bath and hand, have each their own pile on shelf or in
+drawer, according to room.  Shams and other dainty bed accessories go
+into the drawers, one of which may be dedicated to the neat strips and
+tight rolls of old linen and cotton cloth, worn-out underclothing,
+etc., as they gradually accumulate.  Where no provision is made for a
+linen closet, a case of the wardrobe type, built along the inner wall
+of a wide hall, answers the purpose very well, and is not unpleasing to
+the eye if made to harmonize with the other woodwork.  A closet of this
+kind may vary in width from four to six feet, with swinging or sliding
+doors, preferably the latter, and drawers and shelves, or shelves
+alone.  Or there may be a cupboard above and shelves below, or vice
+versa.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CLOTHES CLOSETS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Clothes closets of this description can also be built against
+unoccupied bedroom walls, the objection to the number of doors thus
+introduced being offset by the great convenience of having one's
+clothing immediately at hand, exposed to light and to view directly the
+doors are opened, for we find things by sight here, not by faith.
+Angles and recesses which have no special excuse for being are easily
+converted into closets, one to be used as a hanging place for the
+various brooms, brushes, dustpans, and dusters in use about the house.
+Brooms, by the way, must never be allowed to stand upon their bristles,
+but must either stand upside down or hang.  Another nook becomes a
+convenient place for hanging canvas or ticking bags filled with odds
+and ends of dress goods, white and colored, news and wrapping papers,
+balls of twine, and other pick-me-ups.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE CHINA CLOSET
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The china closet is designed for the accommodation of everything in use
+on the dining table, with drawers or cupboards for linen and silver,
+and shelves for dishes.  The latter should be arranged with an eye to
+artistic effect as well as to convenience, platters and decorative
+plates standing on edge and kept from slipping by a strip of molding
+nailed to the shelf, pretty cups hanging, and those of more common
+material and design inverted to keep out the dust.  Stand the large and
+heavy pieces, vegetable dishes, and piles of plates on the bottom
+shelf, and on the next cups and saucers, sauce dishes, small plates,
+etc., placing the smaller dishes in front, the taller ones behind.  The
+third shelf may be devoted to glass alone, with tumblers inverted and
+bowls and odd pieces tastefully arranged, or to both glass and silver.
+On the fourth shelf place such pieces of glass and silver as are only
+occasionally brought into service.  Personal taste and convenience
+dictate to a great extent the placing of the dishes, but absolute
+neatness and spotlessness must hold sway.  No other closet is more
+prone to disarrangement than the china closet, where the careless
+disposal of one dish seems to invite the general disorder which is sure
+to follow.  For this reason it demands the frequent rearranging which
+it should receive.  Its walls should harmonize in color with those of
+the dining room.  Small, fringed napkins or doilies on and overhanging
+the shelves help to impart an air of daintiness and make a pretty
+setting for the dishes.  When the china closet does not connect with
+the dining room, but is a "thing apart," its shelves may receive the
+same treatment accorded those in the pantry&mdash;white paper or oilcloth
+covering and valance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+While well-filled linen and china closets appeal to the aesthetic side
+of the housewife, clothes closets speak directly to her common-sense,
+managerial side.  If she had a say-so in the matter, their name would
+be Legion, but she must not think over-hardly of the few she has, for
+they are invaluable developers of her genius for putting "infinite
+riches in a little room"; while the constant tussle in their depths
+with moth and dust induces a daily enlargement of her moral biceps&mdash;and
+her patience.  May their shadow never grow less (perish the thought!).
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CLOSET TIGHTNESS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Before anything goes into a closet see that all the cracks in the floor
+are entirely filled with putty, plaster of Paris, or sawdust, for
+otherwise dust and lint will accumulate in them, and there the beetle
+will find a house and the moth a nest for herself.  Whiting and linseed
+oil mixed well together until the paste is smooth will make the putty.
+The plaster of Paris is easily prepared by mixing the powder with cold
+water till it is of the right consistency to spread, but it hardens so
+quickly that only a little can be made ready at a time.  Or, dissolve
+one pound of glue in two gallons of water, and stir into it enough
+sawdust to make a thick paste.  Any of these preparations can be
+colored to match the floor, put into the cracks with a common steel
+knife, and made smooth and even with the boards.  A better way,
+however, seems to be to omit the coloring and give the entire floor two
+coats of paint after the cracks are filled.  There are those who prefer
+covering the floor with enamel cloth; but try as we will, it is all but
+impossible to fit it so closely that dust and animal life cannot slip
+under it.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CLOSET FURNISHING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The floors attended to, next see that there are plenty of hooks screwed
+on the cleat which should extend around three sides of the closet.
+They must be at a convenient height, say five feet, and three inches
+below the first of two or three shelves, to be not over fifteen inches
+apart, thus making at least two available for use.  On the under side
+of this first shelf screw double hooks, and additional hanging room can
+be made by suspending a movable rod across the closet on which to hang
+coat hooks holding garments.  Skirts, waists, and coats hold their
+shape far better when disposed of in this way, and can be packed
+closely together.  A twelve-inch piece of barrel hoop wound with
+cambric or muslin, and with a loop at the center, is a good substitute
+for the commercial hook.  On the shelves go hat and other boxes, and
+various parcels, each to be plainly labeled.  A chest of drawers at one
+end of the closet is handy for the disposal of delicate gowns, extra
+underwear, furs, summer dresses, etc., while a shoe bag insures
+additional order.  The soiled-clothes hamper belongs, not in the
+clothes closet, but in the bathroom.  Too much emphasis cannot be
+placed on this.  The odor from the linen pollutes the naturally close
+air of the closet and clings to everything it contains.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CARE OF CLOSETS AND CONTENTS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Wash the woodwork, drawers, floor, and shelves of all closets
+thoroughly with water containing a few drops of carbolic acid&mdash;not
+enough to burn the hands&mdash;and wipe dry.  Painted walls which can also
+be washed are most desirable; if calcimined, the tinting must be
+renewed each year.  If furs are to be put away, brush and beat well,
+and then comb to remove possible moths or eggs, sprinkle with camphor
+gum, wrap in old cotton or linen cloth, then in newspaper, and tie
+securely.  Moths, not being literary in their tastes, will never enter
+therein.  All woolens should be put away in the same manner.  The
+closet is clean and sanitary now, and the main thing is to keep it so.
+All garments ought to be thoroughly brushed and aired before hanging
+away, particularly in the summer time, with a special application of
+energy to the bottoms of street gowns, the microscopic examination of
+one of which revealed millions of tubercular germs&mdash;not a pleasant
+thought, but a salutary one, let us hope.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It seems such a pity that the sun, that great destroyer of bacteria,
+cannot shine into our closets; but until the new architect comes to our
+rescue with a window, all we can do to sweeten them is to remove the
+clothing and air by leaving doors and adjacent windows open for a
+couple of hours.  An annual disinfecting with sulphur fumes will
+destroy all germs of insect life.  Use powdered sulphur&mdash;it is far more
+effective than the sulphur candles which are sold for the same purpose.
+Stand an old pie plate or other tin in a pan of water; on it build a
+little fire of paper and fine kindling, pour on the powdered sulphur,
+and leave to smudge and smoke for twenty-four hours.  The closet must
+be sealed up as tight as possible, every crack, crevice, and keyhole
+being stuffed with newspaper to prevent the fumes from escaping, the
+entering door, of course, being sealed after the fumes are started.  If
+one desires the sealing to be doubly sealed, newspaper strips two
+inches wide and pasted together to make several thicknesses, can be
+pasted over cracks in doors and windows with a gum-tragacanth solution,
+prepared by soaking two tablespoons of the gum in one pint of cold
+water for an hour, then placing the bowl in a pan of boiling water, and
+stirring till dissolved.  This is easily washed off and will not stain
+or discolor the woodwork.  Although there is an impression to the
+contrary, clothing may be left in the closet with entire safety during
+the smoking, provided it is well away from the fire.  Indeed, clothing
+needs purifying as much as closet, and an occasional disinfecting will
+help on the good work of sanitation.  After the closet is once rid of
+moths, tar paper specially prepared for the purpose and tacked on the
+walls, is effectual in keeping them away, for they seem to "smell the
+battle afar off."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap12"></A>
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XII
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+HANGINGS, BRIC-A-BRAC, BOOKS, AND PICTURES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+"Step by step" is a good thought to hold when we reach the fancifying
+of the house, as we only do after days of planning, nights of waking,
+over the must-be's.  And, after all, these last accessories are divided
+from the necessaries by but a hair line, for it is they which give the
+home its soul&mdash;that beautiful, spiritual softness and radiance which we
+love and which differentiate the home from the house which is but its
+shell.  The life and spirit of the home should be one of growth and
+development, which can only be achieved in a proper atmosphere and
+environment; and these it now rests with the home builder to supply in
+the radiant harmony and softness which flow from these final
+"trimmings," which not only create but reflect character.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE CHARM OF DRAPERY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Hangings have a considerable share in making the home atmosphere, their
+mission being to soften harsh angles and outlines and warm cold, stiff
+plainness into comfort.  Window curtains act as an equalizer in
+bringing the very best out of both light and dark rooms, serving at the
+same time as a partial background for their contents; while portières
+are not only aesthetic but useful in deadening sounds, cutting off
+draughts, and screening one room from another.  "Drapes," those flimsy,
+go-as-you-please looking bunches of poor taste knotted, cascaded, and
+festooned over mantels, pictures, and chair backs, we have outgrown,
+confining our efforts in this line to the silk draught curtain to
+conceal the inelegant yawn of an open grate; and even this is being
+supplanted by the small screen.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CURTAINS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Windows must be curtained with relation to their shape and position and
+the nature of the room.  The lower floor of the house, being naturally
+the heavier, can be curtained in a statelier manner than the lighter
+upper story.  Here is the proper place for our handsome curtains of
+Irish point and other appliqués of muslin or lace on net, and of scrim
+with insertions and edges of Renaissance, Cluny, and other laces.
+These curtains are manufactured in three shades&mdash;dark cream or écru,
+light ivory, and pure white, the ivory being the richest and most
+desirable&mdash;and in simple, inexpensive designs as well as those costly
+and elaborate, and usually run about 50, 54, and 60 inches wide, and 3
+1/2 yards long.  The appliqué curtain wears better in an elaborate
+all-over design which holds the net together and gives it body, cheaper
+designs which can be had as low as $8 being coarser in quality and
+pattern.  Nottingham curtains must be discredited among other
+imitations; they are well-meaning but both tasteless and cheaply
+ostentatious.  Lace curtains are rarely draped, but hang in straight
+simplicity, most of the fullness being arranged in the body that the
+border design may not be lost in the folds.  They are shirred with an
+inch heading on rods fastened outside of the window casing over which
+they extend, and care must be taken, if the pattern is prominent, that
+corresponding figures hang opposite each other.  The double hem at the
+top is nearly twice the diameter of the pole, with the extra length
+turned over next to the window, the curtains, when hung, clearing the
+floor about 2 inches.  They usually stretch down another inch, which
+brings them to just the right length.  There is no between length in
+curtains; they must be either sill or floor length.  Over curtains may
+or may not be used with the lace curtains.  They are not necessary but
+have a certain decorative value, particularly in a large room.  Raw
+silk, 30 inches wide, and costing from $0.75 to $1.50 a yard, is the
+only fabric sold now for this purpose for drawing-room use.  The inner
+curtains may be simply side curtains, or made with a valance as well,
+and hang from a separate pole to obscure the top of the casement and
+just escape the floor, covering the outside edges of the lace curtains
+without concealing their borders.  The over curtain should reproduce
+the coloring of the side wall and ceiling in a shade between the two in
+density, but if just the right tint cannot be caught, recourse to some
+soft, harmonious neutral tint will be necessary.  Lining is not used
+unless there is an objection to the colored curtain showing from the
+street, when the lining silk or sateen must be of the shade of the lace
+curtain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Almost any sort of pretty net or scrim curtain is appropriate for the
+downstairs windows, with a preference in favor of the more dignified
+lace in the drawing-room.  With the other rooms we can take more
+liberty.  The ruffled curtain is sash length and looped with a band of
+the same, or with a white cotton cord and tassel at the middle sash if
+the window be short, otherwise midway between it and the sill.  There
+are fine fish nets, or <I>tulle de Cadiz</I>, 45, 50, and 60 inches wide at
+50 cents a yard, which make charming living- or dining-room curtains,
+edged on three sides with the new 1-inch fringe or fancy edge, at 5 and
+10 cents a yard, which comes for that purpose; and madras, plain or
+figured, is also good, a pretty combination being the fish net with
+colored madras over curtain.  Raw-silk curtains are in use, too, but
+anything which stands too much between the home dwellers and the air
+and light is best avoided.  Silk curtains are usually trimmed with a
+brush edge.  Glass curtains are only necessary as a screen or to soften
+the harsh outline of a heavy curtain, and must be as transparent and
+inconspicuous as possible, the right side toward the glass.  They are
+sill length, shirred to a small brass rod set inside the casing, and
+draped if the over curtain hangs straight, to maintain a balance.
+Those used on windows visible at once from the same quarter must be
+alike.  The lace panels with a center design which we sometimes see in
+windows, but more frequently in doors, are too severe to be either
+graceful or ornamental.  The vestibule door is best treated to
+correspond with the drawing-room windows, with an additional silk
+curtain to be drawn at night; or the silk curtain harmonizing with the
+woodwork of the hall may be used alone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The curtaining of bedroom windows has already been discussed at some
+length.  Swisses, dimities, figured muslins, and madras, either alone
+or supplemented by a valance, an over curtain, or both, of madras,
+chintz or cretonne, are preeminently the bedroom curtains, and may
+either be draped or hang straight, depending somewhat on the shape of
+the window.  The long, narrow window needs the broadening effect of the
+draped curtain, the illusion of width being further increased by
+extending the curtain out to cover the casement, while the
+straight-hanging curtain gives additional length to the short window.
+Frilled curtains are usually looped, and seemingly increase the size of
+the room by enlarging the area of vision.  An extra allowance of 6
+inches is made for draping, with an additional inch or two for
+shrinkage.  The charm of simplicity is always to be borne in mind when
+curtaining a room.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PORTIÈRES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Portières must serve their purpose, which is most emphatically <I>not</I>
+that of "drapery" in the sense in which the word has been so much used,
+but of convenience and utility, beauty, of course, being the twin
+sister of the latter nowadays.  Figured portières with plain walls, and
+vice versa, are the rule, the coloring blending with both floor and
+walls and coming between the two in density.  Again the neutral tint
+comes to the rescue if difficulty in matching is met.  There is almost
+an embarrassment of riches in portière materials in plain and figured
+velours, woolen brocades, soft tapestries, furniture satins, damasks,
+velvets, etc., but we are learning the true art value of the simpler
+denims (plain and fancy), reps, cotton tapestries, rough, heavy linens,
+and monk's cloth&mdash;a kind of jute&mdash;for door hangings.  The plain goods
+in dull, soft greens, blues, and browns, with conventional designs in
+appliqué or outlining, are not only inexpensive but artistic to a high
+degree, and are easily fashioned by home talent.  Plain strips, too,
+are used for trimming, and stencil work, but the latter requires rather
+more artistic ability than most of us possess.  Whatever the material,
+it must be soft enough to draw all the way back and leave a full
+opening, but not so thin as to be flimsy and stringy.  The portiere is
+either shirred over the pole or hung from it by hook safety pins or
+rings sewed on at intervals of four inches.  Double-faced goods have
+the hems on the side on which they will show least, with any extra
+length turned over as a valance on the same side.  The finished curtain
+should hang one inch from the floor and will gradually stretch until it
+just escapes&mdash;the proper length.  Single-faced materials are lined to
+harmonize with the room which receives the wrong side.  Lengthwise
+stripes give a long, narrow effect, while crosswise stripes give an
+apparent additional width, and plain materials seem to increase the
+size of a doorway.  Rods may be either of a wood corresponding with the
+other woodwork, or of brass, with rings, sockets, and brackets of the
+same material, the brass rod to be an inch in diameter and the wooden 1
+1/2 inches or more and set inside the jambs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Portières are also of service in softening the opening of a large bay
+window, making a cozy corner, or cutting off an awkward length of hall.
+When a doorway is very high it is better to carry the portière to
+within a foot or so of the top, leaving the opening unfilled, or
+supplying a simple grille of wood harmonizing with the wood of the
+door.  A pretty fashion is to introduce into this space a shelf on
+which to place pieces of brass or pottery.  Beaded, bamboo, and rope
+affairs are neither draperies nor curtains, graceful, useful nor
+ornamental, and are consequently not to be considered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Men of science may cry "Down with draperies!"&mdash;but we members of that
+choicer cult known as domestic science stand loyally by them, for
+though in draperies there may he microbes, there is also largess of
+coziness and geniality.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+BRIC-A-BRAC
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The old-fashioned "whatnot" with its hungrily gaping shelves is
+responsible for many crimes committed in the name of bric-a-brac, and
+calls to mind sundry specimens with which proud owners were wont to
+satisfy its greed: the glass case of wax or feather flowers, flanked
+and reenforced by plush photograph frames, shells, china vases shining
+"giltily," silvered and beribboned toasters, peacock-feather fans, with
+perhaps a cup and saucer bearing testimony to our virtue with its "For
+a good girl," and other fill-upables, gone but not forgotten.  And then
+followed a time when mantels and bookcase tops bore certain ills in the
+way of the more modern painted plaques, strings of gilded nuts,
+embroidered banners, and porcelain and brass clocks so gaudy and
+bedizened as to explain why time flies.  But the architect has come to
+the rescue with his dignified, stately mantel which repels the trivial
+familiarity of meaningless decoration, and the bookcase whose simple,
+quiet elegance is in itself decorative.  Blessed be the nothingness
+which allows Miladi to build her own art atmosphere untainted by gifts
+of well-intentioned but tasteless friends.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE GROWTH OF GOOD TASTE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The germs of the capacity for good taste are born in most of us, but
+must be sedulously cultivated before they can rightly be called taste,
+and bric-a-brac presents the best of possibilities for their
+development.  Begin by buying one piece which you know to be
+beautiful&mdash;simple and refined in outline, choice in design, modest in
+coloring, and fit for the use to which it is to be put&mdash;live with it,
+study it, master it.  It will take on many unexpected charms as you
+grow to know it, and when you are ready to select the next piece you
+will find that the germ of your talent for discrimination has quietly
+become other ten talents and grown into a reliable ability to separate
+the chaff from the wheat.  Each acquisition will have its own peculiar
+individuality which, once conquered, means a liberal education.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+USEFULNESS WITH BEAUTY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+While all bric-a-brac should be beautiful, some certain kinds, such as
+lamps, clocks, and jardinières, are also essentially useful, and these
+have undergone a wonderful transformation during recent years as a
+result of the movement toward simplicity, honesty of purpose, and
+fitness.  It would be hard to imagine anything more incongruous than
+the porcelain lamp decorated with flowers of heroic endurance which
+blossomed unwiltingly on, regardless of the heat; or the frivolously
+decorated clock when the passing of time is so serious a matter; or the
+gaudy jardinière, whose coloring killed the green of the plant it held.
+But we have grown past this.  Now our light at eventide is shed through
+a simple, plain-colored shade of porcelain or of Japan paper and bamboo
+(if one cannot afford the plain or mosaic shades of opalescent glass),
+from an oil tank fitted into a bowl of hand-hammered brass or copper,
+or of pottery, of which there are so many beautiful pieces of American
+manufacture in dull greens, blues, browns, grays, and reds.  These
+lamps are not expensive&mdash;no more so than their onyx and brass
+forbears&mdash;and are quiet, restful, beneficent in their influence.
+Jardinières we find in the same wares and colorings, which not only
+throw the plant into relief but tone in with the other decorations of a
+room in which nothing stands out distinct from its fellows, but all
+things work together for harmony.  Clocks no longer stare us out of
+countenance, but follow, in brass, copper, or rich, dark woods, the
+sturdy simplicity of their ancestor, the grandfather's clock, and so
+become worthy of the place of honor upon the mantel, where
+candlesticks, antique or modern, in brass or bronze, also find a
+congenial resting place.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-254"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG SRC="images/img-254.jpg" ALT="The drawing-room." BORDER="2" WIDTH="498" HEIGHT="385">
+<H4>
+[Illustration: The drawing-room.]
+</H4>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CONSIDERATIONS IN BUYING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+There are so many vases, jugs, bronzes, medallions, jars, and bowls
+that one must needs walk steadfastly to avoid buying just for the
+pleasure of it, whereas each piece must be chosen with reference to the
+place it is to occupy and to its associates.  Any piece of genuine
+Japanese art ware, of which Cloisonné is perhaps the best known; old or
+ancestral china; objects of historical interest; different examples of
+American pottery, among others the Grueby, Van Briggle, and Teco, with
+their soft, dull glazes, and the Rookwood with its brilliantly glazed
+rich, mellow browns, its delicately tinted dull Iris glaze, and other
+styles which are being brought out; Wedgwood with its cameo-like
+reliefs; the rainbow-tinted Favrile glass; the Copenhagen in dull blues
+and grays&mdash;all these embody, each in its individual way, the
+requirements of art bric-a-brac.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the brown Rookwood will overshadow the Copenhagen, and the
+multicolored Cloisonné will kill the Iris, and so each piece must have
+a congenial companion if any.  And above all, don't crowd!  Bric-a-brac
+needs breathing room, and individual beauty is lost in the jumbling
+together of many pieces in a heterogeneous maze of color, which
+confuses and wearies the eye.  All the fine-art product asks is to be
+let alone&mdash;a small boon to grant to so great worth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tip-overable" flower holders defeat their own ends&mdash;utility&mdash;but there
+are many which are well balanced and beautiful, too: tall, wide-mouthed
+cut, Bohemian, or more simple glass for long-stemmed roses, carnations,
+or daisies; brown Van Briggle, Grueby, or Rookwood bowls for
+nasturtiums, golden rod, and black-eyed Susans; green for hollyhocks,
+dull red for dahlias, gladioli, etc., flowers and receptacles thus
+forming a true color symphony.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Parian and Carrara marble, immortally beautiful, we can but gaze at
+from afar, but masterpieces of the sculptor's chisel are ours at small
+cost in ivory-tinted plaster reproductions of the Venus de Milo, the
+Winged Victory, busts and medallions of famous personages, etc., which
+may with truth be called "art for art's sake."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dining-room bric-a-brac generally consists of whatever occupies the
+plate rail&mdash;an interesting array of plates, pitchers, bowls, jars, cups
+and saucers, steins, cider mugs, and tankards.  And here our cherished
+ancestral china finds a safe haven from which it surveys its young,
+modern descendants with benignant toleration.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+BOOKS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+A spirit of friendliness and companionship radiates from a good book&mdash;a
+geniality to be not only felt, but cultivated and enjoyed.  The
+friendship of man is sometimes short-lived and evanescent, but the
+friendship of books abideth ever.  Paraphrasing "Thanatopsis":
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="poem">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"For our gayer hours<BR>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;They have a voice of gladness, and a smile<BR>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And eloquence of beauty, and they glide<BR>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Into our darker musings, with a mild<BR>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And healing sympathy, that steals away<BR>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Their sharpness, ere we are aware."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Truly, a book for every mood, and a mood for every book,
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THEIR SELECTION
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The true measure of a book is not "How well does it entertain," but
+"How much help does it give in the daily struggle to overcome the bad
+with the good," and as one makes friends with muscle-giving authors the
+fancy for light-minded acquaintances among books gradually wears away.
+Although different tastes require special gratification in certain
+directions, yet some few books must have place in every well-balanced
+library.  First always, the Bible, with concordance complete for study
+purposes, a set of Shakespeare in small, easily handled volumes, a set
+of encyclopaedias, and a standard dictionary.  Then some of the best
+known poets&mdash;Milton, Spenser, Pope, Goldsmith, Burns, Wordsworth,
+Keats, Shelley, the Brownings, Byron, Homer, Dante, etc., with
+Longfellow, Riley, and some others of our best-loved American
+poets&mdash;for though we may not care for poetry we cannot afford to deny
+ourselves its elevating influence; standard histories of our own and
+other countries; familiar letters of great men which also mirror their
+times&mdash;Horace Walpole, Lord Macaulay, etc.; essays of Bacon, Addison,
+DeQuincey, Lamb, Irving, Emerson, Lowell, and Holmes; and certain works
+of fiction which have stood the test of time and criticism, with
+Dickens and Thackeray heading the list.  Indulgence in all the
+so-called "popular" novels of the day, like any other dissipation,
+profits nothing, and vitiates one's taste for good literature at the
+same time.  Therefore, hold fast that which is known to be good in
+novels, with here and there just a little spice of recent fiction; for
+man cannot live by spice alone, which causes a sort of mental dyspepsia
+which is very hard to overcome.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SETS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+An appetite for "complete sets" is a perverted one which usually goes
+with a love for the shell of the book rather than its meat.  It is
+better far to prune out the obscure works and buy, a few at a time if
+necessary, the best known works of favorite authors, than to clutter up
+one's bookshelves with volumes which will never be opened.  Partial
+sets acquired in this way can be of uniform edition and gain in value
+from those which are left in the shop.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+BINDING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Books, like our other friends, have an added attraction if tastily
+clothed.  Good cloth bindings, not too ornate or strong in color, are
+substantial and usually best for the home library.  Real leather
+bindings of morocco or pigskin are rich and suggestive of good food
+within, but imitation leather must join other domestic outcasts.
+Though it may look well at first it soon shows its quality of
+shabby-genteel.  Calf has deteriorated because of the modern quick
+method of tanning by the use of acids, which dries the skin and causes
+it to crack.  Books in party attire of white paper and parchment and
+very delicate colors are not good comrades, for the paper cover which
+must be put on to protect the binding is a nuisance, while without it
+"touch me not" seems to be written all over the book.  Our best book
+friends are not of this kind, but permit us to be on terms of friendly
+intimacy with them, receiving as their reward all due meed of courteous
+treatment.  There can be no true reverence for books in the heart of
+the vandal who leaves marks of disrespectful soiled fingers on their
+pages, turns down their leaves, and breaks their backs by laying them
+open, face down.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PAPER
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Their paper should be of a good quality, not too heavy, and the type
+clear, both of which conditions usually obtain in an average-priced
+book.  Their housing has much to do with their preservation.  Dampness
+is, perhaps, their deadliest enemy, not only rotting and loosening the
+covers, but mildewing the leaves and taking out the "size" which gives
+them body.  An outside wall is always more or less damp, and for this
+reason the bookcase must stand out from it at least a foot, if it
+stands there at all, and preferably at right angles to it.  Dust is
+also an insidious enemy, from which, in very sooty, dirty localities,
+glass doors afford the best protection.  These must be left open
+occasionally to ventilate the case, for books must have air and light
+to keep them fresh and sweet and free from dampness, but not sun to
+fade their covers.  Intense artificial heat also affects them badly,
+wherefore, the upper part of the room being the hotter, cases should
+never be more than eight feet high, the use of window seat and other
+low cases having very decided advantages, apart from their decorative
+value.  Whatever the design of the case&mdash;and, of course, it must
+harmonize with the other wood of the room&mdash;its shelves must be easily
+adjustable to books of different heights, standing in compact rows and
+not half opened to become permanently warped and spoiled.  Varnished or
+painted shelves grow sticky with heat and form a strong attachment for
+their contents.  The bookcase curtain is useful more as a protection
+against dust than as an art adjunct, for there is nothing more
+delightful to the cultivated eye than the brave front presented by
+even, symmetrical rows of well-bound volumes, so suggestive of hours of
+profitable companionship.  All the books must be taken down frequently
+and first beaten separately, then in pairs, and dusted, top and covers,
+with a soft brush or a small feather duster.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The true University of these days is a Collection of Books," and one's
+education cannot begin too early.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PICTURES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+So many homes combining taste and elegance and refinement in their
+furnishing, still impress one with the feeling that somewhere within
+the lute there is a rift which destroys its perfect harmony, and that
+rift is not far to seek&mdash;it lies in the pictures.  Cheap chromos,
+lithographs, and woodcuts have small excuse for being in these days of
+fine reproductions in photographs, photogravures, and engravings, and
+their presence in a home indicates not only a lopsided development of
+the artistic sense, but an indifference to that beauty of which art is
+but one of the expressions.  Happy, indeed, is the homemaker in
+realizing the necessity and privilege of growing up to the works of
+artists who have seen beauty where she would have been blind, and felt
+to a depth which she has not known; for in that realization lies the
+promise of ability to rise to the point where she will at last be able
+to feel as the artist felt when he wrought.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+ART SENSE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Mrs. Lofty, who never has to stop to count the cost, loses the valuable
+art education which our housewife all unconsciously acquires in the
+months which necessarily pass between her picture purchases&mdash;months in
+which she has time to discover new beauties, fresh interest, deeper
+meaning, in those she already has.  All these new impressions she
+carries with her to the selection of her next treasure, and the result
+will probably be a choice of greater artistic merit than she would have
+been capable of making before.  So long as there is something in a
+picture which impresses her, the fact that she does not fully
+understand its underlying meaning need be no obstacle to its purchase;
+the light of comprehension will come.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE INFLUENCE OF PICTURES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The picturing of the home should be undertaken in no light humor, for
+better no pictures at all than poor ones.  Little, trivial, meaningless
+nothings are like small talk&mdash;uninspiring and devitalizing&mdash;and
+therefore unprofitable; battle and other exciting scenes wear on the
+nerves; the constant presence of many persons is tiring in pictures as
+well as out; small figures and fine detail which cannot be
+distinguished across the room cause visual cramp; and the rearing horse
+which keeps one longing for the rockers cannot be called reposeful.
+Any picture in which one seeks in vain the rest and peace and quietude
+and inspiration which the home harmony demands, is but a travesty of
+art&mdash;domestically speaking.  There is probably nothing more rest-giving
+than the marine view, and next come the pretty pastoral and cool
+woodland scenes, while madonnas and other pictures of religious
+significance express their own worth&mdash;just a few choice, well-selected
+photographs, etchings, and engravings of agreeable subjects, with a
+painting or two; that's all we want.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+OIL PAINTINGS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Really fine oils are costly, and no house can stand more than one or
+two at most, because of the impossibility of giving them the correct
+lighting and the distance they require, without which their best effect
+is lost.  Properly, an oil painting should be given a wall or even a
+whole room to itself, as water colors and colored prints seem
+colorless, and black-and-whites cold, by comparison.  The deep gold
+frame is its best setting.  Gold frames and mats are usually effective
+on colored pictures of any kind in bringing out certain colors, dark
+ones especially, though artists are growing to use wood frames filled
+to harmonize with and throw into relief some one tone in the picture,
+the mat taking the same color.  Gilt has no place on photographs,
+etchings, or engravings, their simple, flat frames of oak, birch,
+sycamore, etc., with their mats, if mats are used, toning with the
+gray, brown, or black of the picture.  Fantastically carved and
+decorated frames are things of the past, both frame and mat being now
+essentially a part of the picture and blending with it, while setting
+it off to the best advantage.  Passepartout is an inexpensive
+substitute for framing, particularly of small pictures, and is
+effectively employed with a properly colored mat and binding.  White
+mats are still in occasional use for water colors and for
+black-and-whites, but for photographs we find a more grateful warmth in
+following the tone of the picture.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+ENGRAVINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Engravings and photogravures most satisfactorily reproduce paintings,
+as hand work always has more life than the photographic copy.  All
+reproductions, however, bring the works of world-famous artists within
+our reach, and enable us to be on intimate terms with the animals of
+Rosa Bonheur, the peasants of Millet, the portraits of Rembrandt,
+Rubens, Van Dyck, Sargent, and Gainsborough, the landscapes of Corot,
+Daubigny, Dupre, and Turner, and the madonnas of Raphael, Botticelli,
+Bodenhauser, and Correggio.  Amateur photography, with its soft pastel
+effects in black, green, white, red, and gray, is making rapid strides
+and doing much to advance the cause of art in the home.  The
+hand-colored photograph is acceptable if the coloring is true and
+rightly applied, while certain charming colored French prints, so like
+water colors as to be hardly distinguishable from them, have distinct
+worth.  Then there are the reproductions of our present-day
+illustrators, in both black-and-white and colors, and in which we seem
+to have a personal interest.  Originals are always costly and hard to
+get, the exception being the obscure but worthy artist whose fame and
+fortune are yet to be won.  The carved Florentine frame is a valuable
+setting for certain colored heads or painted medallions.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SUITABILITY OF SUBJECTS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Although any good picture may be hung with propriety in almost any of
+the first-floor rooms, heads of authors and pictures having historic
+and literary significance seem especially suggestive of the library;
+musicians and musical subjects of the music room, or wherever one's
+musical instruments may be; dignified subjects, such as cathedrals,
+with the game and animal pictures which used to hang in the dining
+room, of the hall; while we now picture our dining room with pretty
+landscapes or anything else cheery and attractive.  Family portraits,
+if we must have them, hang better in one's own room, but really their
+room is better than their company, as a rule.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+HANGING OF PICTURES
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+As to hanging pictures, the main thing is to have them on a level with
+the eye, and each subject in a good light&mdash;dark for light parts of the
+room, light for dark.  Small pictures are most effective in groups,
+hung somewhat irregularly and compactly.  All pictures lie close to the
+wall, suspended by either gilt or silvered wire, whichever tones best
+with the wall decoration.  The use of two separate wires, each attached
+to its own hook, is preferable to the one wire, whose triangular effect
+is inharmonious with the horizontal and vertical lines of the room.
+Small pictures are best hung with their wires invisible, thus avoiding
+a network on the walls.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap13"></A>
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XIII
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE NICE MACHINERY OF HOUSEKEEPING
+</H3>
+
+<P CLASS="poem">
+  "Solomon Grundy,<BR>
+  Born on Monday,<BR>
+  Christened on Tuesday,<BR>
+  Married on Wednesday,<BR>
+  Took ill on Thursday,<BR>
+  Worse on Friday,<BR>
+  Died on Saturday,<BR>
+  Buried on Sunday.<BR>
+  That's the end of<BR>
+  Solomon Grundy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This little tale serves to show how it simplifies life to have a time
+for everything and everything in its time.  System was probably a habit
+in the Grundy family, and was so bred in Solomon's bones that it never
+occurred to him that he could reverse the order observed by the Grundys
+for generations back and be married on Thursday, for instance.  And yet
+there is room for conjecture as to how much difference it might have
+made in his life if he had elected to contract an alliance on that day
+instead of a fatal illness.  System is a fine servant but a poor
+master.  Simply because custom has decreed that Monday shall be wash
+day, Tuesday ironing day, and so on, it does not necessarily follow
+that this programme must be strictly adhered to in every family, or
+that the schedule of the week's work, once made out, cannot be changed
+to meet the unexpected exigencies which are apt to arise.  To be sure,
+Monday as wash day has many points in its favor; but if it must be
+postponed until Tuesday, or the clothes have not dried well and the
+ironing has to go over into Wednesday, there is no reason why the whole
+domestic harmony should become "like sweet bells jangled, out of tune
+and harsh."  Although order is heaven's first law, it occasionally
+happens that it is better to break the law than to be broken by it.
+And so, when the young housekeeper's nicely arranged plans for each day
+in the week are suddenly turned topsy-turvy, let her take heart of
+grace, remembering that there are whole days that "ain't teched yet,"
+and begin again.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+MONDAY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The chief objection to washing on Monday is that it necessitates
+sorting and putting the soiled linen to soak on Sunday, which not only
+violates the religious principles of many households, but shortens and
+spoils the flavor of the maid's free Sabbath evening.  Then, too, the
+sorting of the linen often reveals holes and rents which should
+properly be repaired before laundering increases the damage, and a
+Tuesday washing makes this possible, with the straightening out and
+readjustment generally necessary after Sunday.  On the other hand, the
+longer the linen remains unlaundered the more difficult it is to
+cleanse, with the risk that good drying days may tarry and the ironing
+thus linger along till the end of the week, which is inconvenient and
+bothersome all round.  Therefore it seems quite advisable for Mrs.
+Grundy to wash on Monday, and an occasional postponement until Tuesday
+will not then be a matter of any great moment.  The routine work of
+every day&mdash;the airing, brushing up, and dusting of the rooms, the
+preparation and serving of meals at their regular hours, the chamber
+work, dish-washing, in short, all the have-to-be-dones, must not, and
+need not, be interfered with by the special work which belongs to each
+day.  There are hours enough for both, and rest time, too, unless the
+housekeeper or maid be cut after the pattern of Chaucer's Sergeant of
+the Law:
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+  "Nowher so bisy a man as he ther nas,<BR>
+  And yet he semed bisier than he was."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Wash day is always somewhat of an ordeal, and a long pull, a strong
+pull, and a pull all together is necessary to carry it successfully
+through.  A simple breakfast will give the maid an opportunity to sort
+and put the clothes to soak, if this was not done the night previous,
+heat water for the washing, and perhaps prepare vegetables for the
+day's meals, before breakfast is served; and if her mistress lends a
+helping hand with the dishes, dusting, or other regular work of the
+day, she can go to her tubs just that much earlier.  Getting up in the
+wee sma' hours and working by early candle light is misdirected
+ambition.  The maid needs her rest to fit her for her day's labors, and
+washing well done requires the light of day.  Set the breakfast hour
+ahead half an hour and so gain a little extra time.  Foresight and
+extra planning on Saturday will provide certain left-overs from
+Sunday's meals which can be quickly and easily transformed into
+Monday's luncheon.  Dinner, too, should be a simple meal, but don't add
+to the other trials of the day cold comfort at meal time.  A
+smoking-hot dinner has a certain heartening influence to which we are
+all more or less susceptible.  The doors leading from the room in which
+the washing is done must be kept closed to exclude the steamy odor from
+the rest of the house, and the maid allowed to proceed with her work
+without interruption.  By eleven o'clock she will probably have reached
+a point where she can stop to prepare luncheon.  If the family is very
+small, she can frequently do not only the washing but considerable of
+the ironing as well on Monday, but that is crowding things a little too
+much.  After the washing is accomplished the line should be drawn at
+what <I>must</I> be done, and nothing which is not absolutely necessary put
+into the few remaining hours of the day, for the maid's back and arms
+have had quite enough exercise for the time being.  If a laundress is
+employed, the cleaning of the kitchen floor and the laundry and the
+ironing should be about accomplished by night, unless it seems best to
+have her clean and do other extra work after the washing is finished.
+If the housewife is her own laundress, she must acquire the gentle art
+of letting things go on the hard days, for she cannot possibly be
+laundress, maid, and house-mother all in one, and her health and
+well-being are of prime importance.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+TUESDAY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The washing being done on Monday, it naturally follows that Mrs. Grundy
+irons on Tuesday, after the regular routine work has been dispatched.
+The first thought is the fire, if the ironing is done by a coal range.
+After breakfast is prepared the fire box should be filled with coal to
+the top of the lining, and draughts opened, to be closed as soon as the
+surface coal begins to burn red, the top of the stove brushed off, and
+the irons set on to heat.  This is a good place to sandwich in a little
+baking, before the fire becomes too hot for cakes or delicate pastry.
+If the maid feels that she must devote this time to the preparation of
+vegetables, or to other work which is liable to interfere with her work
+later on, madam may choose to step into the breach and try her hand at
+sundry delectables for the ironing-day luncheon or dinner, both meals
+being as simple as consistent with comfort and health.  The ironing,
+once commenced, should continue uninterruptedly until time to prepare
+luncheon, when the irons are pushed back and the fire shaken or raked
+and replenished.  By this time the clothes bars should begin to take on
+a comfortable look of fullness.  It is well to keep them covered with
+cheesecloth as a protection from dust and soot and, in summer, fly
+specks.  If any frying is to be done, set the bars in another room
+until it is over and the kitchen thoroughly aired, otherwise the odor
+will cling to the clothes.  After luncheon the range is cleaned and the
+irons drawn forward to heat for the afternoon session; and by the time
+the table is cleared, dishes washed, and kitchen brushed up, both they
+and the maid are ready for the renewed onslaught.  Though it may
+occasionally run over into the next day, the average ironing ought to
+be completed during the afternoon and remain well spread out on the
+bars overnight to dry and air.  Tuesday, though a full day, is so clean
+and neat that there is no reason why the maid should not keep herself
+equally so and be ready to serve the table and attend the door without
+further preparation than slipping on her white apron&mdash;and cap, if she
+wears one.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+WEDNESDAY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+On Wednesday Mrs. Grundy mends and puts away the clean clothes and
+picks up some of the household stitches which had to be dropped on the
+two preceding days.  The kitchen must be put in order, the refrigerator
+must have its semiweekly cleaning, and the ashes which have accumulated
+in the stove removed, a new fire built, and the hearth washed.  While
+the oven is heating for the mid-week baking there are vestibules and
+porches to wash, walks to sweep, the cellar to investigate, and a dozen
+little odds and ends to attend to which, with the baking, make a busy
+morning.  The cleaning of silver dovetails nicely with the Wednesday
+work, and during the canning season the preserving of fruit can be done
+at this time with the least interference with the other work of the
+house, though when it becomes a case of the fruit being ripe, other
+work must give way for the nonce.  In short, Wednesday is the general
+weekly catch-all into which go all the odd jobs for which room cannot
+be found elsewhere.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THURSDAY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+It is Mrs. Grundy's theory, strengthened by practical experience, that
+it is better to extend the weekly sweeping and cleaning over two days
+than to condense it all into one; and so Phyllis takes the bedroom
+cleaning as her special Thursday work, and armed with broom, dustpan,
+pail, and cleaning cloths, she ascends to the upper regions as soon as
+she has reduced the lower to their everyday nicety.  The daily brushing
+up with broom or carpet sweeper removes the surface dirt, but sweeping
+day means a good "digging out."  She commences operations by sweeping
+out the closet and wiping off the floor with a cloth wrung out of hot
+borax water.  Then she brushes down, rolls or folds all curtains and
+draperies, and fastens them up as near the pole as possible, perhaps
+slipping a case over each as a protection from the dust.  If the bed is
+hung with a valance, that, too, is pinned up.  All small toilet
+articles and knicknacks are dusted and placed on the bed, and covered
+with a dust sheet of coarse unbleached muslin, or calico; bowl,
+pitcher, and other crockery are washed and dried, inside and out, and
+placed in the closet, with dresser and stand covers, which have been
+shaken out of the window.  These, if soiled, are relegated to the
+clothes hamper, to be replaced by fresh ones.  Chairs and easily moved
+articles of furniture are dusted and set outside of the room.  If there
+is a fire the ashes are carefully removed and brushed from the stove;
+the windows are opened unless there is a strong wind, when they are
+opened a little after the cleaning is done, and the sweeping begins.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The broom should be of about medium weight, held almost perpendicularly
+and passed over the carpet with a long, light stroke and steady
+pressure which will not scatter the dirt, and turned every few strokes
+that both sides may receive equal wear.  Steps can be saved by sweeping
+to a central point, going with the nap of the carpet, never against it,
+taking special care to dislodge the dust which gathers between the
+edges of the carpet and the baseboard.  Shreds of dampened paper, or
+damp bran scattered over the carpet facilitate its cleaning; or in lieu
+of these the broom may be wet and shaken as free from water as possible
+before using.  Any method of keeping down the dust saves much cleaning
+of woodwork, walls, and pictures.  Rugs are swept in the same way as
+carpets.  After they are cleaned the edges are turned up and the bare
+floor gone over with a long-handled hair brush, or with a broom covered
+with a Canton-flannel bag.  If the floor is painted, follow the duster
+with a damp cloth; if hardwood, rub well with a flannel slightly
+moistened with crude oil and turpentine.  Small rugs are taken out of
+doors and shaken or beaten.  They must be held by the sides, never by
+the ends.  Matting should be swept with a soft broom and wiped over
+with a damp cloth, using as little water as possible, and no soap,
+which stains and discolors it.  Rubbing with a cloth wrung out of hot
+water will usually take out the spots which the regular cleaning has
+failed to remove, while grease spots yield to the application of a thin
+paste of fuller's earth left for three days and then brushed off.
+Rooms not in daily use do not need a thorough sweeping oftener than
+every two weeks, a whisk broom and carpet sweeper sufficing between
+times.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+While the dust is settling put a fresh bag or a clean, soft duster on
+the broom and brush off ceiling and walls, using a straight downward
+stroke for the latter.  The cloth must be renewed when it becomes
+soiled.  A long-handled feather duster is handy for cleaning moldings
+and cornices.  This, by the way, is the only legitimate use to which a
+feather duster can be put, in addition to dusting books and the backs
+and wires of pictures.  Instead of taking up the dust, it simply sets
+it free to settle elsewhere, making a lingering trouble, long drawn
+out; for though one may whisk around with it and then enjoy the
+conscious virtue which comes with having "one more thing out of the
+way," the complacency is short-lived and the cheesecloth duster finally
+has to come to the rescue.  All dusters should be hemmed, otherwise the
+ravelings are apt to catch and pull down the bric-a-brac.  After the
+walls Phyllis dusts the woodwork and goes over it with a clean, damp
+cloth, not omitting doorknobs, and looking out for finger marks in
+likely places.  If these are stubborn, a little kerosene in the
+cleaning water will help on the good work.  She brushes and wipes off
+the window casings and gas fixtures, dusts and replaces the furniture,
+polishes the mirrors, and washes the windows the last thing, provided
+the sun is not shining on them at this time.  If so, the work will have
+to be deferred and slipped in with special work of some other time.  In
+localities where there is little smoke the weekly washing may be
+dispensed with, dusting off each pane with a soft cloth being all that
+is necessary.  In freezing weather this is the only cleaning possible,
+though if the glass is much soiled it can be gone over with a sponge
+wet with alcohol; or with whiting mixed with diluted alcohol or
+ammonia, followed by much the same rubbing process employed in cleaning
+silver, with a final polishing with soft paper, tissue preferably,
+which gives the finest possible shine to any vitreous surface.  If
+there are inside or outside blinds, they must be well brushed, and
+casings and sills which are much soiled washed, before the glass is
+cleaned.  The requirements for successful window cleaning are a third
+of a pail of hot water containing a little ammonia or borax, plenty of
+clean, soft cloths free from lint, a complete absence of soap, and a
+decided presence of energy&mdash;aye, there's the rub!  The less water used
+the better.  Instead of allowing it to run down in tears, squeeze the
+cloth out nearly dry, going quickly over one pane at a time, following
+immediately with a dry cloth, and then polishing.  Wrap the cleaning
+cloth around a skewer and go into the corners and around the edges of
+the glass.  Nothing is more productive of distorted vision than looking
+through a glass darkly.  Wherefore, for the sake of the mental as well
+as the physical eye, see that Phyllis's window cleaning is a success.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After the bedrooms are in order the halls and passages on the same
+floor, and the bathroom, are swept and cleaned.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+FRIDAY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+On Friday Mrs. Grundy's living rooms and first-floor halls are treated
+to their weekly renovation, which is similar to that which the bedrooms
+receive, only there is more of it.  The preparation of the drawing-room
+for sweeping is more elaborate, containing, as it does, more pieces of
+furniture and bric-a-brac to be cared for.  All movable pieces are
+dusted and taken from the room.  Upholstered furniture must be well
+brushed, going down into the tufts and puffs with a pointed brush
+similar to that used by painters, and pieces which are too large to
+move covered with a dust sheet.  A vigorous brushing with a whisk broom
+will be necessary around the edges of the carpet, in the corners, and
+under the heavy furniture.  Mirrors must be polished, glasses, frames,
+backs, and wires of pictures wiped off, and fancy carving which the
+duster will not reach cleaned out with a soft brush.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If the room contains a marble mantel, it can be cleaned with sapolio or
+almost any good scouring powder, and tiles washed with soap and water.
+The fireplace should be cleaned out before the sweeping is done, and
+the hearth brushed, with a bath afterwards.  Brass trimmings and
+utensils in use about the grate can be easily kept clean by rubbing
+first with kerosene and then with red pomade; but if neglected and
+allowed to become tarnished, it is somewhat of an undertaking to
+restore them to their pristine brightness.  In an extreme case rub with
+vinegar and salt, wash off quickly, and follow with some good polish.
+Results obtained in this way are not lasting, and the vinegar and salt
+should be resorted to only after other well-tried means have failed.
+Another home cure for tarnished brass and other metals is a mixture of
+whiting, four pounds; cream of tartar, one quarter pound; and
+calcinated magnesia, three ounces.  Apply with a damp cloth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The dust will settle while the brasses are being cleaned, and then the
+carpet or rug should be brushed over a second time, lightly, and may be
+brightened once a month or so by rubbing, a small space at a time, with
+a stiff scrubbing brush dipped in ammonia water&mdash;two tablespoons of
+ammonia to a gallon of water&mdash;and then quickly wiping over with a dry
+cloth.  The chandeliers and gas fixtures should be wiped with a cloth
+wrung from weak suds, the globes dusted or washed as required, and a
+doubled coarse thread drawn back and forth through the gas tips, if gas
+is in use.  Registers should be wiped out and dusted every sweeping day
+to prevent the accumulation of dust.  All woodwork, if painted, is
+dusted and then wiped down with a damp cloth; if hardwood, use the
+crude oil and turpentine, going into grooves and corners with a skewer,
+and rub hard with a second clean flannel.  Hardwood floors receive the
+same treatment after being swept, and it is a good plan to go over all
+the furniture in the same way to preserve the life and fine finish of
+the wood, but it is imperative that the wood be rubbed <I>absolutely dry</I>.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When the windows have been washed, furniture replaced, and everything
+is in apple-pie order in the drawing-room, each of the remaining rooms
+is cleaned in like manner, ending with the hall, where each stair is
+brushed with a whisk broom into the dust pan, and carpet, walls,
+ceiling, and woodwork attended to as in the other rooms.  The dusting
+cloths and broom bags should go regularly into the weekly wash.  It is
+far better to do one room complete at a time than to have a whole floor
+torn up at once.  Just because it is sweeping day is no reason for
+turning the family into a whole flock of Noah's doves, with no place
+for the soles of their feet.  It is very easy to transform black Friday
+into good Friday by a little judicious manipulation of the household
+helm.  The cleaning, in addition to the routine work, is about all
+Friday can hold, without crowding.  A few anxious thoughts for the
+morrow's baking will provide all things necessary to it, so there will
+be no delay about commencing it; for&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SATURDAY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Saturday Mrs. Grundy devotes to providing for the wants of the inner
+man.  The heaviest part of the day's work is the preparation of food
+for two or three days.  Then the refrigerator must have its second
+cleaning, and the pantry, too, probably requires renovating by this
+time.  Entries must be cleaned, a second tour of inspection of the
+cellar made, and the house put in trim for the "day that comes betwixt
+a Saturday and Monday."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+HOUSE CLEANING
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+This is not the domestic bugbear it used to be, when one mighty spasm
+of cleanliness shook the house from garret to cellar and threw its
+inmates into a fever of discomfort and dismay.  The modern
+house-cleaning season is one of indolence and ease compared with what
+it once was, when not only the cleaning and living problem, but the man
+problem as well, had to be solved; when the master sighed for a spot in
+some vast wilderness, vaguely wondering, as he dined lunch-counter
+fashion and then gingerly wound his weary way through a labyrinth of
+furniture, boxes, and rolls of carpet to his humble couch set up behind
+the piano or in some other unlikely place, if marriage were a failure,
+while contact with the business end of a tack gave point to his
+thoughts.  No, indeed!  The spring and autumn of his discontent are
+made glorious summer now by the more civilized system which, beginning
+at the attic and working downward, cleans one room, or perhaps two at a
+time, as a day's work, restoring everything to order before a new
+attack is made.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PREPARATION
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The task of cleaning a house in which the regular work is
+systematically carried on is not so very arduous, and follows the
+general plan of the weekly cleaning.  Before the real work begins have
+a general overhauling and weeding out of cubbies, boxes, and trunks,
+scrub out drawers and reline with clean paper, and clean
+clothespresses, wardrobes, and closets.  In the spring, there will be
+furs and flannels to shake, brush, and put away, and in the fall,
+summer clothing.  Before the spring cleaning the stoves must be taken
+down and cleaned out, stovepipes cleaned and rubbed with boiled oil to
+prevent rust, and both put away in the attic.  Chimneys, too, must be
+cleaned, and if the heating is by furnace, it should be put in order
+and all its parts swept free from soot, covering the registers during
+the operation.  This is better done in the spring so the summer winds
+cannot scatter the dust and soot through the house.  The supply of coal
+and wood for the ensuing year should be put into the cellar, and then
+the preliminaries are over.  The fall cleaning must be delayed until
+the canning and pickling are all done, and the "busy, curious, thirsty
+fly" is pretty well extinct.  Now is the best time for painting,
+whitewashing, papering, and other decorating and repairing.  If done in
+the spring, its freshness is bound to be more or less spoiled by
+insects during the summer, be as careful as one may.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CLEANING DRAPERIES, RUGS, CARPETS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The first step in the real cleaning is to take down draperies, shake
+well, hang out on the line, right side under, and beat out the dust
+with a dog- or riding-whip.  Follow with a hard brushing on the wrong
+side and wipe down quickly with a damp cloth, following the nap, if
+there is one.  Lace and muslin curtains are repaired, if necessary, and
+laundered, or sent to the cleaner.  If only slightly soiled, they can
+be freshened by folding, after shaking, and sprinkling all the folds
+thickly with magnesia.  Let this remain three or four days and then
+brush out thoroughly.  Next rugs and carpets come out and are well
+swept on both sides, then hung on the line and beaten with a flail&mdash;one
+of two feet of rubber hose partially slipped over a round stick and
+split lengthwise into four parts, being the best&mdash;until no vestige of
+dust remains.  Heavy carpets, Brussels, velvets, Wiltons, Axminsters,
+and Moquettes, need not be lifted oftener than every two or three
+years, unless the presence of moths about bindings, corners, or seams
+is detected, when they must come up at once.  The ravage of moths can
+be prevented by drawing the tacks occasionally, turning back the edge
+of the carpet half a yard or so, laying a cloth wrung out of hot water
+on the wrong side, and pressing with a very hot iron, holding the iron
+on until the cloth is dry and then moving on until all the edges are
+thoroughly steamed and dried.  This will not injure the carpet and
+kills the eggs and larvae.  Follow this up by washing the floor with
+hot borax water, dry thoroughly, sprinkle with black pepper, and retack
+the carpet.  Sometimes small pieces of cotton batting dipped in
+turpentine and slipped under the edges of the carpet will keep the
+moths away.  If there are cracks at the juncture of baseboard and
+floor, pour in benzine and fill with plaster of Paris.  Three-ply or
+ingrain carpets can be steamed and ironed without removing the tacks.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CLEANING MATTINGS AND WOODWORK
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Mattings must be lifted, shaken, swept, wiped off with a cloth dampened
+in borax water, and left on the lawn to sun.  No soap should be used on
+linoleum, and but little water.  Clean by rubbing with a damp cloth
+till no soil comes off, and polish with a very little linseed oil.  All
+upholstered furniture should be taken out, covered with a cloth, and
+thoroughly beaten with a rattan, shaking the cloth as it becomes dusty.
+Before rugs and carpets go down, walls, woodwork, and floors are
+cleaned.  Walls, if painted, are washed with hot water containing a
+little kerosene, a square yard at a time, which is dried before moving
+on to the next area.  Rubbing down with the inside of the crust of
+bread a day old will clean papered walls.  Painted woodwork is best
+cleaned with whiting mixed to a thick cream with cold water, rubbed on
+with a cloth wrung out of hot water, following the grain of the wood.
+Wash off the whiting with a second cloth, rub dry, and polish with
+flannel.  Painted walls may also be treated in this way, beginning at
+the top and working down.  If soap is preferred, use the suds, rubbing
+the soap itself only on very much soiled spots.  Kerosene in the water
+obviates the necessity for soap.  Enameled paint requires only a cloth
+wrung out of hot water, followed by a rubbing with a dry cloth.  Avoid
+using water on hardwood, boiled oil or turpentine and oil being best
+for woodwork and floors.  Now is the time to scrub floors, if pine,
+with hot borax suds, and to rewax or varnish hardwood floors if they
+require it.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CLEANING BEDS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Beds come to pieces and go out of doors, where the slats are washed
+with carbolic-acid water, and springs and woodwork thoroughly brushed
+and sprinkled with corrosive sublimate and alcohol, if traces of bugs
+are found.  If the beds are enameled, they are washed entire, with the
+exception of the brass trimmings, with hot water and ammonia, and wiped
+dry.  Bedclothes, mattresses, and pillows are hung out and sunned,
+mattresses and pillows both beaten, and the former carefully brushed,
+going into each tuft and crevice.  Shades which have become soiled at
+the bottom can be reversed.  House cleaning is not an unmixed joy, but
+if done systematically, one room at a time, it is soon accomplished and
+becomes a part of that biography which all housekeeping is at last&mdash;a
+biography which should be written in characters of gold, its pages
+richly illumined with crosses, and palms, and laurels, and at its end a
+jeweled crown bearing the inscription:
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+  "She hath done what she couldn't!"
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap14"></A>
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XIV
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+HIRED HELP
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The difficulty of dealing with the subject of hired help is about as
+great as the dealing with the help herself, who is so often not a help
+at all.  The appellation is the one insisted upon by the great
+unorganized union of the "household tramp," whose pride cannot endure
+the stigma implied in the name "servant," and who has never learned
+that we, in all walks of life, are more or less servants&mdash;servants of
+Fame, or Ambition, or Duty, or Country, or Business.  The maid who gave
+notice on the spot because she was introduced by the daughter of the
+house to her mother as "your new servant," seems to be the incarnation
+of that spirit of independence which is loosening the very foundations
+of our national structure.  England has servants; Germany has servants,
+but America has help.  Let us then, like Agag of old, walk delicately,
+remembering that help, by any other name, is even more surrounded by
+thorns.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE GENERAL HOUSEMAID
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+It is almost impossible to get a competent girl for general housework
+these days, and viewed in the light of past experiences with the able
+but unwilling, the willing but unable, the stupid, the dishonest, the
+ignorant servant within our gates, with the very occasional good genius
+of the kitchen to leaven the lump of incompetency, we are sorely
+tempted to give up the struggle and do our own work, feeling that the
+time and strength so consumed are more than compensated for by the
+peace of mind which comes with the cessation of hostilities.  But after
+a breathing spell we are generally ready for another joust, and the
+struggle goes on as of yore.  Shops and factories have greatly reduced
+the supply of servants, and of these so many specialize as cooks,
+waitresses, and nurses that we really have a very small choice when
+seeking an all-round maid&mdash;one who has some knowledge and experience of
+the different branches of housecraft.  And right here we encounter
+another difficulty: ways of living and methods of household management
+are so diverse that a girl might be considered competent by one
+mistress and entirely the reverse by another.  Our servants are more or
+less as we make them, and it is frequently the case that the mistress
+herself needs a course of instruction before she is capable of rightly
+instructing her maid&mdash;a course which shall embrace not only
+housewifery, but the cultivation of self-command, patience, wisdom,
+consideration, and that power which comes only with knowledge.  The raw
+foreigner with whom she often has to deal is so entirely ignorant of
+life as we know it; her training in field and peasant's cottage has in
+no way prepared her for the refined home with its dainty furnishings
+and food, and the difficulty of understanding and being understood adds
+to the perplexities of the slow and undeveloped mind.  Such a servant
+is really nothing but a child, so far as her faculties are concerned,
+and should be treated as one until experience and training shall enable
+her to put away childish things.  Like most children, she is an
+imitator; let it be our care that we set only a worthy example before
+her.  She is quick to recognize inconsistency or unfairness, and to
+seize an opportunity to get the upper hand.  Try to treat her with a
+firmness which is not arbitrary, and a kindness and consideration which
+are not familiarity.  Make her feel that she is an entity, a person of
+place and importance in making home comfort, and a good bit of that
+subtle antagonism which seems to exist between mistress and maid will
+be gradually smoothed away.  Don't wonder if she has the blues
+occasionally; you have them yourself.  Don't be worried if she is a
+trifle slow; help her to systematize and so shorten her labors.  If she
+cracks and breaks your dishes show her how to handle and care for them,
+with a timely word about avoiding undue haste.  If she wants to do
+certain things in her own way, let her, provided it is not a bad way,
+until you can prove to her that yours is better.  You know there are
+other ways than yours&mdash;good ones, too.  Study her as you would a
+refractory engine; if she runs off the track, or doesn't run at all, or
+has a hotbox or any other creature failing learn the cause and remedy
+it if you can.  She is human, like yourself, and young too, probably,
+and needs diversion.  Don't begrudge it to her when it is of the right
+kind.  Like you, she needs rest occasionally, between whiles; make an
+opportunity for it.  She needs good strengthening food; see that she
+has it, and if she prefers plain living and high thinking on bread and
+tea, that's her own lookout.  She probably will have strong leanings
+toward the jam closet; lock the door and keep the key, and leave no
+money, jewelry, or other valuables carelessly about to tempt her,
+perhaps beyond her strength.  Don't be overnice in your exactions; if
+she is even a fairly good cook, waitress, and laundress, you are indeed
+blessed among women.  Give judicious praise or kindly criticism where
+due; sometimes a warning in time will save nine blunders.  While she is
+under your roof and a member of your family you are in a measure
+responsible for her welfare, moral, spiritual, and physical, and are
+her natural and lawful protector.  She may neither need nor want your
+protection, but let her feel that it is there, none the less.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+HOW TO SELECT A MAID
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+And now, how shall we find this person to assist us in making domestic
+life "one grand, sweet song"&mdash;we hope!  The usual way is to apply to a
+reputable agency where you will find the better class of girls and be
+dealt with honestly.  An agency of this kind usually keeps on file the
+references of girls offering themselves for service, which will give
+you at least some idea of the qualifications of the maid you may
+engage.  Many housekeepers advertise in the daily papers or trades
+journals, the advertisement being a concise statement of the location,
+whether city or country, the kind of service expected, and the wages
+paid.  A third and usually most satisfactory way of obtaining help is
+through some friend, who can back her recommendation with a guarantee.
+Having entered your application, decide upon your plan of action in the
+interview which will take place when Dame Maid presents herself for the
+mutual inspection&mdash;mutual because, though 'tis not hers to "reason
+why," she has a perfect right to know what awaits her.  This
+cross-examination is somewhat of an ordeal, especially to the novice in
+the servant-hiring business.  It is essential for the housekeeper to
+know just what questions to put to the applicant, what questions to
+look for in return, what to tell her of the household regime and of her
+individual part in it; in short, she must know her ground and then
+stand on it&mdash;it is hardly necessary to add, with decision and dignity.
+The applicant's personal appearance tells something of what she is: if
+slovenly, her work would be ditto; if flashy, with cheap finery and
+gew-gaws&mdash;well, she may be honest and reliable, but she may also make
+it difficult for you to be mistress in your own house.  Be a little
+wary of the middle-aged servant; if she is really desirable, she is not
+apt to be casting about for a position, and besides, she is usually
+"sot" in her ways.  The fact of a girl's looking sullen or morose
+should not militate against her&mdash;she may be only shy or embarrassed.
+If she is impertinent&mdash;maybe her former mistress "talked back," or made
+too great an equal of her.  Anyway, be your own ladylike self and she
+will probably fall in line.  The quiet, steady-looking girl who evinces
+a willingness to learn is apt to be a safe investment.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Question her about her housework experience, her ability to do plain
+cooking and baking, make beds, serve, wash, and iron.  She cannot
+possibly be an expert along each of these lines, perhaps not on one
+even, but a general working knowledge of all is very desirable.  Have a
+complete understanding with her at the outset regarding her work,
+wages, hours of work and of leisure, and breakages.  Don't try to put
+the best foot forward, though there is no particular harm in pointing
+out the special advantages she would enjoy in your home, but give her a
+frank and honest statement of what she may expect.  If she asks you, as
+she no doubt will, if you have much company, say so, if you have, but
+add that you will relieve her as much as you can of the extra work
+entailed.  And don't resent her asking about the size of your family,
+and about her room, for she would naturally be interested in both.  A
+complete understanding at every point may save considerable future
+trouble.  The question of a uniform may come up during your talk.  Some
+girls absolutely refuse to don anything which looks to them like a
+badge of servitude; if this happens, let it go, because you know it is
+not an absolute essential.  At the close of the conference ask for
+references.  No mistress is obliged to give a reference to her
+departing servant, but if she does so it ought, in all conscience, to
+be an honest one.  It is a deplorable fact that many housekeepers,
+either in a desire to be magnanimous, or to avoid a scene or annoyance,
+give utterly undeserved recommendations, thus opening the way for other
+reigns of terror which a little personal application of
+do-as-you-would-be-done-by could have prevented.  Investigate these
+references, either in person or by letter; otherwise you may discover
+later on that they were forged by the girl herself or by some of her
+accommodating friends.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+AGREEMENTS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The term of service is determined by an agreement between mistress and
+maid.  The usual custom is to take the applicant for a week's trial;
+if, at the expiration of that time, both are satisfied, the arrangement
+continues from week to week, if the payments are weekly.  In households
+in which monthly payments are preferred the maid is hired by the month.
+The agreement entered into is nothing more nor less than a legal
+contract, and not to be lightly violated.  When serving by the week the
+maid is entitled to, and must also give, three days' notice; when by
+the month a week's notice is required, or if for any reason her
+mistress wishes her to leave at once, she may pay her one week's wages.
+If the maid leaves suddenly and without giving notice, in the middle of
+her term, she forfeits all claim to wages which have accrued since her
+last payment.  If discharged unjustly and without sufficient cause
+before the expiration of her term, she is entitled to her wages in
+full; but if discharged without notice because of intoxication,
+immorality, dishonesty, arrant disobedience, or permanent incapacity
+from illness, she can claim nothing.  It is customary with some
+housekeepers to start the new maid on a comparatively low salary, with
+the promise of an increase of perhaps fifty cents per month, in case
+she proves herself worthy, till the maximum is reached.  This is often
+an incentive to good service.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE MAID'S LEISURE TIME
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Her times of leisure vary somewhat, according to circumstances; but one
+week-day afternoon and evening, and Sunday afternoon and evening of
+each week are usually allowed her, though she may be given only every
+other Sunday.  If an extra evening can be given her, all well and good.
+The maid should be able to count on getting away at a certain hour so
+she can arrange to meet her friends; and she must also understand that
+ten o'clock is to see her in the house, that hour being as late as any
+girl ought to be out.  In homes which employ two maids equal privileges
+are granted each, one assuming the work of the other during her
+absence.  It is a simple matter to arrange for light meals on the
+cook's day out, and to minimize the serving when the waitress is to be
+away.  When night dinner is the custom and but one maid employed, she
+either goes from ten until four, leaving her mistress to prepare
+luncheon, or else, if she is away over the dinner hour, the meals are
+shifted, with dinner at noon and tea at night.  She leaves on Sunday
+immediately after the dinner work is done and does not return to
+prepare tea.  If she prefers to spend her leisure time quietly at home
+reading or sewing, she should be encouraged to do so and not be forced
+to go out in self-defense to escape calls for extra work at that time.
+The mistress has no claim on her maid's "off" hours.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+DRESS AND PERSONAL NEATNESS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The maid's uniform consists of three print gowns, with a gingham apron
+for morning wear, and for afternoons a white apron with white collar or
+kerchief and cuffs, cap, or whatever additional touches her mistress
+may prefer.  The maid usually buys her own gowns, while her mistress
+provides the accessories, which remain her property when the maid
+leaves.  The afternoon dress of one week becomes the morning dress of
+the following.  Black is frequently adopted for afternoon wear, but
+whatever the dress, insist upon its being washable; woolens absorb
+odors and perspiration and in time make not only her person but her
+room offensive.  Issue an edict against frowzy pompadours and
+"frizzes," pointing out the necessity for having smooth, neat hair,
+particularly in the kitchen.  Require her to bathe regularly.  The
+question of allowing the maid to use the bathroom must be settled
+individually.  If she is careful about cleaning the tub and leaving
+things in good order, there seems to be no reason why she, who so needs
+them, should be deprived of advantages for cleanliness which the rest
+of us enjoy.  "Standing on one foot in a slippery washbowl," footbath,
+or even larger tub, is a poor substitute.  Instruct her about arranging
+her clothing at night so it will air.  You may even find, if she is a
+just-over foreigner, that you will have to introduce her to the
+nightdress&mdash;such things have happened&mdash;explaining to her the
+undesirability of sleeping in underclothing which she has worn all day.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CARELESSNESS
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+If a girl is habitually careless about handling the dishes, and breaks,
+nicks, and cracks result, hold her responsible and deduct from her
+wages what you consider a fair equivalent for the loss.  Such a course
+is astonishingly curative sometimes.  The painstaking, careful girl
+seldom injures anything, and the occasional accident may be overlooked.
+Before your new maid arrives write out an itemized list of all
+crockery, silver, glass, and table linen which are to be in constant
+use, designating those which are defaced in any way, and go over it
+with her every week, holding her responsible for any damaged or missing
+articles.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE MAID'S ROOM
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Remove from the servant's room all traces of its last occupant, and put
+it in order for the new maid, with the bed freshly made up with clean
+blankets, linen, and spread.  The room should be comfortably furnished
+with a single enameled bed&mdash;the plainer the better and more easily
+cleaned&mdash;an inexpensive dresser and washstand, the bowl, pitcher, etc.,
+for the latter preferably of the white porcelain enamel ware, a
+comfortable high-backed rocker, and one common cane-seated chair.  A
+pair of plain white muslin or scrim curtains draped back with a band of
+the same, and plain white covers on washstand and dresser impart a
+certain air of dainty hominess.  A cheap set of hanging shelves for
+books and clock would be a welcome addition.  Walls and floor should be
+painted, and a colonial rug placed before the bed.  Don't give the
+servant's room the look of a perpetual rummage sale by making it a
+dumping ground for old defaced pictures, furniture, and bric-a-brac.
+Remember that it is her only haven of rest, and have it restful, if
+only for selfish reasons, for renewed bodily vigor means well-done work
+and a made-over disposition.  When we think of the average servant's
+room, small, stuffy, poorly ventilated, hot in summer, cold in winter,
+and unattractive to a degree, it ought to bring a blush of shame.
+Above all, see that the bed is comfortable; for who can blame a tired
+girl for getting out on the "wrong side" of a bed so hard and lumpy
+that it surely must rise and smite her!  Place on the woven wire spring
+a good mattress either all cotton, or of straw with cotton top and
+bottom.  Over this spread one of the washable pads which come for the
+purpose, then the sheets&mdash;unbleached if one prefers&mdash;the inexpensive
+colored blankets, and a honeycomb spread.  One feather pillow of
+average size will be sufficient.  When two servants occupy a room two
+single beds should be provided.  If there is no closet, make a
+temporary one by means of a shelf and curtain.  An attractive room
+carries with it a subtle and refining influence.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+HOW TO TRAIN A MAID
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+"Set thine house in order," and have everything&mdash;pantry and kitchen in
+particular&mdash;as you expect your maid to keep it.  First impressions are
+truly the most lasting, and if she comes into a littered, soiled,
+untidy kingdom, you may expect her reign to be proportionally lax and
+her respect for your housekeeping abilities conspicuously absent.  This
+is a bad beginning, and then it is not exactly fair to set her to work
+the very first thing to bring order from chaos.  See that she has all
+the tools necessary to her work, replacing broken or useless utensils
+and assuring yourself that the cutlery and crockery for her individual
+table use are whole and inviting.  Show the maid to her room as soon as
+she arrives, with instructions to don her working garb; and then begins
+the induction into office, a trying experience to you both, and one
+which should be sufficiently prolonged to enable her to get a good grip
+of each new duty as it presents itself.  Avoid confusing her at the
+start with a jumble of instructions, but make haste slowly, giving
+directions in a way which she can understand.  Introduce her into her
+workroom, explain the range and show her how to operate it, point out
+the different utensils and their uses and where foods are kept.  If she
+comes in the morning, her first duty will be the preparation of
+luncheon; give her instructions for that meal, what to have, and how to
+set the table, this being the proper time to go over the list of table
+furnishings with her.  Don't embarrass her by being continually at her
+heels, but give what directions you think necessary and then let her
+apply her judgment and previous experience to carrying them out.  If
+you find that she has neither, don't be discouraged, for you may be
+entertaining an angel unawares, but adopt the line upon line, precept
+upon precept plan, and the situation will slowly but surely brighten.
+If she is overstupid in one direction, she may be bright enough in some
+other to establish a balance.  Luncheon and its dishes disposed of,
+arrange with her about dinner, and after its completion speak about her
+hour of rising, the preparation of breakfast, etc.  And the morning and
+the evening were the first day!
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+THE DAILY ROUTINE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The day's routine of work varies in different households and makes it
+impossible for one to offer an infallible system.  The keeping of but
+one servant does not admit of an elaborate mode of living, and on the
+days on which the heaviest work&mdash;washing and ironing&mdash;falls, madam
+would do well to assume considerable of the regular work herself, the
+care of bedrooms, dusting and putting to rights of living and dining
+rooms, preparation of lunch, and whatever else seems best.  All of the
+hardest work should be done in the morning, before the first freshness
+of maid and day is worn away.  After you have established a
+satisfactory schedule abide by it and oblige your maid to do the same.
+It soon becomes automatic and is, therefore, accomplished with less
+exhaustion of mind and body.  The regular day's work is about as
+follows: The maid rises an hour or an hour and a half before the
+breakfast hour, throws open her bed and window, and goes to the
+kitchen, where she starts the fire (if a coal range is used), fills and
+puts on the teakettle, and puts the cereal on to cook.  Then she airs
+out dining and living rooms and hall, brushes up any litter, wipes off
+bare floors, dusts, closes windows, opens furnace drafts or looks after
+stoves, and, leaving tidiness in her wake, sets the table and completes
+the preparations for breakfast.  The amount of work she can accomplish
+before it is served depends upon herself and upon how elaborate the
+meal may be.  After the main part of the breakfast has been served she
+may be excused from the dining room, and takes this time to open
+bedroom windows and empty slops, after which she has her own breakfast.
+When the breakfast table has been cleared, the dining room set to
+rights, food taken care of, and utensils put to soak, the mistress
+inspects pantry and refrigerator, offers suggestions for the disposal
+of left-overs, arranges with the maid for the day's meals, and makes
+out the list for grocer and butcher, adding whatever she thinks best to
+the list of needed staples already prepared by the maid&mdash;tea, sugar,
+soap, etc.  Never leave the entire ordering of supplies to the maid,
+her part being simply to jot down on a pad hung in the kitchen for that
+purpose a memorandum of such things as need replenishing.  When the
+conference is ended the maid washes the dishes, puts kitchen and pantry
+in order, fills and cleans lamps, prepares dishes which require slow
+cooking, makes the beds&mdash;unless her mistress prefers to do this
+herself&mdash;and tidies up bed- and bathrooms.  If the living rooms were
+not dusted before breakfast, she attends to it now, perhaps sweeping
+front porch and steps, and is then ready for the extra work of the day,
+the cleaning of silver, washing of windows, etc.  When the after-lunch
+work is disposed of she will probably have an hour or two to herself
+before it is time to begin preparations for dinner.  She should not be
+interrupted in her work for this, that, or the other, but allowed to go
+on with it according to schedule.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She usually attends the door except on wash day or during extra stress
+of work.  She will, perhaps, object to doing so when her mistress is at
+home, and may need instruction about slipping on a clean white apron,
+greeting a caller with civility, presenting a small tray for her card,
+etc.  Initiating her into the mysteries of setting and serving the
+table may be a long operation, for the good waitress is usually born,
+not made.  But don't be too exacting; remember that she is not a
+specialist and arrange the flowers and add other nice touches yourself,
+and dispense with elaborateness of serving.  Teach her to economize
+time by washing dishes between courses when her presence is not
+required in the dining room, and insist upon having meals served at
+stated hours, being careful that your family respond to the summons to
+the table with corresponding punctuality.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+DUTIES OF COOK AND NURSE
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Each additional servant complicates the planning of the work.  When
+there are two they are usually cook and waitress, the former having
+entire charge of her own special domain, the kitchen, with all that
+pertains to it, except, perhaps, the preparation of salads and the
+washing of glass, silver, and fine dishes.  She does the heavier part
+of the laundry work and some part of the sweeping, washes windows,
+takes charge of cellar and pantry, or does such other work as her
+mistress designates, each duty being plainly specified at the time she
+is hired.  The tasks of the waitress are more varied.  The airing,
+brushing up, and dusting of the living rooms falls to her share, with
+the entire charge of the dining room, serving the table, and washing
+the dishes, glass, and silver.  She also has charge of the bedrooms, a
+part of her duties in that connection being to prepare them for the
+night, removing spreads and shams, turning down covers, closing blinds,
+and carrying to each room iced water the last thing before retiring,
+and hot water the first thing in the morning.  She attends the door,
+cleans silver, wipes off woodwork, and even helps with the mending when
+the family is small.  She usually does her own washing, and assists
+with the ironing if her mistress so decree.  The division of labor
+between cook and waitress is sometimes a delicate matter, and here more
+than ever is adherence to rule and routine imperative.  The tendency
+for one servant to override the other and more yielding, must be
+guarded against.  When a nurse is to be hired she should be questioned
+as to her experience in caring for children, and her cleanliness,
+honesty, truthfulness, morals, and general character carefully
+investigated.  She ought to be fond of children, and young-hearted
+enough to enter into their little games and joys and sorrows.  No maid
+whose example is demoralizing to the little ones should have any place
+in the home.  The nurse probably will do the baby's washing, and may
+help a little here and there about the house, but as a rule she has
+nothing to do with the general work.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+SERVANT'S COMPANY
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The vexed question of the "lady help's gentleman company" usually has
+to be faced by the housekeeper.  Since yours is your maid's only home
+it is better to allow her to receive her friends there than for her to
+seek them elsewhere, taking it for granted, of course, that any girl
+whom you would be willing to have in your family would have no
+objectionable friends.  And besides, she is somebody's daughter, you
+know.  It is to be hoped that the time will come when every maid can be
+provided with a sitting room of her own, but until then her friends
+will have to be received in your kitchen.  Let her feel that they are
+welcome out of working hours.  A servant of the right kind will
+appreciate and not abuse this privilege.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And so on&mdash;and so on!  After all is said and done one can only give a
+few hints and suggestions on the servant question, with the wistful
+hope that they may help some one to "start right," for maids may come
+and maids may go, but the problem goes marching on.  The only way to do
+when it overtakes one is to grapple with it womanfully, for it <I>will</I>
+happen, even in the best regulated families.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+THE END
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR><BR>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Home, by Various
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Home, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Complete Home
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Clara E. Laughlin
+
+Release Date: September 4, 2005 [EBook #16650]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMPLETE HOME ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: A $3,400 House.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The COMPLETE HOME
+
+
+
+EDITED BY
+
+CLARA E. LAUGHLIN
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
+
+NEW YORK
+
+1907
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1906, by
+
+D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+_Published November, 1906_
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+CHOOSING A PLACE TO LIVE
+
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+
+Taste and expedience--Responsibilities--Renting, buying or
+building--Location--City or country--Renunciations--Schools and
+churches--Transportation--The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick
+maker--The home acre--Comparative cost in renting--The location
+sense--Size of lot--Position--Outlook and inlook--Trees--Income and
+expenditure--Style--Size--Plans for building--Necessary rooms--The sick
+room--Room to entertain--The "living room"--The dining room and
+kitchen--The sleeping rooms--Thinking it out
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+FLOORS, WALLS, AND WINDOWS
+
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+
+The necessity of good floors--Material and cost of laying--Ornamental
+flooring--Waxed, varnished, and oiled floors--Carpets, linoleum, and
+mats--The stairway--Rugs--Oriental rugs--Kitchen and upper
+floors--Matting and cardoman cloth--Uses of the decorator--Wood in
+decoration--Panels and plaster--The beamed ceiling--Paint, paper, and
+calcimine--Shades and curtains--Leaded panes and casements--Storm windows
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+LIGHTING AND HEATING
+
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+
+Necessity of sunlight--Kerosene--Gas and matches--Electric
+light--Pleasing arrangement--Adaptability--Protection--Regulated
+light--The two sure ways of heating--The hot-air furnace--Direction of
+heat--Registers--Hot water and steam heat--Indirect heating--Summary
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+FURNITURE
+
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+
+The quest of the beautiful--Ancient designs--The Arts and Crafts--Mission
+furniture--Comfort, aesthetic and physical--Older models in
+furniture--Mahogany and oak--Substantiality--Superfluity--Hall
+furniture--The family chairs--The table--The
+davenport--Bookcases--Sundries--Willow furniture--The dining
+table--Discrimination in choice
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HOUSEHOLD LINEN
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+Linen, past and present--Bleached and
+"half-bleached"--Damask--Quality--Design--Price and size--Necessary
+supply--Plain, hemstitched, or drawn--Doilies and table
+dressing--Centerpieces--Monograms--Care of table linen--How to
+launder--Table pads--Ready-made bed linen--Price and quality--Real
+linen--Suggestions about towels
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE KITCHEN
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+The plan--Location and finish--The floor--The windows--The sink--The
+pantry--Insects and their extermination--The refrigerator and its
+care--Furnishing the kitchen--The stove--The table and its care--The
+chairs--The kitchen cabinet--Kitchen utensils
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE LAUNDRY
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+Laundry requisites--The stove and furnishings--Irons and
+holders--Preparing the "wash"--Removing stains--Soaking and
+washing--Washing powders and soap--Washing woolens--Washing the white
+clothes--Starch--Colored clothes--Stockings--Dainty laundering--How to
+wash silk--Washing blankets--Washing curtains--Tidying up and
+sprinkling--Care of irons--How to iron
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+TABLE FURNISHINGS
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+Dining-room cheer--Stocking the china-cupboard--The groundwork--Course
+sets--Odd pieces--Silver and plate--Glass--Arrangement--Duties of the
+waitress--The breakfast table--Luncheon--Dinner--The formal dinner--The
+formal luncheon--Washing glass--Washing and cleaning silver--How to wash
+china--Care of knives
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE BEDROOM
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+Light and air--Carpets versus rugs--Mattings--Wall covering--Bedroom
+woodwork--Bedroom draperies--Bedroom furnishing--Careful
+selection--Toilet and dressing tables--Further comforts--The
+bedstead--Spring, mattress, and pillows--Bed decoration--Simplicity--Care
+of bedroom and bed--Vermin and their extermination
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE BATH ROOM
+
+By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
+
+Plumbing--Bath room location and furnishing--The tub--The lavatory--The
+closet--Hot water and how to get it--Bath room fittings
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+CELLAR, ATTIC, AND CLOSETS
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+The cellar floor--Ventilation--The partitioned cellar--Order in the
+cellar--Shelves and closets--The attic--Order and care of
+attic--Closets--The linen closet--Clothes closets--The china
+closet--Closet tightness--Closet furnishings--Care of closets and contents
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HANGINGS, BRIC-A-BRAC, BOOKS, AND PICTURES
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+The charm of drapery--Curtains--Portieres--Bric-a-brac--The growth of
+good taste--Usefulness with beauty--Considerations in
+buying--Books--Their selection--Sets--Binding--Paper--Pictures--Art
+sense--The influence of pictures--Oil paintings--Engravings and
+photographs--Suitability of subjects--Hanging of pictures
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE NICE MACHINERY OF HOUSEKEEPING
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+Monday--Tuesday--Wednesday--Thursday--Friday--Saturday--House
+cleaning--Preparation--Cleaning draperies, rugs, carpets--Cleaning
+mattings and woodwork--Cleaning beds
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+HIRED HELP
+
+By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
+
+The general housemaid--How to select a maid--Questions and
+answers--Agreements--The maid's leisure time--Dress and personal
+neatness--Carelessness--The maid's room--How to train a maid--The daily
+routine--Duties of cook and nurse--Servant's company
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+A $3,400 House. . . . . . . . Frontispiece
+
+A Unique Arrangement of the Porch
+
+A Homelike Living Room
+
+An Attractive and Inexpensive Hall
+
+An Artistic Staircase Hall
+
+An Oriental Rug of Good Design: Shirvan
+
+Good Examples of Chippendale and Old Walnut
+
+A Chippendale Secretary
+
+The Dining Room
+
+The Kitchen
+
+The Laundry
+
+Wedgwood Pottery, and Silver of Antique Design
+
+A Collection of Eighteenth-century Cut Glass
+
+The Bedroom
+
+The Bathroom
+
+The Drawing-room
+
+
+
+
+THE COMPLETE HOME
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+CHOOSING A PLACE TO LIVE
+
+Blessed indeed are they who are free to choose where and how they shall
+live.  Still more blessed are they who give abundant thought to their
+choice, for they may not wear the sackcloth of discomfort nor scatter
+the ashes of burned money.
+
+
+
+TASTE AND EXPEDIENCE
+
+Most of us have a theory of what the home should be, but it is stowed
+away with the wedding gifts of fine linen that are cherished for our
+permanent abode.  We believe in harmony of surroundings, but after
+living, within a period of ten years or so, in seven different
+apartments with seven different arrangements of rooms and seven
+different schemes of decoration, we lose interest in suiting one thing
+to another.  Harmony comes to mean simply good terms with the janitor.
+Or if (being beginners) we have some such prospect of nomadic living
+facing us, and we are at all knowing, we realize the utter helplessness
+of demonstrating our good taste, purchase any bits of furniture that a
+vagrant fancy may fasten upon, and give space to whatever gimcracks our
+friends may foist upon us, trusting that in the whirligig of removals
+the plush rocker, the mission table, and the brass parlor stand may
+each find itself in harmony with something else at one time or another.
+Some day we shall be freed from the tyranny of these conditions and
+then----!
+
+
+
+RESPONSIBILITIES
+
+But when the time comes to declare our independence of landlord and
+janitor, or at least to exchange existence in a flat for life in a
+rented cottage, we find that freedom brings some perplexing
+responsibilities as well as its blessings.  Even if our hopes do not
+soar higher than the rented house, there is at least the desire for a
+reasonable permanency, and we have no longer the excuse of custom-bred
+transitoriness to plead for our lack of plan.  Where the home is to be
+purchased for our very own the test of our individuality becomes more
+exacting.  A house has character, and some of the standards that apply
+to companionship apply to it.  In fact, we live with it, as well as in
+it.  And if we have a saving conscience as to the immeasurability of
+home by money standards we are not to be tempted by the veriest bargain
+of a house that does not nearly represent our ideals.  To blunder here
+is to topple over our whole Castle of Hope.
+
+
+
+RENTING, BUYING OR BUILDING
+
+But the test is most severe of all when good fortune permits us to
+choose locality, site, and building plans, and to finish and furnish
+the house to suit our tastes, even though less in accordance with our
+full desires than with our modest means.  Now we may bring out our
+theory of living from its snug resting place.  It will need some
+furbishing up, maybe, to meet modern conditions, but never mind!
+
+Whether we mean to rent, to buy, or to build, the problem of where and
+what and how is before us.  As folk of wholesome desires, we insist
+first of all upon good taste, comfort, and healthfulness in our
+habitats; and since we may agree upon the best way to attain these
+essentials without ignoring our personal preferences in details, we may
+profitably take counsel together as to what the new home should be.
+
+
+
+LOCATION
+
+Thought of a location should begin with the birth of the home idea,
+even if the purchase-money be not immediately available.  We should not
+only take sufficient time to study conditions and scheme carefully for
+the home, but must sagaciously bear in mind that where real estate is
+in active demand anxiety to purchase stiffens prices.  To bide one's
+time may mean a considerable saving.  However, life, as we plan now to
+live it, is short enough at most, and we should not cheat ourselves out
+of too much immediate happiness by waiting for the money-saving
+opportunity.
+
+The question of neighborhood, if we decide to remain within city
+limits, is a difficult one.  In most of the larger places no one can
+accurately foretell the future of even the most attractive residence
+district.  Factories and business houses may not obtrude, but flats are
+almost sure to come.  Few cottages are being constructed in cities,
+partly because of lack of demand, but principally because they do not
+pay sufficient income on the investment.  Consequently the houses that
+are to be had are seldom modern.  Sometimes they pass into the hands of
+careless tenants and the neighborhood soon shows deterioration.  Still,
+if we are determined to remain in the city and take our chances, it is
+possible by careful investigation to discover congenial surroundings.
+Many of the essential tests of the suburban home that we shall discuss
+hereafter will apply also to the house in a strictly residence district
+of a large city; practically all of them to the house in a smaller town.
+
+
+
+CITY OR COUNTRY
+
+The chances are, however, that we shall choose the suburb.  But before
+we desert J 72, or whatever our shelf in the apartment building may be,
+we may well remind ourselves that we are also to desert some of the
+things that have made city life enjoyable.  For one thing, with all our
+growling at the landlord, we have been able to cast upon him many
+burdens that we are now to take upon ourselves.  Some of our sarcasms
+are quite certain to come home to roost.  The details of purchasing
+fuel, of maintaining heat, of making repairs, are now to come under our
+jurisdiction, and we shall see whether we manage these duties better
+than the man who is paid a lump sum to assume them.
+
+
+
+RENUNCIATIONS
+
+Living in a flat, or even in a city house, we do not know, nor care to
+know, who the people above or next door to us may be; and they are in
+precisely the same position with regard to us.  Mere adjacency gives us
+no claim upon their acquaintance, nor does it put us at the mercy of
+their insistence.  Our calling list is not governed by locality, and we
+can cut it as we wish without embarrassment.  Choice is not so easy in
+the suburb.  There, willynilly, we must know our neighbors and be known
+by them.  Fortunately, in most instances they will be found to be of
+the right sort, if not fully congenial.
+
+The theater, too, must become rather a red-letter diversion than a
+regular feature of our existence, if it has been so.  Whatever
+enthusiasm we may possess for the opera, an occasional visit, with its
+midnight return, will soon come to satisfy us.  Our pet lectures, club
+life, participation in public affairs, frequent mail delivery,
+convenience of shopping, two-minute car service, and freedom from time
+tables--these suggest what we have to put behind us when we pass the
+city gates.
+
+It is also the part of wisdom not to forget that, though the country is
+alive with delights for us when all nature is garbed in green and the
+songbirds carol in the elms and maples, there cometh a time--if we are
+of the north--when fur caps are in season, the coal scoop is in every
+man's hand, the snow shovel splintereth, and the lawn mower is at rest.
+Then it is that our allegiance to country life will be strained, if
+ever--particularly if we have provided ourselves with a ten-minute walk
+to the station.  Wading through snow against a winter wind, we see the
+"agreeable constitutional" of the milder days in a different light.
+
+We should think of all these things, and of some sacrifices purely
+personal.  It is better to think now than after the moving man's bill
+has come in.  Reason as we may, regrets will come, perhaps loneliness.
+But the compensations, if we have chosen wisely, will be increasingly
+apparent, and we shall be the very exceptions of exceptions if, before
+the second summer has passed, we are not wedded beyond divorce to the
+new home.
+
+Once determined upon forswearing urban residence, a multitude of
+considerations arise.  First of these is "Which place?"  Our suburban
+towns have been developed in two ways.  Some are "made to order," while
+others were originally rural villages but have come under metropolitan
+influence.  Living in the latter is likely to be less expensive, and
+local life may have more of a distinctive character; but the husk of
+the past is almost certain to be evident in the mixture of old and
+modern houses and in a certain offish separation of the native and
+incoming elements.  The "made-to-order" town is likely to exhibit
+better streets and sidewalks, to be more capably cared for, to be freer
+from shanties, and to possess no saloons.  Land and living may demand
+greater expenditure, but they will be worth the difference.
+
+
+
+SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES
+
+With ninety-nine out of a hundred families the deciding argument in
+favor of going to the suburb has just got into short dresses and begun
+to say "Da-da."  Already we see pointings to the childish activities
+that we would not check.  No one who stops to think about it chooses to
+have his children play in the city streets or be confined to a flat
+during the open months.  For the children's sake, if not for our own,
+we turn to the country, and one of our first thoughts is for the
+children's school.
+
+I called on a young business acquaintance recently and found him
+engrossed in examining a pile of college catalogues.  "Going in for a
+post-grad?" I inquired.  "Why, haven't you heard?" he responded.  "It's
+a boy--week ago Saturday.  Er--would you say Yale or Harvard?"
+
+This was preparedness with a vengeance, to be sure; but almost before
+we realize that infancy is past, the boy and girl will be ready for
+school, and it is important to know that the right school will be ready
+for them.  Happily, the suburban school is usually of special
+excellence, and the chief thought must be of distance and whether the
+children will need to cross dangerous railroad tracks.
+
+We shall, of course, wish to be where there are strong churches, with a
+society of our chosen denomination, if possible.  It may be that the
+social life which has its center there will provide all the relaxation
+we require; if we seek outside circles, it is desirable to know whether
+we are likely to please and be pleased.  Always there is the suburban
+club; but not always is the suburban club representative of the really
+best people of the town.
+
+
+
+TRANSPORTATION
+
+On the practical side a question of large importance is that of
+transportation.  The fast trains may make the run in twenty minutes,
+but we shall not always catch the fast trains, and the others may take
+forty.  Morning and evening they should be so frequent that we need not
+lose a whole hour on a "miss."  In stormy weather we must find shelter
+in the station, comfortable or uncomfortable.  On the husband's monthly
+ticket the rides may cost only a dime; when the wife and her visiting
+friends go to the matinee each punch counts for a quarter, and four
+quarters make a dollar.  To the time of the train must be added the
+walk or ride from the downtown station to the office, and the return
+walk from the home station.  A near-by electric line for emergencies
+may sometimes save an appointment.  None of these things alone will
+probably give pause to our plans, but all will weigh in our general
+satisfaction or disagreement with suburban life.
+
+
+
+THE BUTCHER, THE BAKER, AND THE CANDLE-STICK MAKER
+
+Not every suburb is blessed with a perfectly healthful water supply.
+We must make sure of that.  We want to find stores and markets
+sufficient to our smaller needs, at least, and to be within city
+delivery bounds, so that the man of the house shall not be required to
+make of himself a beast of burden.  We hope, if we must employ a cook,
+that the milkman, iceman, and grocery boy will prove acceptable to her,
+for the policeman is sure to be a dignified native of family.  We want
+the telephone without a prohibitive toll, electric light and gas of
+good quality at reasonable rates, streets paved and well cared for,
+sidewalks of cement, reasonable fire and police protection, a
+progressive community spirit, and a reputation for our town that will
+make us proud to name it as our place of abode.
+
+
+
+THE HOME ACRE
+
+All these things may be had in scores of American suburbs and smaller
+cities.  But when we have selected the one or more towns that may
+please us, and get down to the house or lot, our range of choice will
+be found rather narrow.  In the neighborhoods we would select, it is
+probable that few houses are to be rented.  Most of them have been
+built for occupancy by their owners, who, if forced to go elsewhere,
+have preferred selling to renting.  There is no prejudice against
+renters, but the sentiment is against renting, and this sentiment is
+well grounded in common sense.  Still, some families find it advisable
+to rent for a year or so, meanwhile studying the local conditions and
+selecting a building site.  This plan has much to commend it, though it
+makes a second move necessary.  Others, who do not feel assured that a
+change in business will not compel an early removal, wisely prefer to
+rent, if a suitable house can be found for what they can afford to pay.
+
+
+
+COMPARATIVE COST IN RENTING
+
+The proportion of income that may be set aside for rent depends on what
+that payment covers.  In a steam-heated city flat with complete janitor
+service, for instance, the rent at $40 is really no higher than the $25
+suburban house, for heat and water rent are included.  With the former,
+perhaps as much as a third of one's income could be spared for the
+fixed charge of rent; but in the country the proportion cannot with
+safety be greater than a fifth.  Few satisfactory suburban houses can
+be rented under $35, and to this must be added the cost not only of
+coal and water, but of maintenance.  On the whole, we are pretty sure
+to decide that it is better and cheaper to buy than to rent.
+
+
+
+THE LOCATION SENSE
+
+There is some advantage in being able to secure a lot in a square
+already built up.  If present conditions are satisfactory we may feel
+reasonably sure that they will remain so.  We know who our neighbors
+are to be, the sort of houses and other improvements that will affect
+the sightliness and value of our own property, and the surroundings
+that should in some degree govern the style of our abode.  There is
+little of the speculative in such a choice, but we shall have to pay
+something extra for our assurances.
+
+In a well built-up town, however, we are likely to find a more eligible
+natural site at less cost if we are not too insistent upon being close
+to the railway station.  The best sites in the older sections are
+already occupied or are held at a premium.  If we have an eye for
+location and the courage of our convictions, we may chance upon an
+excellent lot that can be had for a comparatively small price because
+of its detachment.  It may be so situated that the approach is through
+the choicest part of the village, affording us much of the charm of
+suburban life without additional cost.  Provided sewer, water, light,
+sidewalks, and paving are in, a little greater distance from the center
+may be well repaid by the beauty of the site, and after the family
+becomes accustomed to it the distance is scarcely noticed.  Where there
+are telephones and local delivery of mail and groceries, occasions for
+going uptown are not frequent.
+
+
+
+SIZE OF LOT
+
+The lot should have at least 50 foot frontage; and be from 150 to 200
+feet in depth.  Many subdivisions are now platted without alleys, which
+are not desirable unless scrupulously maintained.  The site should, if
+practicable, be on a plateau or elevation that gives an outlook, or at
+least make natural drainage certain.  A lot below street level means
+expensive filling to be done.
+
+
+
+POSITION
+
+There can be little question as to the special desirability of an east
+frontage.  With this exposure the morning sunlight falls upon the
+living room when least in use, while the afternoon glare finds the
+principal work of the kitchen accomplished.  The indispensable veranda
+on the east and south is also usable for a maximum portion of the day,
+while the more solid side of the structure, being opposed to the
+prevailing winter winds, makes the heating problem easier.
+
+[Illustration: A unique arrangement of the porch.]
+
+
+
+OUTLOOK AND INLOOK
+
+Though we should not pay too much premium for an east front, it is
+always most salable, and the difference will come back if we should
+dispose of the property later.  Outlook and protection against being
+shut in should be assured.  Our own property may be "gilt edge," but if
+the man across the way has backed up a barn or chicken yard in front of
+us our joy in life will be considerably lessened.  Our home is both to
+look at and to look out from, and we do more of the latter than of the
+former.  There are only two ways to make sure of not being shut in,
+unless the adjacent lots are already improved.  These are to buy enough
+ground to give space on either side, or to secure a corner.  Sometimes
+a corner at a higher price is the cheaper in the end.
+
+Certainly it is advisable, even though our own house be not
+high-priced, to discover if there is a building restriction to prevent
+the erection of cheap structures near by.  This is regulated usually by
+a stipulation in the deeds from the original subdivider.  Without this
+guaranty even a high price for lots does not insure that some fellow
+who has put most of his money into the ground may not put up a woodshed
+next door and live in it until he can build a house.  We shall not find
+it amiss either, to know something of the character of the owners of
+the adjoining property, for if they are real-estate men there is a
+probability of their putting up houses built to sell.  Non-resident
+owner may be expected to allow their vacant lots to remain unkempt and
+to object to all improvement assessments.
+
+
+
+TREES
+
+Trees on the lot are a valuable asset, though dislike for sacrificing
+them, if carried too far, may result in shutting out the sunlight that
+is more essential than shade to health.  Cottonwood, willows, and even
+the pretty catalpa are to be shunned in the interest of tidiness.  On a
+50- or even 100-foot lot we cannot have many trees without
+overshadowing the house.  A few away from the building, not crowded
+together, will give more satisfaction than a grove and be less a
+detriment to health.  Ordinarily grass will not grow to advantage where
+there is much shade; and a beautiful lawn, though open to the sunlight,
+is not only more attractive but much more serviceable than ground in
+heavy shadow and covered with sparse grass.
+
+
+
+INCOME AND EXPENDITURE
+
+Prices of vacant property in different sections vary so greatly that
+one cannot safely approximate the cost of a building lot.  It is safe
+to say, though, that if values are figured on a proper basis, a
+satisfactory site for a moderate-priced home can be purchased for
+$1,000 in the town of our choice.
+
+We have made it clear to ourselves that a home--anyone's home--should
+be much more than a house plumped down upon any bit of ground that will
+hold it.  When we come to consider the house itself, we are confronted
+by the knowledge that here the tastes and habits, as well as the size
+and resources of the family, must govern the decision of many problems
+considered.  Numbers alone are not always a fair guide, for sometimes
+the man or the woman of the house, or the baby, counts for much more
+than one in figuring space requirements.
+
+We have in mind here that we are a family of four, that we have an
+income of from $1,500 to $2,500, and that we are prepared to spend or
+obligate ourselves to spend from $2,000 to $3,500 for a house to go on
+a lot to cost $1,000.  The house we think of would be not too large for
+two and certainly would comfortably accommodate five or even six,
+depending upon their relations to one another.  The extremes of income
+mentioned would scarcely affect our plans, and the difference in cost
+is accounted for by the choice of nonessentials and not by differences
+in the principal features of the house.
+
+
+
+STYLE
+
+Now, if we have already set our hearts upon having a house just like
+that "love of a place" we saw in Wayout-on-the-Hill the other day, we
+shall have to reconsider the entire lot proposition.  We may as well
+face the fact that the house which is everything appropriate and
+artistic in one place may in another be simply grotesque.  In this
+phase of the selective work we will profit by the advice of the
+architect, if he be something of an artist and not simply a
+draughtsman.  At any rate, if we have the lot, let us decide what style
+of house should be on it; if we are surely settled upon the house, then
+by all means let us get a lot it will fit--and have a care, too, with
+regard to the style of architecture (or lack of it) in our prospective
+neighbors' houses.
+
+There have been two extremes in later American home
+architecture--overornamentation and absolute disregard for appearance.
+The first arose from a feeling that every dollar spent in the interest
+of art (!) should be so gewgawed to the outer world that all who passed
+might note the costliness and wonder.  The second extreme had its birth
+in an elementary practicality that believes anything artistic must be
+both extravagant and useless.
+
+None of us can afford to build a house merely for its artistic
+qualities.  Yet we feel that we owe it to our neighbors and to the
+community to make the house sightly.  Most of all, we owe it to
+ourselves, for the product of our plans will be the concrete expression
+of our personality.  Fortunately showiness is neither necessary nor
+desirable; while artistic qualities are not so much a matter of money
+as of thought.  A few days ago, in a suburb of a Western city, I passed
+two houses recently constructed.  One was simply an enlarged drygoods
+box with a few windows and doors broken into its sides--altogether a
+hideous disfigurement to the charming spot on which it was erected.
+Across the way stood the other cottage, with the same number of rooms
+as its _vis-a-vis_, but really exquisite in its simple beauty.  And the
+latter, I was told, though equally spacious, cost less than the
+monstrosity across the way!  Into the one, there was put thought; into
+the other none.  Can we resist an opinion as to which home will be
+happier?
+
+
+
+SIZE
+
+Should we be somewhat limited in funds, we may have to make a selection
+between a large house finished in cheaper materials and a small house
+of the best quality all through.  Doubtless much of the "hominess" that
+attaches us to some houses is due to their snugness, but not all of it.
+Size is secondary to adaptation to the family requirements.  Waste
+space is an abomination, because it adds unnecessarily to the burden of
+the housekeeper; yet to be so cramped that everything must be moved
+every day is not a satisfactory alternative.  There should be some
+reserve not only for emergencies but for future needs that may be
+foreseen.  As the children grow up they will demand more room, and we
+shall want to give it to them.  If we do not care to maintain surplus
+space for possible needs, the house should at least be planned with a
+view to making additions that will be in keeping with the general
+effect and will readily fall in with the practical arrangement of the
+house.
+
+What is said about emergency space applies principally to the sleeping
+apartments.  There is an altogether happy tendency in these days to
+simplify the living rooms and to plan them for constant use.  We of the
+East have something to learn from the Californians, whose bungalows and
+cottages are so often models of simplicity without the crudeness of
+most small houses in other sections.  Our coast brethren have
+demonstrated that a four- or five-room cottage will satisfactorily
+house a considerable family, and that it may be given the
+characteristics that charm without increasing the cost.
+
+
+
+PLANS FOR BUILDING
+
+The simplest and in many instances the prettiest cottages are of only a
+single story.  But more than four rooms in one story makes a
+comparatively expensive house, besides using up a great deal of ground.
+With the foundation, first story, and roof provided for, the second
+story adds little to the cost compared to the space gained.  Where
+ground and labor are cheap the single story is to be considered; but in
+most places it would not be practicable for us.
+
+In planning the house due regard must be had for the dispositions of
+the respective members of the family.  In any event we shall not please
+all of them, but the less the others have to complain about the happier
+the rest of us shall be.
+
+
+
+NECESSARY ROOMS
+
+If paterfamilias is accustomed to depositing his apparel and other
+belongings rather promiscuously about, expecting to find things where
+they were left on his return in the evening, it may be better to plan
+his room where it may stand undisturbed rather than to attempt the
+breaking of a habit which shows that he feels at home in his own house.
+Likewise, some place there should be where the mistress may conduct her
+sewing operations without wildly scrambling to clean up when the
+doorbell rings; the children should have at least one place in the
+house where they may "let loose" on a rainy day, and the master should
+have somewhere a retreat safe from interruption, as well as a workroom
+in the basement in which the tools and implements that quickly
+accumulate in a country home may be secure.
+
+
+
+THE SICK ROOM
+
+Sickness, too, may come, and the questions of privacy without an
+unwholesome curb upon both children and adults, of convenience to hot
+water and the bathroom, of saving steps for the nurse, should be
+thought of.  An upstairs chamber is likely to be best on account of the
+ventilation, lighting, and distance from ordinary noises; but frequent
+journeys to the kitchen mean an excess of stair climbing.  Whether
+there be sickness or not, there should be somewhere provision for
+individual privacy, where absolute rest may be gained.
+
+A large indulgence in entertaining must have its influence in settling
+both size and arrangement.  Ordinarily, however, we may expect to be
+reasonably hospitable without enlarging our home into a clubhouse.  If
+we do not consider this matter in building, propriety must compel us
+afterwards to limit our company to numbers that we can comfortably care
+for.
+
+
+
+ROOM TO ENTERTAIN
+
+A good many of us who have contrived very nicely to live in a six-room
+city flat seem to think that we cannot get along with that number of
+rooms in a suburban house, though the latter would be considerably more
+spacious, not taking the basement into account.  So far, however, as
+absolute essentials go, a six-room house, carefully planned, will
+provide for a family of four very comfortably, and it can be built in
+an artistic and modern style for $2,500 near Chicago, about ten per
+cent. more in the vicinity of New York, and probably for a less sum in
+smaller cities.  An eight-room house would cost about a third more, and
+is, of course, in many ways more desirable.  But, generally speaking,
+we demand more room than we really need, and then put ourselves to
+additional expense filling up the space with unnecessary furniture.
+
+
+
+THE "LIVING ROOM"
+
+In small houses there cannot be great variation in the proportioning of
+space, but it is important that the use of each room should be well
+understood and that it should be planned accordingly.  If that is not
+done our decorative and furnishing schemes later on will be misapplied.
+Families differ as to their dispositions toward rooms.  Most of us
+would not think of calling for an old-fashioned parlor in a small house
+nowadays, but merely to change the name from "parlor" to "living room"
+doesn't change our habits.  The living room is meant to take the place
+of parlor, library, reception hall, and sitting room.  If the family
+adjust themselves to it a great saving of space is effected, and the
+home life is given added enjoyment.  Not all of us, however, can fit
+ourselves to new ideas, and it is better to suit ourselves than to be
+uncomfortable and feel out of place in the home.
+
+[Illustration: A homelike living room.]
+
+The living-room plan in a small house reduces the reception hall to
+something little more than a vestibule, but where six rooms are
+exceeded the reception hall may be enlarged and made serviceable.  The
+first impression counts for much, not only with our guests but with
+ourselves, and if the hall be appropriately finished and fitted it
+seems fairly to envelop one with its welcome.  One thing that must be
+insured, whatever form the entrance may take, is that it shall not be
+necessary to pass through the living room to reach other parts of the
+house.
+
+
+
+THE DINING ROOM AND KITCHEN
+
+Vastness is not essential to the dining room.  Under usual conditions
+we are not likely to seat more than a dozen persons at our table, and a
+dinner party exceeding that number is too large for common enjoyment.
+Connection with the kitchen should be convenient without having the
+proximity too obvious.  City kitchens are now usually made just large
+enough to accommodate required paraphernalia and to afford sufficient
+freeway for the cook.  Many families do no home baking, and where fruit
+and vegetables are preserved the basement is utilized.  Compactness in
+the kitchen saves hundreds of steps in the course of a day, and though
+it is difficult for us to forget the spacious room thought necessary by
+our parents, we may well learn, for our own comfort, to profit by the
+modern reasoning that opposes waste space.  Still, it is better to defy
+modern tendencies and even to pain the architect than that the faithful
+house-keeper who clings tenaciously to the old idea should be made
+miserable.  Some persons feel perpetually cramped in a small room,
+whereas others only note the snugness of it.
+
+
+
+THE SLEEPING ROOMS
+
+The general well-being of the family is more directly affected by the
+character of the bed chambers than by any other department of the
+house.  However we may permit ourselves to be skimped in the living
+rooms, it is imperative that the sleeping apartments should be
+large--not barnlike, of course--well lighted, dry, and airy.  Three
+large rooms are in every way preferable to four small ones.  It is, to
+be sure, sometimes difficult to put the windows where they will let in
+the sunlight, the registers where they will heat, and the wall space
+where it will permit the sleeper to have fresh air without a draught.
+But marvels in the way of ingenious planning have been evolved where
+necessity, the mother of invention, has ruled; and assuredly there is
+no greater necessity than a healthful bedroom.
+
+The children's bedroom in the house of six to eight rooms is likely to
+be utilized as a nursery or playroom on rainy days or in winter.  It
+should have an abundance of sunlight.  The largest and best room of all
+should be used by the heads of the household.  To reserve the choicest
+apartment for the chance guest is an absurdity that sensible people
+have abandoned.  If we must, we may surrender our room temporarily to
+the visitor, but the persons who live in a house twelve months of the
+year are entitled to the best it affords.  Flat living has taught us to
+make use of all our rooms, and perhaps its influence is against
+hospitality; but we need not neglect that very important feature of a
+happy home in doing ourselves simple justice.
+
+
+
+THINKING IT OUT
+
+If we would be quite sure of it--to use a Hibernianism--we should live
+in our house at least a year before it is built.  We need an
+imagination that will not only perceive our castle in all its stages of
+construction but will picture us in possession.  Advice is not to be
+disdained, and a good architect we shall find to be a blessing; but the
+happiness of our home will be in double measure if we can feel that
+something of ourselves has gone into its creation.  And this something
+we should not expect to manifest genius, or even originality, but
+tasteful discrimination.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+FLOORS, WALLS, AND WINDOWS
+
+Tradition has established the condition of her floors as the prime test
+of a good house-keeper, and the amount of effort that faithful
+homemakers have had to waste upon splintery, carelessly laid cheap
+boards would, if it could be represented in money, buy marble footing
+for all of us.
+
+But we don't want marble floors.  We are not building a palace or a
+showplace, but a house to live in.  We are not seeking magnificence,
+but comfort and durability (which are almost always allied), as well as
+sightliness (which is not always in the combination).
+
+
+
+THE NECESSITY OF GOOD FLOORS
+
+Happily, when we come to floors we find that those which may be
+depended upon to endure and to give their share of home comfort are
+also the best to look upon.  It would be agreeable to say, further,
+that they cost least, but that would be misleading.  This book fails to
+say not a few things that would be interesting but which wouldn't be of
+much real use to the homemaker, because they aren't so.
+
+Leaving the everlastingly pestiferous question of cost aside, what is
+the best all-around flooring?  Well, so far no one has been able to
+suggest anything that seems so appropriate as a good quality of hard
+wood--which means oak or maple, or both--properly treated and, above
+all, laid down as it should be.  The flooring is a permanent part of
+the house, or, if it isn't, we'll certainly wish it had been.  As it is
+subject to harder and more constant usage than any other part of the
+structure, it must be strong, and it must have a surface that will
+resist wear, or we shall simply store up trouble for the future.  It is
+also a part of the decorative scheme, and as such must help to furnish
+the keynote of our plans.  All these requirements are met by hard wood.
+
+It is possible, we may admit, to have a happy and comfortable home with
+cheaper flooring; but the price that is not paid in money will be
+afterwards collected with interest in effort and sacrifice of
+satisfaction.  Doubtless it is not wise, as some one suggests, to put
+so much money into our floors that we cannot afford to buy anything to
+put on them; but in many instances the appearance of our house
+interiors would be much more pleasing if fewer pieces of superfluous
+furniture were brought in to cover the floors.  At any rate, the
+longed-for furniture may be "saved up for" and bought later; a mistake
+in floors to start with is hard to rectify.
+
+
+
+MATERIAL AND COST OF LAYING
+
+Oak flooring comes in narrow, thin strips of plain- or quarter-sawed.
+At this writing the plain-sawed costs, laid, usually 16 cents per
+square foot.  It will never be cheaper.  Where quarter-sawed is
+desired, a cent per foot must be added.  Borders, which are by no means
+essential, cost from 20 to 45 cents per lineal foot (laid).  In a
+country house, where local artisans do the laying, the expense may be
+somewhat less for labor.  But it must be remembered that fine floor
+laying is a trade of itself, and that the time to make sure of the work
+being properly done is when the wood is put in.  If the building is
+properly constructed, a bulging or cracked floor is unnecessary.  At
+all events, if we are in doubt as to the village carpenter's skill, we
+would do well to pay the few dollars extra for the expert from the
+city.  Careful measurements are also important, especially with borders
+and parquetry.
+
+
+
+ORNAMENTAL FLOORING
+
+The hall, if large, will permit of rather more elaborate treatment than
+the rooms which are to be constantly occupied.  No part of the house
+that is in use for hours at a time should be at all over-elaborated,
+particularly in its unchangeable features.  Care must be taken even in
+the hall to avoid any freakish combination that will either stand out
+conspicuously or demand a like treatment of the walls.
+
+[Illustration: An attractive and inexpensive hall.]
+
+Some folk like tiling in the hall, and if we have little more than a
+vestibule, tiling is quite satisfactory.  It is durable and can be
+easily cleaned.  But if the hall be of the medium or generous size,
+parquetry will be found more approvable if the expense can be afforded.
+The designs are richer without being so glaring as many of the tile
+effects, and the wood seems to have less harshness.  Rubber tiling,
+however, has been found useful in places where there is frequent
+passing in and outdoors, and has been developed in some pleasing
+designs.
+
+The additional cost for parquetry is not formidable in a moderate-sized
+hall.  Prices range from 20 to 40 cents per square foot, according to
+design.  We shall be wisely guided in choosing a simple square
+arrangement that will not protest against any passable decoration of
+the walls.  Unless the hall is spacious borders would better be
+omitted.  They need to have the effect of running into hearths and
+stairways, and in a narrow passage the center will be too crowded.
+
+Dining room and living room suggest the quarter-sawed flooring, the
+former admitting perhaps the stronger border, unless the two rooms are
+in such direct connection that they require continuous treatment.
+Upstairs, plain-sawed will do nicely for the hall and chambers, and
+also for the bathroom if it is not tiled.  Borders, of course, may be
+dispensed with here, as there should be no suggestion of
+over-ornamentation in the permanent features of a sleeping room.
+
+For the kitchen hard maple is found to serve well.  One may not find it
+amiss to inquire into the merits and costs of composition and rubber
+tiling, but they are not essential to comfort and cleanliness.  Here we
+are concerned with essentials; it is fully understood that we have our
+own permission to go farther afield in pursuit of more costly things if
+we choose.
+
+
+
+WAXED, VARNISHED, AND OILED FLOORS
+
+Unless there are small children, expert opinion and the demands of
+beauty favor waxed floors.  Ordinarily the floor must he rewaxed about
+every three months, but a pound of wax, that will cover two ordinary
+sized rooms, costs only 50 cents, and it may be applied by anyone.  To
+keep the floors in best condition the wax brush should be passed over
+them every fortnight.
+
+Varnish floors scratch but are not affected by water, and on the whole
+are rather more popular than oil or wax.  They cost something less to
+maintain, and are less conducive to embarrassing gyratics on the part
+of dignified persons wearing slippery shoes.
+
+If we may not demand oak or maple floors, well-laid Georgia pine,
+carefully oiled or varnished, would be our next choice.  There is a
+large saving in initial expense, and perhaps some one else will be
+using them five years from now!  Though we cannot expect to get
+anything like equal satisfaction from the cheaper wood as compared with
+oak, if we do feel bound to adopt it we shall have less cause for
+complaint later if we view very carefully the material and the
+operations of laying and finishing.  Poor workmanship can spoil the
+best of materials; what it can do with cheaper stuff is absolutely
+unmentionable.  Paint may be used on the upper floors and even limited
+to a border in the bedrooms.
+
+
+
+CARPETS
+
+The floors would not be quite so important if we were planning to
+entirely cover up their beauties or their uglinesses with another kind
+of beauty or ugliness in the form of carpets.  But experience has long
+since made it clear to all of us that rugs are not only more healthful
+and in better taste, but, taken by and large, give less trouble to the
+housekeeper than carpets.  Owing to the fixed position of the latter
+they are, too, quality for quality, less durable.  It is true that in
+some parts of the house a rug or carpet fastened down may be desirable,
+but with good floors no such thing will suggest itself in the living
+rooms at least.
+
+
+
+LINOLEUM AND MATS
+
+Where a very small vestibule is substituted for the reception hall a
+parquetry or tile flooring would be left uncovered.  Over a cheap floor
+a good quality of linoleum, costing about 50 cents per square yard, may
+he placed.  A small mat of neat design, if such can be found, will take
+care of those persons who have the foot-scraping habit, regardless of
+what they scrape upon, though the mat outside should do the important
+work.  Serviceable mats are seldom things of beauty.  As they come
+under the head of floor coverings, it may be well to note that the best
+quality leather mat, guaranteed to last twenty years, costs $1.25 a
+square foot.  A fair imitation may be had for less than half that
+figure, and has the same proportion of value.  The open-steel mat that
+serves best with tenacious mud costs 50 cents per square foot, and for
+rubber we must add a half or double the price, depending on whether we
+demand the made-to-order article or are content with stock.  The old
+reliable cocoa mat may be had from 35 cents per square foot up, and is
+quite as useful and scarcely uglier than the others.
+
+
+
+THE STAIRWAY
+
+For appearance' sake, if our stairway is well constructed of good
+woods, we should forbear to hide it.  But there is no place in the
+house where little Willie can more effectively proclaim to all the
+household world his possession of double-nailed heels than on the
+unprotected rises of the stairway.  Even the tiny heels of the mistress
+of the home seem to clump like the boots of a giant in their numberless
+journeys up and down.  So the hall runner must have a place.  Perhaps
+the carpet will be of red or green, depending on the walls, but it need
+cost little more than $1 per yard for a fair quality.  It is put down
+with stair pads ($1 per dozen) and ordinary tacks, and the expenditure
+of 10 cents per yard for a professional layer will not be regretted.
+The amateur who can do a really good job on a stair carpet is a rarity.
+
+[Illustration: An artistic staircase hall.]
+
+
+
+RUGS
+
+The Biglow Bagdad domestic rug in 27 by 54 and 36 by 63-inch sizes is
+inexpensive but looks and wears well in the hall.  The first size costs
+about $4 and the second $7.  A little better quality in Anglo-Indian or
+Anglo-Persian costs a dollar or so more per rug.  Where there is
+constant direct use in the hall we will do wisely to get either a
+moderate-priced article that may be renewed or something expensive that
+will wear indefinitely.  Sometimes the latter is the more economical
+plan.  Very often halls are so shaped that a rug must be made to order.
+It is better to do this and have a good-sized rug that will lie well
+than to risk tripping and slipping with smaller ones.
+
+For the living room a variety of choice in rugs is offered.  Attempts
+to utilize a number of small rugs are not usually joyous in their
+outcome; besides, the floor space is too badly broken up.  The large
+center rug holds its own, with some reenforcement in the alcove or
+perhaps before the hearth.
+
+What quality the rug shall be depends largely upon the length of our
+purse; yet sagacity and a modest fund will sometimes do more than
+plethora and no thought.  Design selection is a task to vex the most
+patient, but we must not be drawn into a hurried decision.  If we are
+near enough to the business house with which we are dealing, it is
+advisable to have a selection of rugs sent out for inspection on the
+floors.  Seen in the salesroom and in our house they may present
+different aspects.
+
+Generally speaking, the showiest designs are in the cheaper goods, and
+the showier a cheap article is the quicker its shoddy qualities will be
+made manifest.  Therefore, if we must count the pennies on our
+living-room rug, let us select a simple design with a good
+body--something that will be unobtrusive even when it begins to appeal
+for replacement.
+
+There is a considerable range of Wiltons, from the so-called Wilton
+velvet to the "Royal" Wilton.  They are by no means the cheapest,
+though one may go fabulously beyond them in price; but their popularity
+shows them to be a good average quality, suited to the home planned on
+a modest scale.  Body Brussels, although not affording such rich
+effects, also has many friends, and tapestry Brussels may be
+considered.  There are names innumerable for rugs and carpets, some of
+which have little real significance.  If one knows a good design when
+it is seen, a little common-sense observation of weights and weave and
+a thoughtful comparison of prices will help to secure the best
+selections.  Here are some specimen sizes and prices quoted by one
+establishment:
+
+     SIZE.      Body Brussels.   Biglow Bagdad.   Anglo-Indian.
+  6.0 x  9.0....... $18.00          $25.00           $30.00
+  8.3 x 10.6.......  22.50           30.00            45.00
+  9.0 x 10.6.......  25.00           35.00            50.00
+ 10.6 x 12.0.......  32.50           45.00            65.00
+ 10.6 x 13.6.......  35.00           52.50            75.00
+ 11.3 x 15.0.......  42.50           60.00            80.00
+
+Saxony Axminster, 9 by 12, is priced at $45, and is considered to be
+more serviceable than most grades of Wilton.
+
+For the dining room the problem is about the same as for the principal
+apartment.  The rug need not be so expensive as the one in the living
+room, but it must assuredly be of the enduring sort.
+
+The Scotch Caledon rugs sometimes solve the difficulty here.  Indeed,
+they are not out of place in a really "homey" living room or elsewhere
+in the house.  They are made of wool, woven like an ingrain, with no
+nap, and are especially pleasing for their artistic soft colorings,
+mostly in green or blue two-tone effects.  They are, strictly speaking,
+not reversible, but some designs will permit use on both sides.  While
+they do not wear quite so well as a Wilton, they come at least a fifth
+cheaper.  Prices range from $9 for a 4.6 by 7.6 to $45 for a 12 by 15.
+
+The sizes we have mentioned are standard.  If our rooms have been
+planned in such wise as to require rugs to order we shall have to add
+ten per cent to our expenditures.
+
+
+
+ORIENTAL RUGS
+
+The subject of oriental rugs, to be intelligently discussed, would
+require an entire book, and there are books that may be and should be
+studied by those who can afford orientals.  Most of us cannot.  There
+are, indeed, good reasons for the high cost of the genuine oriental, in
+its superior coloring, wide range of design, and wonderful durability.
+The right sort grows richer with age.  But our plans are not so much
+for posterity as for present uses, and we can get along very well
+without testing our wits in the oriental rug market.  It is a test of
+wits, for there are no standards of size or price, and spurious goods
+sometimes get into the best of hands.  Small Daghestans and
+Baloochistans may be had even lower than $20, but anything we would
+care to have in living room or dining room would take $150 to $200 from
+our bank account.
+
+[Illustration: An oriental rug of good design: Shirvan.]
+
+
+
+KITCHEN AND UPPER FLOORS
+
+In the kitchen, and perhaps in a rear vestibule, unless the floor is of
+a sort to be easily wiped up, linoleum may be demanded.  The upper hall
+will require a continuation of the stair runner, with perhaps a rug if
+it broadens out at the landing.  For the bed chambers the question of
+individual use must be thought of.  Brussels rugs will do in most
+cases.  A large rug means considerable shifting to get at the floor,
+but is the more comfortable.  Smaller rugs will permit sweeping under
+the bed without moving it far, and should be placed under the casters,
+which will injure the hard-wood floors if allowed to rest directly
+thereupon.
+
+
+
+MATTING AND CORDOMAN CLOTH
+
+Next in choice would be to spend 25 or 30 cents a yard for matting and
+cover the entire floor, adding one or two rugs to head off the shivery
+feeling that arises from a contact of bare feet with cold matting on a
+winter morning.  The casters will cut the matting, too; we must look
+out for that.  A border of flooring, painted or not, may be left; but
+generally, if anything is to be fastened down, it should cover the
+entire space, avoiding the ugly accumulation of dust that otherwise
+gathers under the edges.
+
+More expensive than matting, but likely to be quite satisfactory, is
+cordoman cloth, a floor covering that comes in plain colors and may be
+easily swept and wiped up.  It costs from 45 to 55 cents per yard, and
+the wadded cotton lining that goes with it is very cheap.  Considering
+its greater durability than matting, cordoman is really the more
+economical, and the homemaker will do well to investigate its merits.
+
+
+
+CHILDREN'S ROOM AND "DEN"
+
+For the children's room linoleum will probably stand the wear and tear,
+prove more hygienic, and do as much toward deadening noise as anything
+short of an impossible padding could do.  On the porch a crex-fiber rug
+or two--the sort that stand rain and resist moths--may be desired, but
+they can wait until we are settled and have found our bearings.  The
+"den," if there is to be one, or the separate library, may in the one
+instance be left to individual caprice, in the other to good judgment
+in suiting it to the prevailing thought.
+
+
+
+USES OF THE DECORATOR
+
+If we have not done so before, when we take up consideration of the
+walls we will, if we can afford it, call in a professional decorator.
+First, of course, we will make sure that he really may be of service to
+us, for his duty is to give practical and artistic development to the
+more or less vague ideas of which we have become possessed, and if he
+seems, from examples of previous work, to be wedded to a "style" of his
+own that would not jibe with our aspirations, we would better try to
+struggle along without him.
+
+But it is possible to secure the services of a decorative artist for a
+sum not necessarily tremendous, and if we get hold of a sensible fellow
+his advice will be, in the end, worth much more than the extra outlay.
+If he is a sincere artist, he will plan just as carefully for a modest
+six-room cottage as for a mansion, and he will be able to take the good
+points of our own schemes and adapt them to expert application without
+making us feel too insignificant.
+
+Explicit advice as to decoration, where there are thousands of us, each
+in different circumstances and with variant tastes, would be rather an
+absurdity.  We may emphasize to ourselves, however, a few phases of the
+decorative problem in which lack of thought would lose to us some of
+the joys of a house perfected.
+
+If we are not to employ a decorator we must study out the problem for
+ourselves.  To leave it for the painter and paperhanger to settle would
+be a fatal error.  Much knowledge may be gained by the study of books
+and magazine articles, provided they are very recent.  It will be
+advisable to weigh this knowledge in the scales of practical
+observation, however, in houses of late date.  This is not so much
+because of changes in fashion as for the reason that improvements in
+process are always being made, and even the omnipresent folk who write
+books sometimes overlook a point.  Concerning fashion, which of course
+has its sway in decoration, we will remember that the simplest
+treatment survives longest.
+
+
+
+WOOD IN DECORATION
+
+It seems that with the steady increase in cost of lumber we have grown
+more and more to appreciate the beauty of our woods.  At any rate, wood
+is being used more extensively than ever in interior finishing.  This
+is in some ways a healthy tendency, as it makes for simplicity and
+admits of artistic treatment at a reasonable cost.
+
+Hall, living room, and dining room, for instance, may be treated with a
+high or low wood wainscoting and wooden panels extending to a wooden
+cornice at the ceiling.  The wood may be a weathered oak, and between
+the panels is a rough plaster in gray or tinted to suit the house
+scheme.  Friezes and plastic cornices are somewhat on the wane, in
+smaller houses at least; though, of course, they will never go out of
+use altogether.
+
+
+
+PANELS AND PLASTER
+
+This plaster effect is less expensive than 40-cent burlap or ordinary
+white calcimine or paper.  The picture molding may be at the bottom of
+the cornice.  Sometimes the cornice is dropped to a level with the tops
+of the doors and windows (usually about seven feet), leaving a frieze
+of two or three feet, the molding then going to the top of the cornice.
+Ceilings and friezes of ivory or light yellow are usually in good taste.
+
+The living room may carry out the panel and plaster effect, but is more
+likely to demand a simple paper of good quality with no border.  Here,
+as in the hall, the wooden (or plastic) cornice with no frieze is
+suggested.  Grilles are discarded, and portieres are avoided where
+possible.
+
+
+
+THE BEAMED CEILING
+
+In the dining room the beamed ceiling has been found so appropriate
+that it continues popular.  It is simple, easily maintained, and has
+the broad, deep lines that put one at ease.  Here it is advisable to
+carry a wooden wainscoting up to about 3 1/2 feet, the panels
+continuing to the ceiling.  Tapestry, burlap, or plaster may show
+above.  Plate shelves are somewhat in disfavor, partly because of abuse
+and partly because the tendency is to eliminate all dust-catchers that
+are not necessities.  Where doors and windows are built on a line (as
+they should be), shelves are sometimes placed over them.  But there
+should not be too many broken lines if we would preserve the
+comfortable suggestion of the beamed ceiling.
+
+
+
+PAINT, PAPER, AND CALCIMINE
+
+For the kitchen, painted walls, which can be easily wiped off, and
+resist steam, are preferable to calcimine.  Tiling halfway up will be
+found still better, but tiling paper, which costs more than painting,
+is scarcely to be chosen.  For the bedrooms the professional decorators
+are disposed to over elaboration.  A simple paper, costing 15 to 35
+cents per roll, is best, or even plain calcimine, which many persons
+consider more healthful.  The latter costs only $3 or $4 a room and may
+be renewed every year or two.  Very nice effects are had in a
+Georgia-pine panel trimming running to a wood cornice, and in natural
+wood or painted white.  With this the ceiling should be plain white,
+and if bright-flowered paper is used, pictures should be discarded.
+Lively colors, if not too glaring, give a cheerful aspect to the room,
+but the safer plan is to stick to simplicity.
+
+In the children's room a three-foot wood wainscoting is desirable.
+Part of this may be a blackboard without costing more, and at the top a
+shelf can be placed for toys.  Figured nursery papers cost, per roll,
+from 35 to 75 cents, and will be a never-ceasing source of delight.  If
+the walls are not papered they should be painted, for reasons that need
+not be suggested.  Isn't it wonderful how far a three-foot boy or girl
+can reach?
+
+
+
+SHADES AND CURTAINS
+
+We have not advanced much in the production of window shades that will
+let in light and air, shut out the gaze of strangers, hold no shadows,
+match interior and exterior, fit properly, work with ease, cost little,
+and last forever.  The ordinary opaque roller shade still has no
+serious rival, and usually the best we can do is to see to it that we
+get a good quality which is not always reliable, rather than a poor
+quality, which never is.
+
+The good old lace curtains that were the pride of the housekeeper's
+heart and the jest of the masculine members of the household seem to
+have had their day.  It has been a long one, and any article that holds
+sway for so lengthy a period must have had some merit.  But the soft
+chintz, linen, madras, or muslin is now the vogue, and there is much
+good sense in the innovation.  No lace curtain ever made could be both
+artistic and serviceable; some persons go so far as to say that they
+never were either, but we have too much reverence for tradition to be
+so iconoclastic.  However, they certainly were expensive if they were
+good enough to have, were difficult to wash, and usually caused a dead
+line to be drawn about the very choicest part of the room.  Linen
+curtains, costing from 50 cents to $1.25 a yard, may be had in a set or
+conventional design or plain applique.  Chintz and muslin cost less,
+and some remarkably pretty effects in madras are obtainable.  Curtains
+now sensibly stop at the bottom of the window instead of dragging upon
+the floor.
+
+Besides shades and curtains the window question involves not only
+light, ventilation, and artistic relations, but such details as screens
+and storm windows.  These latter matters come under the jurisdiction of
+the architect and should not be carelessly settled upon.  Each room has
+its uses, to which the window must conform as nearly as may be, and
+then the outward appearance of the house must not be forgotten.  It is
+often made or marred by the character and placing of the windows.
+
+
+
+LEADED PANES AND CASEMENTS
+
+Leaded or art glass is attractive if not overdone.  Small panes are
+difficult to keep clean, of course; but we can probably endure that if
+all else be equal.  In living rooms the upper sash should be made
+smaller than the lower, so as to get the median rail above the level of
+the eye.  In some parts of the house a horizontal window gives a fine
+effect, besides affording light and air without affecting privacy.
+Casement windows have their points of excellence, and are additionally
+expensive chiefly in hardware.  The frames are really cheaper, but they
+must be very accurately fitted to avoid leaks.
+
+Casement windows seriously complicate the screen and storm-window
+problem, and expert planning is necessary.  The durability of screens
+depends mostly upon their care or abuse, but if it can be afforded,
+copper wire will usually last sufficiently longer to repay its
+additional cost.  Metal frames are not so essential.  The best form is
+that which covers the entire window and permits both sashes to be
+freely opened; but this costs practically twice as much as the
+half-window screen.
+
+
+
+STORM WINDOWS
+
+Storm windows should be carefully fitted or they will come far from
+serving their purpose.  If they are of the right sort they will soon
+repay their cost in easing up the furnace.  Preferably they should be
+swung from the top, both for ventilation and washing and to avoid a
+check upon egress in case of fire.  Some persons object to storm
+windows on account of the supposed stoppage of ventilation, but that
+rests entirely with the occupants of the house.  They can get plenty of
+fresh air without letting the gales of winter have their own sweet will.
+
+With floors, walls, and windows determined upon, we have a good start
+on the interior of our house.  But we may only pause to take breath,
+for we now have to give most careful consideration to two decidedly
+important factors in our comfort--lighting and heating.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+LIGHTING AND HEATING
+
+If common sense has governed our proceedings to date, the new house we
+are building, or the ready-built one we have chosen, will have full
+advantage of the one perfect light--that afforded by the sun.
+
+
+
+NECESSITY OF SUNLIGHT
+
+The health-giving properties of sunlight are so well known to all of us
+that we wonder why so many otherwise sensible folk seem to shun it,
+with trees and vines, awnings and blinds denying access to that which
+would make the house wholesome.  When possible, every room in the house
+should have its daily ray bath, and our apartments should utilize the
+light of the sun as early and as late as may be.
+
+Perhaps nature intended all creatures to sleep through the hours of
+darkness.  If we had followed that custom we might be a race of
+Methuselahs; who knows?  Why some one has not established a cult of
+sleepers from sunset to dawn is really inexplicable.  But mankind in
+general has persisted in holding to a different notion, and since the
+sun declines to shine upon us during all the hours of the twenty-four,
+and we insist upon cutting the night short at one end, we have had to
+devise substitutes for the sunlight.
+
+Of course the sunlight does not always leave us in unbroken darkness.
+Few of us are so far departed from the days of mellow youth as to
+forget certain summer evenings, linked in memory with verandas or
+bowered walks, when moonlight--and even that in a modified form--was
+the ideal illumination.  But even if we could employ the good fairies
+to dip them up for us, we should find the soft moongleams of the summer
+evening a rather doubtful aid in searching for the cat in the dark
+corners of the basement.
+
+Omitting pine knots, which are rather out of vogue, modern home
+lighting includes four forms--candles, oil lamps, gas, and electricity.
+The first-named are not, it is true, used to any extent for what may be
+called the practical purposes of lighting; but in many ways their light
+is most beautiful of all.  Some charming candelabra suited to the
+dining table are found in the better shops, and an investment in a
+choice design is a very justifiable extravagance.  Candle illumination
+is of all varieties the one least trying to the eyes and to the
+complexion, though its effect upon the temper of the person tending the
+candles is not so sure to be happy.  However, the sort with a hollow
+center, called Helion candles, require little attention, and the
+patented candle holders, which work automatically, give no trouble at
+all.
+
+
+
+KEROSENE
+
+Notwithstanding there are some points in favor of the old reliable
+kerosene lamp, even when put in the scale with other illuminants, few
+people of the younger generation regard it as other than something to
+be endured.  In view of the facts that an oil lamp requires a great
+deal of attention, usually leaves its trail of oil and smoke, is
+ill-smelling, disagreeably hot in summer, and always somewhat
+dangerous, it is strange that those who cling to it as to a fetich are
+usually the ones who have longest struggled with its imperfections.
+The pretext for this conservatism, whether it be spoken or reserved, is
+economy.  If we are of this class, we may be shocked to discover that,
+after all, kerosene lighting is really no cheaper than gas or electric
+light, if sufficient illumination is afforded, and insufficient
+lighting is surely ill-judged economy.
+
+
+
+GAS AND MATCHES
+
+Few communities of respectable size are now without gas or electricity,
+and even in the country the latter is almost everywhere obtainable.  If
+not, an individual gas plant, of which there are several makes, may be
+installed at a moderate cost.  Properly placed, such a plant is safe
+and easily regulated and will furnish light for somewhat less than the
+usual charge of the gas companies.
+
+Gas has never fully supplanted kerosene, even where it is readily
+obtained.  Why this is true we need not pause to discuss; perhaps a
+fairly well-founded suspicion of the meter has had something to do with
+it.  But certainly no one building a house in these days would fail to
+pipe it for gas if the supply were at hand, even if it were to be used
+only for kitchen fuel.  Gas has its virtues as an illuminant also, and
+is favored by many on account of the softness of the light.
+
+But while gas is preferable to kerosene, electricity is with equal
+certainty preferable to gas.  It is more adaptable, is in many places
+quite as reasonable in cost, and is cleaner and safer.  In numerous
+country communities where gas is not to be had electricity is
+available, as frequently a large region embracing several towns is
+supplied from a single generating plant.
+
+Gas is subject to fluctuations in quality, sometimes becoming quite
+dangerous in its effect upon the atmosphere.  Water gas, which is very
+generally manufactured, is said to carry four or five times as much
+carbon monoxide per unit of bulk as retort gas.  It has for the
+hemoglobin of the blood four hundred times the affinity of oxygen, and
+a proportion of only two tenths of one per cent may produce heart
+derangement.  While we are wondering that we are alive in the face of
+such dreadful facts, we may note further that gas is rather variable in
+its qualities as an illuminant.  We have mentioned the suspicious gas
+meter, whose vagaries doubtless have caused more virtuous indignation
+with less impression upon its object than anything ever devised.  An
+open flame is always a menace; and then there is the burnt match.  Most
+housekeepers, I am sure, would testify to their belief that matches
+were not made in heaven.  Is there anything that so persistently defies
+the effort for tidiness as the charred remains of a match, invariably
+ignited elsewhere than on the sandpaper conspicuously provided, and
+more likely to be tossed upon the floor or laid upon the mahogany table
+than to find its way into the receptacles that yearn for it?
+
+For cooking, however, gas must still be a main dependence, and for this
+reason, as well as to provide for remote emergencies, the house should
+be piped for gas.  At least it should be brought into the house, even
+if the piping is not continued farther than the kitchen.
+
+
+
+ELECTRIC LIGHT
+
+In seeking to secure sufficient light we often go to the extreme of
+providing a glare that is trying to the eyes and would test the beauty
+of the loveliest complexion that ever charmed in the revealing light of
+day.  We go further, mayhap, and concentrate the glare upon the center
+of the room, with a shade of bright green which gives an unearthly but
+not a heavenly cast to all the unfortunate humans who come under its
+belying influence.
+
+Objection is sometimes made to electric light that it is too powerful,
+and that it is difficult to modify and control.  This impression is due
+to the tendency of which we have spoken--the working out of the thought
+that proper lighting is a question of quantity.  For some persons the
+ideal arrangement would seem to be a searchlight at each corner of the
+room, with a few arc lights suspended from a mirrored ceiling.
+
+Electric light, to furnish the most agreeable effects, must be softened
+and properly diffused.  If the light units that so perfectly illumine a
+room during the day were concentrated they would make a blinding glare,
+but diffused they are properly tempered to the eye.  The common thought
+seems to be to put all the lights of the living room in the center, and
+to make them so powerful that they will penetrate every corner of the
+room and make it "light as day."  In consequence the center is
+overlighted, and instead of a similitude of daylight we have unreality.
+
+
+
+PLEASING ARRANGEMENT
+
+For the dining-room and library table some form of drop light is
+essential.  There are arrangements that will transform the banquet or
+student lamp into an electric drop light, or the special outfits for
+this use may be had in some very artistic designs.  For general
+lighting, wall sconces, lanterns, or brackets are preferable.  Some of
+these are very beautiful, though there is a tendency to
+overelaboration.  Design, of course, should be in keeping with the
+general decoration and outfitting of the room.  Instead of four
+sixteen-candle-power lights in a center chandelier, eight of
+eight-candle power will "spread" the illumination better and add little
+to the expense, except for fixtures.  In beamed ceilings which are not
+too high, the effect of lights placed upon the beams is pleasing,
+though the effect upon the monthly bill may not have the same aspect.
+Electric lamps at the sides should be at a fair height and throw their
+light downward, instead of wasting it upon the ceiling.
+
+The pretty lanterns of antique design are expensive, the simplest sort
+costing $4 or $5 apiece.  There are numerous artistic brackets,
+however, that may be had for smaller amounts.  Bulbs are made in all
+sorts of shapes to fit recesses or for special purposes, and the
+designs in shades and candelabra are legion.
+
+
+
+ADAPTABILITY
+
+Electricity's strong card is its adaptability.  It can go wherever a
+wire may be carried, and into many places where gas or oil lights would
+not be safe or practical.  The only thing lacking is to make it
+wireless, and perhaps invention sooner or later will be equal to that
+demand.  Early installations were rather carelessly made, but municipal
+and underwriters' rules are now so strict that practically all danger
+of fire has been eliminated.  The householder in the country should
+make sure that the underwriters' prescriptions are fully observed, as
+his insurance may be affected.  In the city, official inspection
+usually guarantees correct wiring.
+
+Probably only in the hall, dining room, and living room will we be
+greatly concerned with the decorative phase of lighting.  Elsewhere the
+question is largely one of practical use, though considerations of
+taste are not to be neglected.  Careful study should be given to the
+adaptation of lighting to the future uses of the rooms.  This will
+perhaps avoid the use later of unsightly extension cord, though this
+avoidance can scarcely be made complete.
+
+
+
+PROTECTION
+
+A very useful light may be provided for the veranda, just outside the
+door, illuminating the front steps and path to the sidewalk.  This
+light may be turned off and on by a switch key inside the door.  It is
+particularly comforting when some stranger rings the doorbell late at
+night and one does not feel overpleased to be called upon to open the
+door to an invisible person.  Other switch arrangements make it
+possible to turn on the upper hall lights from below, or the lower hall
+lights from above, and the lights in each room from the hall.  When
+there are unseemly noises downstairs in the wee sma' hours it is much
+more agreeable to gaze over the balustrade into a bright hall than to
+go prowling about in the darkness for the bulb or gas jet, with the
+chance of grasping a burglar instead.  Some burglars are very sensitive
+about familiarities on the part of strangers, and it is always better
+to permit them to depart in a good humor.  The basement lighting, too,
+should be regulated from above, and the dark corners should be well
+looked after.  At best, the basement is a breeder of trouble.  If the
+light is in the center, and must be turned off at the bulb, the return
+to the stairway from the nocturnal visit to the furnace is likely to be
+productive of bruised shins and objurgative English; if the light
+operates from above, one either forgets to turn it off and leaves it to
+burn all night, or becomes uncertain about it just as he is beginning
+to doze off, necessitating a scramble downstairs to make sure.  Perhaps
+it would be well to have a choice of systems.
+
+Some houses have been so wired that one can illuminate every room from
+the hall or from the master's bedroom.  This necessitates complicated
+wiring and will not be found necessary by most of us.  Neither will we
+desire to spend our hardly won cash in wiring our four-poster bed for
+reading lights, or to put lights under the dining table for use in
+searching for the lost articles that always by some instinct seek the
+darkest spots in the room.  If there be a barn or shed on the lot, an
+extension carried there will be found convenient and comparatively
+inexpensive.  In the kitchen and pantries the lights should be
+considered in detail so that all the various operations may be served.
+Shadowed sinks and ranges and dark pantries are not necessary where
+there is electric light.
+
+
+
+REGULATED LIGHT
+
+In halls, closets, and bathroom lower-power lamps, or the "hylo," which
+may be alternated from one- to sixteen-candle power, will prove an
+economy.  The "hylo" is also useful in bedrooms where children are put
+to sleep, affording sufficient light to daunt the hobgoblins without
+discouraging the approach of the sandman.  Some persons cannot sleep
+without a light; for them, and for the sick room, the low-power light
+is eminently preferable to the best of oil lamps.
+
+There are numerous conveniences to be operated by electricity, such as
+chafing dishes ($13.50), flat irons ($3.75 up), curling-iron heaters
+($2.25 up), electric combs for drying hair ($4), heating pads, in lieu
+of hot-water bags ($5), and many articles for the kitchen.  These are
+operated from flush receptacles in baseboards or under rugs, or from
+the ordinary light sockets.
+
+
+
+THE TWO SURE WAYS OF HEATING
+
+There is only one efficient and healthful method of heating a house,
+and that is with a hot-air furnace.  I have that on the authority of a
+man who sells hot-air furnaces, and he ought to know.
+
+Substitute "steam or hot water" for "hot-air furnace," and we have the
+assurance of the man across the way who sells boilers and radiators.
+
+The beauty of it is that each proves his case to one's entire
+satisfaction--not only that his own system is a marvel of perfection,
+but that the other systems are dangerous to health and breeders of
+unhappiness and really ought (though he wouldn't like to say so) to be
+prohibited by law.
+
+So we shall have to decide the question for ourselves.  If we err, we
+can still abuse the dealer, or the architect, or the contractor, for
+letting us make a mistake.
+
+
+
+THE HOT-AIR FURNACE
+
+The hot-air furnace costs least to install.  (We leave stoves out of
+consideration.)  It is also supposed to be easiest to manage.  That, in
+a sense, is true.  A good furnace will act pretty well even under
+indifferent direction; a bad one cannot be made much worse by the
+greatest of stupidity.
+
+However, the average person can run the average furnace with a fair
+degree of satisfaction to the household, if not to himself.  For a
+house of six to eight rooms the furnace may be considered an efficient
+means of heating.  It requires more fuel than some other apparatus, but
+there are compensations.
+
+Since ventilation and heating are inevitably associated, the argument
+that the furnace provides for ventilation is a strong one.  If the air
+is taken from outdoors, passed over the radiating surface into the
+rooms, and then sent on its way, something like perfect ventilation is
+assured.  If the air is simply taken from the basement--a poor place to
+go for air--heated, passed through the rooms, returned, and heated over
+again, we may well pray to be delivered from such "ventilation."  The
+success of the furnace depends not upon ability to keep up a rousing
+fire but upon a proper regulation of air currents.  Many a first-class
+furnace, properly installed, fails to work satisfactorily because the
+principle of heating is not understood.  Even with the best of
+knowledge, the air is hard to regulate, and the very principle that
+gives the furnace its standing as a ventilator must prevent it from
+being a perfect heater.
+
+Unless some artificial moisture is provided, not only will the air be
+too dry for comfort and health, but an excessive degree of heat must be
+attained in order to warm the rooms, thus increasing the consumption of
+coal.  A water pan is usually provided in the furnace, but too often it
+is neglected.
+
+
+
+DIRECTION OF HEAT
+
+If any mistake in selection of size is to be made, it should be in
+favor of excess.  Most authorities urge the choice of at least a size
+above that indicated by the heating area.  A chimney with suitable
+draught is imperative.  The furnace should be placed in a central
+location and should be set sufficiently low to permit the essential
+rise of the heat ducts.  If the basement is low the furnace should be
+depressed.  While the heat conveyors should not ascend directly from
+the furnace, they should not be carried any farther than necessary in a
+horizontal position.  The velocity of heat is diminished in carrying it
+horizontally, increased vertically.  Crooks and turns add to the
+friction and decrease heating power.  Therefore the pipes should be as
+short and direct as possible.  It is not necessary to carry the
+register to a window on the farther side of the room, say some
+authorities, as the warm air rises to the ceiling anyway, and the
+greater length of carry involves a loss in warmth.
+
+Pipes for the first floor should he large.  Those for the upper rooms,
+having a longer vertical range, may be smaller.  All the pipes should
+be double, with an inch air space between, as a protection against
+fire.  Asbestos paper on a single pipe is not regarded as a sufficient
+precaution, as it is easily torn and quickly wears out.
+
+
+
+REGISTERS
+
+There are arguments in favor of side-wall registers.  They save floor
+space and obviate some dust.  On the other hand, they are not quite so
+effective in heating as the other sort, since the pipes for floor
+registers may be of larger diameter and as a rule require fewer bends.
+Each register should have a separate pipe from the furnace.  Where
+direct heat is not desired, a register opening in the ceiling of a
+downstairs room will sometimes carry enough heat to the upper chamber
+to make it comfortable for sleeping purposes.
+
+Since furnace efficiency is largely dependent upon air control, a
+strong wind sometimes makes it difficult to heat portions of the house.
+To meet this emergency there is a combination hot-air and hot-water
+heater which supplies radiators on the upper floors, or elsewhere if
+desired.  The additional cost is practically all in the installation,
+as the same fire furnishes both forms of heat.
+
+For an eight-room house or smaller, a first-class steel-plate furnace,
+securely sealed against the escape of gas and smoke, costs free on
+board about $150.  Each two rooms additional raises the price about
+$25.  Other furnaces may be had as low as $50.  Cost of tin work, brick
+setting, etc., depends upon locality.
+
+
+
+HOT WATER AND STEAM HEAT
+
+Hot water and steam heat cost more for installation, but have many
+advantages over the furnace.  Their chief drawbacks are the space
+usurped by radiators, lack of ventilation, and the possibility of an
+occasional breakdown.  The ingenuity of the makers, however, is partly
+overcoming these difficulties, mainly by the device called the indirect
+system.
+
+We need not fret ourselves here with a technical elucidation of either
+form of heating.  We may, however, consider some of the claims made for
+hot water, which is apparently coming to be considered the preferable
+arrangement for dwelling houses.  There is not a great deal of
+difference between the essential features of steam and hot-water
+systems.
+
+It is declared that water will absorb more heat than any other
+substance, hence will take from the boiler practically all the heat
+produced in the combustion of fuel.  As the temperature of the water is
+automatically controlled, the atmosphere of the rooms may be kept at
+the desired degree, the presence of radiators in each room, all of the
+same temperature, giving an even heat over the entire house.
+
+There can be no sudden drop in temperature, as the water in the pipes
+continues to distribute warmth even after the fire has been checked or
+has been allowed to go out.  The fuel required for an ordinary stove,
+it is asserted, will warm an entire house with hot water.  An engineer
+is not required.  Inexperienced persons have no difficulty in operating
+the ordinary boiler, and there is no danger whatever, because, the
+makers adduce, for steam heat the maximum pressure is about five
+pounds, while with hot water there is practically no pressure at all.
+Very little water is used, and a connection with the street water
+system is not imperative, though convenient.
+
+
+
+INDIRECT HEATING
+
+Indirect heating is provided by passing air over radiators attached to
+the ceiling of the basement, thence to the upper rooms.  In the
+"direct-indirect" system the radiators are placed in the partition
+walls of the rooms they are to heat, the cold air being brought through
+a duct and, being heated, passing into the rooms.  These two systems
+are economical of space and afford provision for excellent ventilation.
+They are considerably more expensive, however, than the direct system,
+which involves exposed radiators.
+
+Radiators are now constructed in many different forms, to fit under
+windows, in corners, in fireplaces, under cabinets, and so on.  Much
+effort has been directed also toward relieving their painful ugliness,
+and if of a neat design appropriately colored they need not be a
+serious blot upon the decorative scheme of a room.
+
+Radiators, in the direct system, should be placed far enough from the
+walls to permit free circulation over the heating surfaces, and should
+not be directly covered at the top.  Ordinarily there are good reasons
+for putting them near the more exposed places, such as windows and
+outer doors.  As both steam and hot water furnish a dry heat, provision
+should be made in every room for evaporation of water.
+
+
+
+SUMMARY
+
+With no prejudice against good furnaces, it may be said that hot water
+apparently affords the greatest possibilities for comfort and
+regularity of heating, and that there are usually no reasons why it
+cannot be utilized in country houses.  A hot-water installation is
+likely to cost twice as much as a furnace, but if we are to live in the
+house it is better to make our estimates cover ten or twenty years
+rather than to bear too strongly on first costs.
+
+The following table, while it must not be taken as fully conclusive,
+gives at least a basis of consideration:
+
+
+                               HOT AIR.      STEAM.         HOT WATER.
+ First cost..................  Small.        Higher.        Highest.
+ Comparative coal
+     consumption ............  18 1/2 tons.  13 1/2 tons.   10 tons.
+ Average durability..........  12 years.     35 years.     *Indestructible
+ Heat distribution...........  Uneven.       Regular.       Even.
+ Temperature.................  Variable.     Fair.          Regular.
+ Ventilation.................  Good, if      Good, with     Good, with
+                               properly      indirect       indirect
+                               managed.      system.        system.
+ Quality of heated air.......  Ditto.        Ditto.         Ditto.
+ Dust and dirt...............  Much.         Little.        None.
+ Danger of fire..............  Moderate.     None.          None.
+ Danger of explosion.........  Slight.       None.          None.
+ Noise.......................  None.         Occasional.    Almost none.
+ Management.................. *Delightful.  *Pleasure.     *Joy.
+ Relative cost of apparatus..  9             13             15
+ Ditto, plus repairs and
+     fuel for five years.....  29 1/2        29 2/3         27
+ Ditto, plus repairs and
+     fuel for five years.....  81            63             52 1/2
+
+ * Makers' statement.
+
+
+These comparisons are probably, on the whole, somewhat unfair to the
+high-grade furnace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+FURNITURE
+
+Much of good sense and more that is nonsensical has been written about
+furniture.  Observation tends to justify belief that in general effect
+the nonsense has proved more potent than its antithesis.
+
+
+
+THE QUEST OF THE BEAUTIFUL
+
+Originality has been preached, and we have seen the result in
+abnormalities that conform to no conception of artistic or practical
+quality ever recognized.  Antique models have been glorified, with a
+sequence of puny, spiritless imitations.  Simplicity has been extolled,
+and we find the word interpreted in clumsiness and crudity.  Delicacy
+of outline has been urged, and we triumph in the further
+accomplishments of flimsiness and hopeless triviality.
+
+And yet through all that has been preached, through all that has been
+executed, there runs a vein of truth.  Each age should express itself,
+not merely the thought of centuries past; still, it can expect to do
+little more than take from antecedent cycles those features that will
+best serve the present, adding an original touch here and there.  So
+far, then, as we find in the furniture of the Georgian period, or of
+Louis Quinze, or even of the ancient Greeks, such suggestions as will
+help us to live this twentieth-century life more comfortably and
+agreeably, we may with good conscience borrow or imitate.
+
+
+
+ANCIENT DESIGNS
+
+Some "very eminent authorities" assure us that many of the objects of
+our admiration in museums and in private collections are remnants of
+the furnishings of the common households of the olden times.  If the
+breadth of knowledge of the "eminent authorities" is indicated by this
+assertion, they must have touched only the high places in history, so
+far as it records social conditions.  The truth is that the household
+appurtenances which have survived to our time are mostly those of the
+few and not of the many, of the palace and mansion and not of the cot.
+These articles were costly then and they would be costly now, and very
+often quite as useless as costly.  They were not found in the cottage
+of the older days, and they do not belong in the cottages of the
+present.
+
+Nevertheless, many of these old designs exemplify the elementary
+essentials of furniture--good materials, gracefulness, and thorough
+workmanship.  These are qualities that are to be sought for the cottage
+as well as for the mansion; and while they may add to the purchase cost
+of the separate articles, it is possible to secure them at no great
+increase for the whole over the cheaper goods, provided we guard
+against the common error in housefurnishing--overpurchasing.
+
+[Illustration: Good examples of Chippendale and old walnut.]
+
+
+
+THE ARTS AND CRAFTS
+
+What is known in America as the arts and crafts movement has, in its
+sincere developments, sought to adapt the better qualities of the old
+designs of furniture to the demands of modern conditions, artistic and
+practical.  Not always, however, has it been possible to distinguish
+between the honest effort to enforce a better standard and the various
+forms of charlatanry under which clumsy and unsightly creations have
+been and are being worked off upon an ingenuous public at prices
+proportioned to their degrees of ugliness.  In colonial times many an
+humble carpenter vainly scratched his noggin as he puzzled over the
+hopeless problem of duplicating with rude tools and scant skill the
+handiwork that graced the lordly mansions of merrie England; to-day
+some wight who can scarcely distinguish a jackplane from a saw-buck
+essays to "express himself" (at our expense) in furniture, repeating
+all the gaucheries that the colonial carpenter could not avoid making.
+
+
+
+MISSION FURNITURE
+
+Others have set themselves to reproducing the so-called mission
+furniture which the good priests of early California would have
+rejoiced to exchange for the convenient modern furniture at which the
+faddist sniffs.  But most of us who stop to think, realize that there
+is no magic virtue in antiquity of itself.  The average man, at least,
+cannot delude himself into the belief that there is comfort to be found
+in a great deal of the harsh-angled stuff paraded as artistic.
+
+Let us not be understood, however, as hinting that artistic qualities
+must be disregarded.  Though furniture should not be chosen for its
+beauty or associations alone, it must not be considered at all if
+beauty is absent.
+
+
+
+COMFORT, AESTHETIC AND PHYSICAL
+
+The first consideration of the home is comfort.  Let no one dispute
+that fact.  But there is such a thing as being aesthetically as well as
+physically comfortable.  Conceptions of physical comfort differ with
+individuals, but are usually well defined; some of us actually have no
+conception whatever of aesthetic comfort.  That is no reason why we
+should not seek it.  Probably we had a very faint idea of what good
+music or good painting was like until we came to an acquaintance with
+the masters; but we are surely not sorry to have progressed in
+experience and feeling.  And so it is that though we may not feel
+specially urged to insist upon tasteful surroundings, the higher
+instincts within us that persuade us to make the most of ourselves
+demand that we shall not be content with mere physical comfort.
+Therefore we may need to look a bit beyond our definite inward
+aspirations, and we should not disdain to follow others so far as they
+adhere to certain well-authenticated canons of good taste.
+
+
+
+OLDER MODELS IN FURNITURE
+
+Study of the older models of furniture is bound to prove suggestive,
+and it is better to secure from the library or bookseller a book by
+some authority than to depend upon dealers' catalogues, which are not
+always edifying.  English models affecting present-day outfitting date
+back as far as the Elizabethan period, approximately 1558-1603.
+Following there came the Early Jacobean, the Early Queen Anne, and the
+Georgian.  The last includes the work of Chippendale, Heppelwhite,
+Sheraton, and the Adams, all of whom executed some beautiful designs.
+The so-called colonial furniture belongs also to the Georgian period,
+as does the "Debased Empire," corresponding to or following the Empire
+styles in France.  In the latter country the periods of vogue are known
+as Francis Premier, Henri Deux, Henri Quatre, Louis Treize, Louis
+Quatorze, Louis Quinze, and Louis Seize.  Under the designation of the
+"Quaint style" W. Davis Benn groups the "Liberty," Morris, and arts and
+crafts designs.  Mr. Benn's "Styles in Furniture" will be found helpful
+in both text and illustration to those who would learn to distinguish
+between the products of the various periods.
+
+[Illustration: A Chippendale secretary.]
+
+
+
+MAHOGANY AND OAK
+
+Mahogany and oak are the best materials for furniture.  The former is
+cleverly imitated in a mahoganized birch, which presents a pleasing
+appearance and sometimes deceives those who are not familiar with the
+beautiful rich tones of the genuine article.  Mahogany adapts itself to
+almost any sensible style of interior decoration, is likely to be of
+careful manufacture, and is almost invariably cherished for its beauty.
+Like other highly finished woods it takes on a bluish tint in damp
+weather, and if not well protected, will demand attention more
+frequently than other materials.  But if its purchase can be afforded
+the care given it will scarcely be begrudged.  The eggshell (dull)
+finish requires less attention than the higher polish.
+
+Next in degree to mahogany, oak in the golden, weathered, or fumed
+effect is handsome and durable, while it is somewhat less expensive.
+The moment one drops below genuine mahogany, however, a wary eye must
+be kept upon construction.  There are shifts innumerable to make cheap
+furniture that has an alluring appearance, and the variety of design in
+the moderate-priced materials will lead to confusion for those who do
+not exert a Spartan discrimination.
+
+
+
+SUBSTANTIALITY
+
+To insure satisfaction there must first of all be substantiality--a
+quality which affects both comfort and appearance.  A chair may be
+beautiful, it may be comfortable, at the time of purchase, but if it be
+not substantial its glories will soon depart.  A superficial view
+cannot be conclusive.  The carefully made article built upon slender
+lines is often quite as strong as a more rugged creation hastily put
+together.  The chair that is properly constructed may be almost as
+solid as if it were of one piece, and still not require a block and
+tackle to move it.  The strongest article is made entirely of wood, and
+we find some of the old models so sturdily built that no rounds were
+required between the legs.  In chiffoniers, dressers, or side-boards a
+handsome exterior should not blind us to cheaply constructed drawers.
+The latter should be of strong material, properly fitted, and well
+sealed.  There need be no sagging, jamming, or accumulation of dust in
+drawers that are well constructed.
+
+
+
+SUPERFLUITY
+
+California, with its pretty little bungalows, not only has pointed out
+to us the possibility of living satisfactorily in a small number of
+rooms, but has shown us something in the way of simple furnishings.
+Not until we see what may be "done without" do we realize how much that
+is superfluous crowds our floors.
+
+A pretty good rule is to test everything first by its usefulness; if it
+is not useful, we may dispense with its purchase.  Even at that, it may
+be necessary to demand that the article shall be not only useful but
+absolutely indispensable, for between the beguiling advertisement and
+the crafty salesman, almost anything that is manufactured may be proved
+necessary.  At the best we shall probably purchase a-plenty, and the
+question of when a house reaches the point of overfurnishing is a
+difficult one to settle.  Let one of us, for instance, venture at
+midnight into a dark room--be the apartment ever so large--with nothing
+but a rocker in it, and the impression may be gained that the place has
+been turned into a furniture warehouse.  And some persons--none of us,
+to be sure!--are never happy while any of the floor or wall space is
+unoccupied.  So the world goes.  But if nine out of ten persons bought
+only what they could not do without, what they did purchase could be of
+a great deal better quality.
+
+No bit of furniture should be purchased for which there is not a
+suitable place in the house.  A piece may be very attractive in the
+salesroom, and its practical qualities may appear irresistible, while
+on our own floors it may be perfectly incongruous and perhaps, on
+account of its enforced location, almost useless.
+
+If for no other reason, we should go slow with our purchases because we
+cannot know the real needs of our home until we have lived in it.
+Experience will make some articles superfluous and substitute what we
+had not thought to want.  There should be a regular saving fund or
+appropriation for keeping up the house fittings, and usually it is
+found that this fund grows more steadily if we have some definite
+purchases in view.  Leave some things to be "saved up for"; there will
+be less likelihood then of your being included in that large class to
+which the newspaper "small ads" appeal--"those who wish to trade what
+they don't want for what they do want."
+
+
+
+HALL FURNITURE
+
+In a hall of the simpler sort the only requirements are a high-backed
+chair or settee, a table for _cartes de visite_, an umbrella
+receptacle, and a mirror wall hanger with hooks for the use of guests.
+The time-honored halltree is no more, and long may it rest in peace.
+If there had been no other reasons for its passing, its abuse in the
+average household made it an eyesore.  Intended only for the
+convenience of the transient guest, its hooks were usually preempted by
+the entire outer wardrobe of the family.  A good plan is to have a coat
+closet built in, under the stairway or elsewhere near the place of
+egress, leaving the few inconspicuous hooks in the hall to afford ample
+provision for visitors.  An appropriation of $50 to $100 will fit up a
+small hall very satisfactorily.  A pretty hanging lantern of hammered
+copper, with open bottom and globe of opalescent glass, will add more
+than its cost of $12.50 to the good impression the hall is to make upon
+those it receives.
+
+
+
+THE FAMILY CHAIRS
+
+Some good folk would banish the rocker unceremoniously from the living
+room, and we might not miss it so much as we think.  It is the
+adaptability of the rocker to comforting positions, rather than a love
+of rocking, that endears the chair to the majority, and when the same
+qualities are found in the reclining or easy chair we can well spare
+the projections that menace skirts and polished furniture, not to speak
+of the space they take up.
+
+As a general thing it is the man of the house whose comfort is most
+sedulously looked after.  For him the easy chair, the slippers, the
+reading lamp, the smoking outfit, the house jacket, the evening paper.
+This fact is mentioned in no carping spirit.  Far be it from one of the
+less worthy sex to quarrel with the fate that has been ordained for us
+by our helpmeets; the latter should not be deprived of a whit of the
+joy that comes from viewing the lord of the household agreeably
+situated, and in that blissful state which breeds a kindly spirit
+toward all human kind, including milliners and ladies' tailors.
+
+But too frequently the mistress of the household is supposed to pick up
+her comfort at odd times, or more likely there isn't any supposition at
+all.  For her, for the master, and for the other members of the family,
+there must be a personal interest in the living room, and this is best
+represented by the most comfortable chair to be had.  As persons are
+built of different heights and breadths, so the chairs should be.
+While the slender chap can snuggle down in the most capacious easy
+chair, the stout lady may be embarrassed when she finds the one single
+seat at hand proffering only a scanty breadth.  One may well provide
+for these contingencies, for of course it is not always possible to
+select our acquaintances in accordance with the capacity of our
+furniture.  Heights, too, should be varied somewhat, though it must be
+confessed that the joy of life (for others) is much increased by the
+sight of a six-foot (tall) gentleman of dignity gradually unfolding
+himself from the chair that was purchased for the particular use of
+Gwendolyn Ermyntrude, aged six.
+
+
+
+THE TABLE
+
+If the living room, among its other uses, takes the place of the
+library, the selection of a suitable library table will be a good test
+of the homemaker's discrimination.  The quality of this table should be
+at least equal to the best we have to show.  Whether it shall be
+squared, or oblong with oval ends, depends upon tastes; by all means it
+should be get-at-able.  That's what a library table is for.  Good
+designs in "arts and crafts" may be had as low as $16.50 in a small
+size; 72-inch, about $50.  Golden oak costs less, mahogany considerably
+more.
+
+
+
+THE DAVENPORT
+
+The davenport in mahogany or oak, in a plain or striped velour
+tapestry, felt filled, with good springs, built on straight lines with
+claw feet, broad arms, and heavy back, is a good article and will not
+leave much change out of a $50 bill.  That represents a fair price for
+a fair quality, and it would be better to do without the davenport than
+to go in for something too cheap.  The sort that have detached cushions
+in soft leather are very nice and practically dustless.  The same is
+true of easy chairs so provided.  A handsome weathered-oak davenport
+with cushions of this kind will be found marked somewhere about $65,
+while half that price pays for an easy chair of the same style.  The
+cushions are filled with felt.  Springs and fillings in davenports,
+easy chairs, and couches should be most thoroughly investigated.  If
+there are carvings they must be subjected to the severest tests of
+appropriateness, and in no event should they be where they will come in
+frequent contact with other articles or with persons.
+
+
+
+BOOKCASES
+
+Bookcases in weathered oak, with the top sections of the doors in
+leaded glass, seem worth the prices at $28 for 30-inch, $43.50 for
+4-foot, and $47.50 for 5-foot; yet a simple 30-inch golden oak case
+"made in Grand Rapids," and of which no one need be ashamed, costs but
+$14.  Sectional cases are very convenient, and are now being designed
+in artistic styles, but are not yet altogether approvable for the
+parlor or living room.  For the library simply, they are to be
+recommended.  Bookcases and other heavy pieces should either set
+solidly upon the floor or have sufficient open space beneath them to
+permit cleaning.  Unless their contents are (mistakenly) hidden by
+curtains, the bookcases should not be placed in too strong sunlight, as
+some bindings fade rapidly.  Nor should they be near the heat
+radiators, or against a wall that may possess moisture.  The piano,
+too, must be protected against too great heat or moisture, and in a
+stone or brick house should be placed against a partition rather than
+the outside wall.
+
+
+
+SUNDRIES
+
+Useful, but not life-or-death essentials, are a tabouret at, say,
+$3.25, a footrest for a little less, and a magazine rack for $5 or $10.
+The problem of keeping periodicals in easy reach without too much of a
+"litter'ry" effect has not yet been solved.  The open rack is the best
+compromise between sightliness and utility, because it is more apt to
+be used than the more ambitious arrangements with doors.  In the
+general treatment of the living room the piano and its case are not to
+be overlooked, and the presence of a piano also suggests the music
+cabinet, with its problem similar to that of the magazine rack.  As
+music is not kept so well "stirred up," however, the cabinet with a
+tight door is "indicated."
+
+
+
+WILLOW FURNITURE
+
+Willow furniture is used extensively in some country homes.  It is made
+of the French willow, and is not so cheap but is stronger than rattan.
+Best rockers in this material sell at about $20.  They are hardly to be
+considered in the permanent furnishings of the home, though there is no
+denying their cleanliness, coolness, and comfort, especially in summer.
+
+
+
+THE DINING TABLE
+
+For the dining room the sensible preference seems to be for a round
+table with straight lines of under construction.  The pillar base gives
+least interference with personal comfort, but even at that seems to be
+unescapable.  What has been said elsewhere about the choice of woods
+applies here also.  The high cost of a large-size mahogany table,
+however, will probably enable us to see some of the special beauties of
+golden oak.  A six-foot round table in the latter wood is priced at
+about $20.  Medium height chairs, with cane seats, $2.75; leather,
+$3.25.  Sideboards are now usually built in; otherwise the buffet
+table, free from excessive ornamentation, is given preference.
+
+[Illustration: The dining room.]
+
+
+
+DISCRIMINATION IN CHOICE
+
+A great deal of the factory-made furniture of the day is the veriest
+trash.  The best feature of it is that it cannot last long and will not
+survive to disgrace us in the eyes of a later and perhaps more
+discriminating generation.  For those who reside in flats, and are
+deprived of the inducement to plan for permanence, small blame can
+attach for hesitancy in making investments in the better sort of
+furniture that their tastes would lead them to choose.  This is the
+penalty they pay for evading the responsibilities of genuine home life
+in a house.
+
+But good furniture is being built in these days.  It is not confined to
+hand work, or to the products of long-haired folk who set up a religion
+of cabinet-making.  In every city there are several grades of furniture
+dealers.  At the one extreme there is the house that handles nothing
+but trash; at the other the house that handles no trash at all.  The
+latter is the obvious choice; and if we pay a bit more for
+safety--well, do we not pay for our insurance against fire, and
+burglars, and other things?
+
+If our house has been planned on a scale commensurate with our means,
+we shall find it no extravagance to complete the larger work of
+outfitting with articles that will bring pleasure and not vexation,
+that will need no apologies.  Surely no employment could be more
+interesting than the choice of these belongings which shall in many
+ways influence ourselves and those about us.
+
+There is such a range of styles and costs that if we approach the
+problem intelligently we may "express ourselves" quite as accurately as
+though we were amateur craftsmen.  Indeed, we must express ourselves,
+whether we determine to do so or not; for if we simply follow our
+cruder instincts, as the child selects its toys, do we not reveal the
+absence of any real artistic self whatever?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HOUSEHOLD LINEN
+
+Most of us "women folk" have some one dear pet hobby which we love to
+humor and to cater to, and which variously expresses itself in china,
+bric-a-brac, books, collections of spoons or forks, and other things of
+beauty and joys forever.  But whatever our individual indulgences may be,
+one taste we share in common--the love of neat napery.  Her heartstrings
+must indeed be toughly seasoned who feels no thrill of pride as she looks
+upon her piles of shining, satiny table linen, and takes account of her
+sheet, pillowcase and towel treasure.  They are her stocks and bonds,
+giving forth daily their bounteous, beauteous yield of daintiness and
+comfort, and paying for themselves many times over by the atmosphere of
+nicety and refinement which they create.  For it is these touches,
+unobtrusive by their very delicacy, which introduce that intangible but
+very essential quality known as _tone_ into the home harmony.
+
+Though this is true of all household linen, it is, especially so of table
+linen, which seems to weave into its delicate patterns and traceries all
+the light and sunshine of the room, and to give them back to us in the
+warming, quickening good cheer which radiates from a table daintily
+dressed.  Its influence refines, as all that is chaste and pure must
+refine, and helps to make of mealtime something more than merely
+mastication.  Human nature's daily food seems to lose something of its
+grossness in its snowy setting, and to gain a spiritual savor which finds
+an outlet in "feasts of reason and flows of soul."  When we have
+immaculate table linen we dine; otherwise we simply eat, and there are
+whole decades of civilization between the two.
+
+
+
+LINEN, PAST AND PRESENT
+
+Linen is a fabric with a past: it clothed the high priests of Israel for
+their sacred offices, and comes as a voice from the tombs of Egypt, where
+it enwraps the mummies of the Pharaohs, telling of a skill in weaving so
+marvelous that even our improved machinery of to-day can produce nothing
+to approach it.  And then it comes on down through the centuries to those
+nearer and dearer days of our grandmothers, when it was spun and woven by
+gentle fingers; while the halo of romance hovers over it even now as the
+German Hausfrau fills the dowry chest of her daughter in anticipation of
+the time when she, in turn, shall become a housewife.  Small wonder that
+we love it, and guard jealously against a stain on its unblemished
+escutcheon.
+
+
+
+BLEACHED AND "HALF-BLEACHED"
+
+Belfast, Ireland, is the home of linen and damask.  There are
+manufactories in both Scotland and France, but it is in Belfast that the
+fabric attains to the highest perfection, and "Irish linen" has come to
+be synonymous with excellence of design and weaving and luster--a most
+desirable trilogy.  The prospective purchaser of table linen should go to
+her task fortified with some information on the subject, that she may not
+find herself totally at the mercy of the salesman, who often knows little
+about his line of goods beyond their prices.  First of all she will
+probably he asked whether she prefers bleached or unbleached damask.  The
+latter--called "half-bleach" in trade vernacular--is made in Scotland and
+comes in cheap and medium grades alone.  Though it lacks the choiceness
+of design and the beauty and fineness of the Belfast bleached linens, it
+is good for everyday wear and quickly whitens when laid in the sun on
+grass or snow; while the fact that its cost is somewhat less than that of
+the corresponding quality in the bleached damask, and that it wears
+better, recommends it to many.  Occasionally the chemicals used in the
+bleaching process are made overstrong to hasten whitening, with the
+result that the fibers rot after a while and little cut-like cracks
+appear in the fabric.  This is not usual, but of course the unbleached
+damask precludes all possibility of such an occurrence.  One firm in
+Belfast still conscientiously employs the old grass-and-sun system of
+bleaching, and their damask is plainly marked "Old Bleach."  The
+half-bleach is sold both by the yard and in patterns.
+
+
+
+DAMASK
+
+Damask, by the way, takes its name from the city of Damascus where the
+fabric was first made, and is simply "linen so woven that a pattern is
+produced by the different directions of the thread," plain damask being
+the same fabric, but unfigured.  The expression "double damask" need
+occasion no alarm; it does not imply double cost, a double cloth, or
+double anything except a double, or duplicate, design, produced by the
+introduction of an extra thread so woven in that the figure appears
+exactly the same on both sides of the cloth, making it reversible.
+
+
+
+QUALITY
+
+The next thing will be to decide between buying by the yard and buying a
+pattern cloth in which the border continues without a break all the way
+around, adding about ten per cent to the price.  The designs in both
+cloths are the same in corresponding qualities.  We are knights and
+ladies of the round table these days, and cloths woven specially for use
+thereon, with an all-round center design, come only in patterns.  Cloths
+of this description are used also on square tables, as the wreath effect
+is very decorative.  As to the quality of damask, it depends not so much
+upon weight--for the finest cloths are by no means the heaviest--as upon
+the size of the threads and the closeness and firmness with which they
+are woven.  Avoid the loosely woven fabric; it will neither wear nor look
+so well as the one in which the threads are more compact.  In the better
+damasks the threads are smoother and finer in finish.
+
+
+
+DESIGN
+
+Styles in table linens change from time to time and render it difficult
+to say what may or may not be used with propriety, except that the
+general principle of coarse, heavy-looking designs being in poor taste
+always holds good.  One pattern alone has proven itself, and stood the
+test of time so satisfactorily that it is as high as ever in the good
+housekeeper's favor, with no prospect of falling from grace--our old
+friend the dainty, modest snowdrop, a quiet, unobtrusive little figure in
+a garden array of roses, English violets, lilacs, tulips, irises, and
+poppies--for these are flowery times in linens.  Occasionally we meet
+with a scroll or fern design, though the latter is gradually falling into
+disuse as being too stiff to twine and weave into graceful lines.  So
+true to nature and so exquisitely woven are these posy patterns that they
+form in themselves a most charming table decoration.  In order to secure
+perfect reproduction a manufacturer in Belfast has established and
+maintains a greenhouse where his designers draw direct from the natural
+flower.  This care is but the outgrowth of the more refined living which
+demands that beauty shall walk hand-in-hand with utility.
+
+
+
+PRICE AND SIZE
+
+Before our housekeeper starts a-shopping she must lock up her zeal for
+economy lest it lead her away from the straight and narrow way of good
+taste into that broader path which leads to the bargain counter.  She may
+as well make up her mind at once that desirable table linen is not cheap,
+the sorts offered at a very low price being neither economical nor
+desirable, and that a cheap cloth which cheapens all of its surroundings
+is dearly bought at any price.  Occasionally the experienced shopper can
+pick up at a sale of odd-length or soiled damasks something which is
+really a good offering, particularly during the annual linen sale which
+falls in January.  But as a rule beware of bargains!  The fabric is
+liable to be a "second" with some imperfection, or to contain a thread of
+cotton which gives it a rough look when laundered, and there is generally
+a shortage in width--which suggests the advisability of measuring the
+table top before buying, for cloths come in different widths, and one
+which is too narrow looks out-grown and awkward and--stingy!  The average
+table is about 4 feet across, and requires a cloth 2 yards square, though
+in buying by the yard it is safe to allow an extra quarter for
+straightening the edges and hemming.  The cloth should hang at least a
+foot below the edge of the table, with an increase of half a yard in
+length for each additional table leaf.  A cloth 2 yards square will seat
+four people; 2 by 2 1/2, six; 2 by 3, eight; 2 by 3 1/2, ten; and 2 by 4,
+twelve.  A wider table calls for a half or a quarter of a yard more in
+the width of the cloth, at some little additional cost, as fewer cloths
+in extra widths are made or called for.  Usually a good pattern runs
+through three qualities of table linen, with napkins in two sizes to
+match--22-inch for breakfast and luncheon use, and 24-inch for dinner.
+These are the standard sizes most generally used, though napkins are to
+be had both larger and smaller.  A napkin should be soft and pliable, and
+large enough to cover the knees well.  Prices on all-linen bleached satin
+damask pattern cloths, with accompanying napkins, are about as appear in
+the list on the opposite page:
+
+
+
+ CLOTHS.
+
+                           GOOD QUALITY.   BETTER.   EXTRA GOOD.
+
+ 2     x 2     yards, each  $2.00-$2.75     $3.50   $4.50-$5.25
+ 2     x 2 1/2   "     "     2.50- 3.50      4.50    5.75- 6.75
+ 2     x 3       "     "     3.00- 4.25      5.25    6.75- 8.00
+ 2     x 3 1/2   "     "     3.50- 4.85      6.25    8.00- 9.25
+ 2     x 4       "     "     4.00- 5.50      7.00    9.00-10.75
+ 2 1/4 x 2 1/4   "     "     2.90- 3.75      4.50    6.00- 7.75
+ 2 1/2 x 2 1/2   "     "     4.25- 4.50      5.25    7.50- 8.75
+ 2 1/2 x 3       "     "     5.00- 5.50      6.25    9.00-10.50
+ 2 1/2 x 3 1/2   "     "     6.25- 6.50      7.50   10.50-12.25
+ 2 1/2 x 4       "     "     7.00- ....      8.50   12.00-14.00
+ 2 1/2 x 4 1/2   "     "     ..........      ....   13.50-14.75
+ 2 1/2 x 5       "     "     ..........      ....   15.00-17.50
+ 2 3/4 x 2 3/4   "     "     ..........      ....   11.00-13.00
+ 3     x 3       "     "     ..........      ....   15.00-16.00
+
+ 86    x  90   inches, "     3.50
+ 86    x 108     "     "     4.25
+ 86    x 136     "     "     5.00
+ 86    x 144     "     "     5.75
+
+
+ NAPKINS.
+
+ 22    x 22   inches, dozen $2.50-$3.00     $3.75   $5.00-$5.50
+ 23    x 23      "      "    3.00  ....      5.25    7.00- 7.50
+ 24    x 24      "      "    3.00- 3.75      ....
+ 25    x 25      "      "    3.50  ....      5.25
+ 27    x 27      "      "    6.25- 7.50      ....
+
+
+
+The 3x3 yards cloth is called a banquet cloth, and is one for which the
+average housekeeper would have little use.
+
+
+
+NECESSARY SUPPLY
+
+The amount of table linen to be bought for the first "fitting out"
+depends upon the fatness of the pocketbook and the room available for
+stowing it away.  Since there are so many other expenses at this time the
+best way will probably be to buy all that will be needed for a year, and
+then add to it one or two cloths with their napkins each succeeding year.
+Three cloths of the right length for everyday use, and one long
+"family-gathering" cloth, with a dozen napkins to match each, will be a
+good start.  If the special-occasion cloth seems to be too costly, two
+short cloths of duplicate pattern can be substituted for it, the
+centerpiece and a clever arrangement of decorations hiding the joining.
+If table linen is to be stored away and not used for some time after its
+purchase, the dressing which it contains must be thoroughly washed out,
+else the chemicals are liable to rot the fabric.  It is advisable, too,
+to put not-to-be-used damask away rough-dry, otherwise it may crack, in
+the folds.  The use of colored table linens is in the worst possible
+taste, except on the servants' table.  Those flaming ferocities known as
+"turkey-red" cloths, which seem to fairly fly at one, are not only
+inartistic but altogether too suggestive of economy in laundering to be
+appetizing table companions.
+
+
+
+PLAIN, HEMSTITCHED, OR DRAWN
+
+Cloths bought by the yard must be evened at the ends by drawing a thread,
+and hemmed by hand, never stitched on the machine.  The inch hem of a few
+years ago has been superseded by the very narrow one which is always in
+good taste, regardless of style.  Napkins come by the piece and must be
+divided and hemmed on two sides, rubbing well between the hands first to
+remove the stiffness.
+
+There is nothing handsomer or more elegant than the fine, hemmed table
+linen, but if a hemstitched cloth is desired, or one containing some
+drawn-work design, it is better to buy the material and do the work
+oneself; otherwise; the expense goes into the work, not the linen, and
+the cost is usually about double that of the same cloth plainly finished.
+Hemstitching and fancy work are appropriate only on cloths for the
+luncheon table, which may be of either plain or figured damask, or of
+heavy linen, which is often effectively combined with Battenberg and
+linen laces.  Neither drawn work nor hemstitching wears well, drawing the
+threads seeming to weaken the fabric.  Very pretty luncheon cloths can be
+purchased in different sizes for $1.50, $1.75, $2.00, $2.75, etc.,
+according to size, material, and elaboration, with accompanying napkins,
+18 by 18 inches, for $2.50 or more a dozen.  A cloth just the size of the
+table top is a convenient luncheon size.  These cloths save much wear on
+the large cloths, and laundry work as well.
+
+
+
+DOILIES AND TABLE DRESSING
+
+The pretty present-day fashion of using individual plate doilies on a
+polished table at breakfast and luncheon is also labor-saving.  The plate
+doilies, either square, oval, or round, and of plain damask or smooth,
+closely woven, rather heavy linen, are hemstitched or finished with a
+padded scallop worked with white cotton.  The round doily is most used,
+and offers a delightful field to the worker in over-and-over embroidery
+for the display of her skill.  Linen lace combinations are also used, but
+they are rather for dress-up than for daily use.  The plate doilies
+should be at least 9 inches wide, with smaller corresponding ones on
+which to set the glass of water or the hot cup, and an extra one or two
+for small dishes for relishes and the like that may be kept on the table,
+etc.  They can he bought for 25 cents a piece and upward, but the average
+housekeeper enjoys making her own, taking them for "pick-up" work.  Small
+fringed napkins are also used in the same way, and for tray covers, but
+fringe soon grows to look "dog-eared," and mats in the laundering.  Still
+another dressing for the bare table is the long hemstitched linen strip,
+12 inches wide, which runs the length of the table, hanging over the end,
+and is crossed at the middle by a second strip extending over the sides,
+two strips thus seating four people.  When six are to be seated the
+cross-piece is moved to one side and a third corresponding strip placed
+about 18 inches from it.
+
+The list of table linen is incomplete without a damask carving cloth to
+match each tablecloth, which it protects from spatterings from the
+platter.  This also may be fashioned of plain linen, should be about
+three-quarters of a yard wide and a yard long, and either hemstitched or
+scalloped--embroidered, too, if one cares to put that much energy into
+work which will show so little.  And then there must be some doilies to
+overlay the Canton-flannel-covered asbestos mats for use under hot dishes.
+
+
+
+CENTERPIECES
+
+Styles in centerpieces are fleeting; just now all-white holds sway, and
+of a surety there is nothing daintier.  Although pretty centers can be
+purchased all the way up from $1, here again the mistress's industrious
+fingers come into play, for there is a certain unbuyable satisfaction in
+working a little of one's very self into the table adornment, and really
+handsome centerpieces are quite expensive.  They run in sizes from 12 to
+45 inches.  The center with doilies to match is pretty and desirable.  It
+is quite as easy to arrange them in this way as to gather in an
+ill-assorted, mismated collection.  Those for daily use should be rather
+simple and of a quality which will not suffer from frequent intercourse
+with the washtub.
+
+
+
+MONOGRAMS
+
+The fashion of embroidering monograms on table linen must be handled with
+care; the working over-and-over of the padded letters with fine cotton
+thread is a nice task which requires experience and skill.  The cloth
+monograms are from 2 to 3 inches high and are placed at one side of the
+center, toward the corner.  Either the full monogram or an initial is
+appropriate in the corner of the napkin, and to be in the best taste
+should never be more than an inch high.  These letters are either plain,
+in circlets, or surrounded with running vines, and add that distinction
+to the napery which handwork always imparts.
+
+
+
+CARE OF TABLE LINEN
+
+Table linen, like friendship, must be kept constantly in repair.  Look
+out for the thin places and darn before they have a chance to wear
+through.  Ravelings from the cloth should be kept for this purpose.  A
+carefully applied patch or darn is scarcely noticeable after laundering.
+The hardest wear comes where the cloth hangs over the edge of the table,
+at head and foot.  When it begins to be thin at these places cut off one
+end at the worn point, if the cloth is sufficiently long to warrant it,
+and hem the raw edge.  This draws the other worn place well up on the
+table where the friction is much less, considerably lengthening the life
+of the cloth.  The cut-off end may be converted into fringed napkins, on
+which to lay croquettes, fried potatoes, etc., doilies for bread and cake
+plates, children's napkins, or tray covers.  Old table linen passes
+through several stages of decline before it becomes absolutely useless;
+when too much worn for table purposes it enwraps our bread and cake and
+strains our jellies, and when at last it has won the well-earned rest of
+age, it still waits in neat rolls to bandage our cuts and bruises.
+
+
+
+HOW TO LAUNDER
+
+There is a saying that "Old linen whitens best," to which we might also
+add that it looks best, gaining additional smoothness and gloss with each
+laundering.  Table linen should never dry on the line, but be brought in
+while still damp, very carefully folded, and ironed bone-dry, with
+abundant "elbowgrease."  This is the only way to give it a "satin gloss."
+_Never_ use starch.  The pieces should be folded evenly and carefully,
+with but one crease--down the middle--and not checker-boarded with dozens
+of lines.  Centers and large doilies are best disposed of by rolling over
+a round stick well padded.
+
+
+
+TABLE PADS
+
+Much wear and tear on both table and cloth is prevented by the use of a
+double-faced Canton-flannel pad, which prevents the cloth from cutting
+through on the edges, gives it body, softens the clatter of the dishes,
+and absorbs liquids.  It comes in 1 1/2- and 1 3/4-yard widths and sells
+for 65 to 85 cents a yard.  Pads of asbestos are also used, but are far
+more expensive.  It is a good plan to have two if possible--one for use
+on the everyday table, and a longer one to cover the family-gathering
+table.  Covers for the sideboard and any small table used in the dining
+room are of hemstitched or scalloped linen, either plain or
+embroidered--never ruffled or fluffy.
+
+
+
+READY-MADE BED LINEN
+
+Buying bed linen is not so very serious a matter.  Drygoods stores offer
+sheets and pillowcases ready made to fit any sized bed or pillow at
+prices little, if any, greater than the cost of those made at home.
+Merchants say that they sell one hundred sheets ready made to one by the
+yard, which speaks well, not for their goods alone, but for the spirit of
+housewifely economy which maintains that labor saved is time and strength
+earned.  Moreover, the deluded seeker after bed beauty who wastes her
+precious hours in hemstitching sheets and pillowcases--cotton ones at
+that--is a reckless spendthrift, and needs a course in the economics of
+common sense.  Nothing is more desirable than the simple elegance of the
+plain, broad hem, nor more disheartening than hemstitching which has
+broken from its moorings while the rest of the sheet is still perfectly
+good--a way it has.  Hem-stitching may answer on linen sheets which are
+not in constant use, but ordinarily let us have the more profitable
+plainness.  Good sheets are always torn--not cut--and finished with a 2
+1/2- or 3-inch hem at the top and an inch hem at the bottom, the finished
+sheet measuring not less than 2 3/4 yards.  There must be ample length to
+turn back well over the blankets and to tuck in at the foot, for it is a
+most irritating sensation to waken in the night with the wool tickling
+one's toes and scratching one's chin.  Sheets are to be had in varying
+widths to suit different sized beds.
+
+
+
+PRICE AND QUALITY
+
+The 2 3/4-yard length in an average sheet of good quality costs 90 cents
+for a double bed, 75 cents for a three-quarter bed, and 45 cents for a
+single bed, with hemstitched sheets of corresponding quality at the same
+price.  It is hardly worth while to pay more than this, while very good
+sheets are to be had for 75 cents, with a decrease in price as the width
+decreases.  Half-bleach double-bed sheets of good quality cost 85 and 70
+cents, and so on, and are more especially for servants' beds.  They are
+popularly supposed to outwear the bleached, but are somewhat trying
+bedfellows until whitened.
+
+Plain or hemstitched pillowcases cost from 25 to 75 cents a pair, each
+additional width raising the price 5 cents.  The average or sleeping-size
+pillow is 22 1/2 by 36 1/2 inches, and calls for a case enough larger to
+slip on easily, but not loose nor long enough to hang over the sides of
+the bed.  If pillows of different sizes are in use their cases should be
+numbered.
+
+Bed linen should be firmly woven, with a thread rather coarse than fine.
+The amount purchased must be regulated by the number of beds to be
+furnished, allowing three sheets and three pairs of cases to each.  The
+supply can always be easily added to, but if expedient for any reason to
+buy in large quantities, set apart enough to supply all the beds and keep
+the rest in reserve, otherwise it will all give out at once.  If the
+housewife is so unfortunately situated that she is forced to make her own
+bed linen, she will do well to buy her material by the piece--40 to 50
+yards.  All hems can be run on the machine.
+
+
+
+REAL LINEN
+
+Though not everyone likes the "feel" of linen, most housekeepers are
+ambitious to include a certain amount with their other bed linens, for
+use in the summer or during illness, because of its non-absorbent
+qualities.  Sheets cost $3, $3.50, $4, $5, $6, and on up to $17, the more
+expensive ones being embellished with hemstitching, scallops, or lace.
+Pillowcases to correspond sell at from $1.25 up.  Linen for this purpose
+is always bleached, the 90-inch sheeting being $1 to $3 a yard, the
+45-inch pillowcasing 50 cents to $1.50 a yard, and 50-inch casing 75
+cents to $2 a yard.  Inch-high monograms or letters may be embroidered in
+white at the middle of sheets and pillowcases, just above the hem.  When
+sheets wear thin down the center, tear and "turn," whipping the selvages
+together and hemming the torn edges, which become the new edges of the
+sheet.  Old bed linen makes the finest kind of cleaning cloths, and
+should be folded neatly away for that purpose, sheets being reserved for
+the ironing board.
+
+
+
+SUGGESTIONS ABOUT TOWELS
+
+Towels are best purchased by the dozen, huck of Irish bleached linen
+being best for all-around use.  These have good absorbent qualities,
+plain or hemstitched hems, measure from 18 by 36 inches to 24 by 42
+inches, and cost from $2.50 to $6 a dozen.  Some of these are "Old
+Bleach" linen, and therefore both desirable and durable.  Pass by towels
+with colored borders; the colored part is always cotton, and is in poor
+taste anyway.  Some huck towels have damask borders; other towels are of
+all-damask, costing from $6 to $12 a dozen, but huck is the stand-by.
+Fringed towels, of course, are not to be considered for a moment.  Each
+member of the family should have his own individual towel, or set of
+towels, distinguished by some mark, particularly children, who find it
+hard to learn that towels are for drying, not cleansing, purposes.  Those
+for their use may be smaller and cheaper.  Turkish or bath towels are of
+either cotton or linen, the latter being more for friction purposes and
+costing $6 to $12 a dozen.  The cotton absorbs better and is most
+generally used for the bath.  Good values in towels of this kind are to
+be had for $2.50, $2.85, $3, and $4.50 a dozen.  Good crash face cloths
+cost 5 cents and even less.
+
+Household linens must include, too, the 6 barred-linen kitchen towels at
+10, 12, or 15 cents a yard, for drying silver and glass; and 6 heavier
+towels, either barred or crash, for china and other ware, at the same
+price, with 3 roller towels at 10 cents per yard; while last, but by no
+means least, come the dozen neatly hemmed cheesecloth dusters at 5 cents
+a yard, for men must work and women must sweep--and dust!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE KITCHEN
+
+The old condition of "Queen-Anne-in-the-front-and-Mary-Ann-in-the-back"
+in the home furnishing, when the largest outlay of money and taste was
+put into the "front room" and the kitchen took the hindermost, has
+gradually given way before the fact that a woman is known, not by the
+drawing-room, but by the kitchen, she keeps.  Given the requisite
+qualifications for the proper furnishing, care, and ordering of her
+kitchen, and it can usually be said of her with truth that she is
+mistress of the entire home-making and home-keeping situation.  If any
+one room in the home was conceived solely for the relief of man's
+estate, that room is the kitchen, and it has supplied the energy which
+has sent forth many a one to fight a winning battle with the world, the
+flesh, and the devil; and while it is, alas, too true that it is the
+rock upon which many a domestic ship has gone to pieces, it is the true
+foundation of the home and, therefore, of the nation.  Wherefore let us
+first look well to our kitchens and then live up to them.
+
+
+
+THE PLAN
+
+The kitchen of our grandmothers was a large, rambling affair, with
+numerous storerooms, closets, and pantries, the care of which involved
+a stupendous outlay of time and strength.  But the demands of our
+modern and more strenuous life necessitate strict economy of both, and
+the result is a kitchen sufficiently large for all practical purposes,
+with every space utilized and everything convenient to the hand.  The
+amount of woodwork is reduced to a minimum, since wood is a harboring
+place for insects and germs.  Where it must be used it is of hard wood,
+or of pine painted and varnished, the varnish destroying those
+qualities in paint which are deleterious to health.  The plumbing must
+be open, with no dark corners in which dust may hide.  Odors from
+cooking pass out through a register in the chimney, and ventilation is
+afforded by transom and window.  Blessed indeed is the kitchen with
+opposite windows, which insure a perfect circulation of air.  So much
+for the general working plan.
+
+
+
+LOCATION AND FINISH
+
+For some reason best known to themselves architects almost invariably
+give to the kitchen the location with the least agreeable outlook, sun
+and scenery being seemingly designed for the exclusive use of living
+and dining rooms; whereas the housekeeper realizes the great value of
+the sun as an aid to sanitation and as a soul strengthener, and wishes
+that its beneficent influence might be shed over kitchen, cook, and
+cookery.  But the frequent impossibility of this only increases the
+necessity for simulating sunshine within, and so we select cream white,
+warm, light grays or browns, Indian red, or bronze green--which is
+particularly good with oak woodwork--for walls and ceilings.
+Waterproof paper may be used, but is not particularly durable.  Far
+better is the enameled paint, requiring three coats, or painted burlap.
+Or our thoughts may turn with longing to a white-tiled kitchen, with
+its air of spotless purity, but, too often, "beyond the reach of you
+and me."  Why not substitute for it the white marbled oilcloth which
+produces much the same effect, and can be smoothly fitted if a little
+glue is added to the paste with which it is put on?  A combination of
+white woodwork with blue walls and ceiling is charming, particularly
+where the blue-enameled porcelain-lined cooking utensils are used, and
+the same idea can be carried out in the floor covering.  White with
+yellow is also dainty.  Calcimine is not desirable in the kitchen, as
+it cannot be cleaned and is, therefore, unsanitary.  Two tablespoonfuls
+of kerosene added to the cleaning water will keep woodwork, walls, and
+ceilings fresh and glossy.  A long-handled mopholder fitted with a
+coarse carriage sponge will facilitate the cleaning of the latter.
+
+[Illustration: The kitchen.]
+
+
+
+THE FLOOR
+
+Despite the fact that we are enjoined to "look up, not down," the floor
+seems to be the focal point to anyone entering the kitchen, and it
+becomes a source of pride or humiliation to the occupant according to
+its condition.  A beautiful, snowy hardwood floor, "clean enough to eat
+on," is a delight, but it has such an insatiable appetite for spots
+after the newness has worn off that it requires frequent
+scrubbing--twice a week at least--and on a dry day, if possible, with
+doors and windows opened during the operation, all of which means
+energy misapplied.  To be sure, the new "colonial" cotton-rag rugs,
+woven in harmony with the general color scheme, protect the floor and
+help to relieve the strain of much standing, and can he washed and
+dried as satisfactorily as any piece of cotton cloth; while raw oil,
+applied with a soft cloth or a handful of waste every two months, will
+keep the floor in good condition.  But the housekeeper who chooses the
+better part covers her floor with linoleum at comparatively small cost,
+a piece good both in quality and design selling at 60 cents a square
+yard.  In this, too, the color idea can be carried out, the smaller
+designs being preferable.  Neutral tints follow wood-carpeting designs,
+are neat, and less apt to soil than the lighter patterns.  It is a wise
+plan in buying to allow enough linoleum for three smaller pieces to be
+placed before stove, table, and sink, thus saving wear and tear on the
+large piece.  Thus covered, the floor is easily cleaned with a damp
+cloth.  It must be thoroughly swept once a day, followed by a general
+dusting of the room, with brushings up between times.
+
+
+
+THE WINDOWS
+
+Kitchen windows must he washed once a week--oftener in fly time.  A
+dainty valance, or sash curtains of muslin, dimity, or other summer
+wash goods, give an attractive and homey touch to the room.  Each
+window should have a shade with a double fixture, fastened at the
+middle of the casement and adjusted upward and below from that point.
+
+
+
+THE SINK
+
+The sink, unless it is porcelain-lined, should be kept well painted and
+enameled, white being preferable to any color.  Faucets can be kept
+bright by rubbing with whiting and alcohol, followed by a vigorous
+polishing with a bit of flannel.  It surely cannot be necessary to
+suggest the dangers arising from an untidy sink in which refuse of
+various kinds--tea leaves, coffee grounds, vegetable parings, and the
+like--is allowed to accumulate.  Unsanitary conditions about the sink
+not only are unsightly, but attract roaches and breed germs which are a
+menace to life and health.  The rinsing water from coffee and tea pots
+and cooking utensils should be poured into the sink strainer, which
+catches the odds and ends of refuse and keeps them from clogging the
+drain pipe.  Grease must never be poured into the sink, nor dish nor
+cleaning cloths used after they are worn enough to shed lint.  Boiling
+water and ammonia should be poured down the drain pipe once a day,
+which treatment must be supplemented once a week with a dose of
+disinfectant--chloride of lime, copperas, or potash in boiling water.
+An occasional inspection by a plumber makes assurance doubly sure that
+the condition of the drain pipe is as it should be.  All refuse ought
+to be burned at once or put into a covered garbage can and disposed of
+as soon as possible.  The can itself must be scalded every day with sal
+soda water, thoroughly dried, and lined with thick, clean paper.
+
+
+
+THE PANTRY
+
+The same treatment accorded the kitchen in decoration and care must be
+bestowed also upon the pantry, which should be dry and well ventilated.
+After a thorough scrubbing with soap and water, with the aid of a dish
+mop rinse the shelves with boiling water, dry carefully, and cover with
+plain white paper, using the ornamental shelf paper for the edges.
+White table oilcloth makes a good covering, and comes specially
+prepared with a fancy border for that purpose.  The convenient pantry
+is equipped with both shelves and drawers, the latter to contain the
+neatly folded piles of dish, glass, and hand towels, cheesecloth
+dusters, holders, and cleaning cloths.  There are usually four shelves,
+the top one being reserved for articles of infrequent use.  On the
+others are arranged the kitchen dishes, pans, and all utensils which do
+not hang, together with jars and cans containing food.  Leave nothing
+in paper bags or boxes to attract insects, soil the shelves, and give a
+disorderly appearance to an otherwise tidy pantry.  Glass fruit jars
+are desirable repositories for small dry groceries--tea, coffee, rice,
+tapioca, raisins, currants, and the like--though very dainty and
+serviceable covered porcelain jars in blue and white are made
+especially for this purpose, those of medium size costing 25 cents
+each, the smaller ones less, the larger more.  Jars or cans of japanned
+tin, designed for like use, are less expensive, but also less
+attractive, and in the course of time are liable to rust, particularly
+in summer, or where the climate is at all damp.  The shelves should be
+wiped off and regulated once a week, and crockery and utensils kept as
+bright and shining as plenty of soap and hot water can make them.  The
+pantry requires special care during the summer, when dust and flies are
+prone to corrupt its spotlessness.  A wall pocket hung on the door will
+be found a convenient dropping place for twine, scissors, and papers.
+
+
+
+INSECTS AND THEIR EXTERMINATION
+
+It is not just pleasant to associate cockroaches and ants with our
+kitchens and pantries, but where heat and moisture and food are, there
+insects will be also, for they seem to enjoy a taste of high life and
+to thrive on it.  Keep the house clean, dry, and well aired, and all
+dish and cleaning cloths sweet and fresh by washing and drying
+immediately after use, with a weekly boiling in borax water; dispose
+carefully of all food, and then wage a war of extermination.  This is
+all that will avail in an insect-infested house.  Hunt out, if
+possible, the nests or breeding places of ants and saturate with
+boiling water or with kerosene.  Wash all woodwork, shelves, and
+drawers with carbolic-acid water and inject it into any crack or
+opening where the pests appear.  It has been suggested that ants can be
+kept out of drawers and closets by a "dead line" drawn with a brush
+dipped in corrosive sublimate one ounce, muriate of ammonia two ounces,
+and water one pint, while a powder of tartar emetic, dissolved in a
+saucer of water, seems to be effective in driving them away.  Sponges
+wet with sweetened water attract them in large numbers, and when full
+should be plunged in boiling water.  Another successful "trap" is a
+plate thinly spread with lard, this also to be dropped into boiling
+water when filled.  In order to protect the table from an invasion
+stand the legs in dishes of tar water to a depth of four inches.  Ants
+have a decided distaste for the odors of pennyroyal and oil of cedar, a
+few drops of either on bits of cotton frequently sufficing to drive
+them away entirely.  As for cockroaches, there appear to be almost as
+many "exterminators" as there are housewives; but what is their poison
+in one home seems to make them wax and grow fat in another.  Borax and
+powdered sugar, scattered thickly over shelves and around baseboards
+and sink, is a favorite remedy with many, but it is an unsightly mess,
+particularly in summer, when the sugar melts and becomes sticky.  After
+all, experience has demonstrated that the one really effectual method
+of extermination is to besiege the roaches in their own bailiwick--the
+pipes and woodwork about the sink--with a large bellows filled with a
+good, reliable insect powder.  Exit roaches!
+
+
+
+THE REFRIGERATOR AND ITS CARE
+
+The refrigerator may or may not stand in the pantry, according to
+convenience, or as there is sewer connection for it.  Some authorities
+maintain that there is grave danger from sewer gas where the
+refrigerator is connected directly with the sewer, and that, therefore,
+the only safe way to dispose of the waste water is to catch it in a pan
+placed beneath the refrigerator, unless the house is so built that the
+waste pipe can be continued down into the cellar and there empty its
+contents into a sink.  A good, zinc-lined refrigerator, interlined with
+charcoal, with a hundred-pound capacity, a removable ice pan, which
+facilitates cleaning, and three shelves, is to be had for $16.50.  In
+selecting a refrigerator it is well to choose one of medium size, as a
+larger one entails waste of ice, while a smaller necessitates the
+placing near together of foods which should be kept apart, as butter
+and milk with fish, fruit, etc.  If one cares to invest in the
+higher-priced refrigerators, of course those lined with tile,
+porcelain, or enamel are very desirable, as they are easily kept clean
+and do not absorb odors.  But for the average income and use, a
+first-class zinc-lined refrigerator answers every purpose.  It should
+be thoroughly cleansed, on the mornings when the ice is to be renewed,
+with hot sal soda water followed by a cold bath and a thorough drying.
+The drain pipe must not be overlooked, but given the same sal soda
+treatment, otherwise it becomes coated and a fruitful source of germs.
+If, after this has been done, a musty odor still clings about the
+refrigerator, remove the shelves and boil in the clothes boiler for
+twenty minutes.  Pieces of charcoal placed in the corners of the
+refrigerator and frequently renewed will absorb much of the odor.
+Never place warm food in the refrigerator, nor food of any kind on the
+shelves, unless it is first placed on a plate or platter.  It is
+economy to keep the ice chamber well filled, and all ice should be well
+washed before being placed therein.  Some housekeepers cover the ice,
+with newspapers or carpet.  This no doubt helps to preserve it, but it
+also keeps the cold from the food chambers.  No food and nothing
+containing it should ever be placed directly on the ice.
+
+
+
+FURNISHING THE KITCHEN
+
+And now, having cleaned and decorated our kitchen and pantry, and
+provided for the refrigeration and partial disposal of our food,
+suppose we turn our attention to the fascinating task of selecting the
+different parts of the machinery which turns out that finished
+masterpiece--a perfect meal--bearing in mind in the meantime that the
+saying, "Art is the expression of joy in one's work," applies to
+nothing more truly than to the art of cookery, and that no tools
+necessary to its perfect success nor to her comfort and convenience
+should be denied that master artist, the cook, be she mistress or maid.
+
+
+
+THE STOVE
+
+Of paramount importance is, of course, the stove, and what kind it
+shall be, whether gas, coal, or oil.  Those of us who have grown
+accustomed to the immunity from those inevitable accompaniments of a
+coal range, ashes, soot, dust, and heat, afforded by the gas range,
+with its easily regulated broiler and oven, could hardly be persuaded
+to go back to first principles, as it were, and the coal range.  But
+when this is necessary, either for warmth or because there is no gas
+connection in the house, one has a wide choice of first-class stoves
+and can hardly go astray in selecting one.  Twenty-one dollars will buy
+a good, durable stove with all modern improvements and a large oven.  A
+stove with the same capacity but manufactured under a world-famous name
+sells for $32, while between the two in price is one at $28.  Two firms
+manufacture, in connection with their regular line of ranges, a
+three-plate gas stove which can be attached directly to the range, and
+sells for $6.  A portable steel oven, covering two burners, for use on
+gas and oil stoves alike, adds to the convenience of the gas plate, and
+sells for $2.  If a gas range is desired, an excellent one with a large
+oven, broiler, and all conveniences may be purchased for $18, one with
+a smaller oven for $15.  It might be well to suggest in passing that a
+small oven is poor economy.  Water backs, for both gas and coal ranges,
+are $3.50 each.  Where gas is unobtainable a three-burner wickless
+oil-stove plate will be found to give very good satisfaction, and can
+be placed on the coal range or on a table or box.  The range of the
+same capacity is $1 more, with an increase in price corresponding with
+the number of burners, until we have the five-burner stove at $11.  To
+do away with the odor which is apt to result from the use of oil as
+fuel, remove the burners, boil in sal soda water, dry thoroughly, and
+return to the stove.  In setting up a stove look carefully to it that
+the height is right, otherwise the cook's back is sure to suffer.  If
+too low, blocks can be placed under the legs to raise it to a
+comfortable height.  A whisk broom hung near the stove is useful in
+removing crumbs, dust, etc., and keeping it tidy.  A rack behind the
+stove, on which to hang the spoons and forks used in cooking, is a
+great convenience and a saving to the table top.
+
+
+
+THE TABLE AND ITS CARE
+
+The table should stand on casters and be placed in a good light as far
+from the stove as may be.  The latest product of the manufacturer's
+genius in this line contains two drawers--one spaced off into
+compartments for the different knives, forks, and spoons for kitchen
+use--a molding board, and three zinc-lined bins, one large one for
+wheat flour, and two smaller one for graham flour, corn meal, etc.
+When one considers the economy of steps between kitchen and pantry
+which it makes possible, its price, $6.75, is not large, while it
+obviates the necessity for purchasing bins and molding board.  Our
+friend, the white table oilcloth, tacked smoothly in place, gives a
+dainty top which is easily kept clean with a damp cloth--another
+labor-saving device, which stands between cook and scrubbing brush.  A
+zinc table cover is preferred by some housewives, as it absorbs no
+grease and is readily brightened with scouring soap and hot water.
+Separate zinc-covered table tops can be had for $1.50.  The
+marble-topped table is not desirable, for, though it undoubtedly is an
+aid to the making of good pastry, it stains easily, dissolves in some
+acids, and clogs with oils.  The easiest way to keep the table clean
+and neat is simply to--keep it so.  When the mixing of cake, pudding,
+etc., is in process, a large bowl should be near at hand, and into it
+should go egg beater, spoons, and forks when the cook is through using
+them, after which they, with all other soiled utensils, should be
+carried to the sink, washed, dried, and put away.  Never lay eggshells
+upon the table nor allow anything to dry on the utensils.  If, as
+occasionally happens even in the best-regulated kitchens, one is baking
+in too great a hurry to observe all these precautions, a heavy paper
+spread on the table will catch all the droppings and can be rolled up
+and burned.  Jars containing sugar, spices, etc., which have been in
+use, should be wiped with a damp cloth before returning to the pantry.
+
+
+
+THE CHAIRS
+
+The first aid to the cook should be at least one comfortable chair,
+neither a rocking chair nor one upholstered, both of which are out of
+place in the kitchen; but one low enough to rest in easily while
+shelling peas or doing some of the numerous tasks which do not require
+the use of the table.  A chair of this kind has a cane seat and high
+back and can be purchased for $1.25, the other chair to be of the
+regulation kitchen style at 55 cents.  The second aid is a 24-inch
+office stool at 85 cents, for use while washing dishes, preparing
+vegetables, etc.  This sort of a stool is light, easily moved about,
+and means a great saving in strength.  Though it has sometimes been
+dubbed a "nuisance" by the uninitiated, the woman who has learned its
+value finds it a very present help and wonders how she ever did without
+it.
+
+
+
+THE KITCHEN CABINET
+
+Occasionally it happens that a house is built with such slight regard
+for pantry room that we are constrained to wonder if, at the last
+minute, the pantry was not tucked into a little space for which there
+was absolutely no other use, and there left to be a means of grace to
+the thrifty housewife, whose pride it is to see her pots and pans in
+orderly array and with plenty of room to shine in.  At this point there
+comes to her rescue the kitchen cabinet, which not only relieves the
+congestion in the pantry, but adds in no small measure to the
+attractiveness of the kitchen.  These cabinets come in the natural
+woods, and should, as nearly as possible, match the woodwork of the
+kitchen.  Many have the satin finish which renders them impervious to
+grease, and all are fitted out with molding boards, shelves, cupboards,
+and drawers of various sizes.  So convenient is a cabinet of this kind,
+and so economical of steps, that it might well be called "the complete
+housewife."  First and foremost, it accommodates the kitchen dishes,
+plates, platters, and saucers, standing on edge of course, with cups
+hanging from small hooks, and pitchers, bowls, etc., variously
+arranged.  Then come the jars of spice, sugar, salt, tea, and
+coffee--all groceries, in fact, which are in most frequent use.  Where
+the decorative design in both jars and dishes is carried out in the
+blue and white, with a utensil or two of the same coloring, the effect
+is truly charming, though this is, of course, a matter of individual
+taste.  The cupboards are handy hiding places for the less ornamental
+bottles, brushes, etc., while the base, which is really nothing more
+nor less than a very complete kitchen table, usually has a shelf for
+kettles, stone jars, etc.  A good cabinet can be had for $10, a more
+commodious one for $16, and so on.  The cabinets without bases range
+from a tiny one, just large enough to hold six spice jars, at $1, to
+one, with five drawers, shelves, and cupboards with glass doors, for
+$6.  Any price beyond this simply means elaboration of design without
+additional increase of capacity or convenience.
+
+
+
+KITCHEN UTENSILS
+
+In selecting dishes and cooking utensils it is well to remember that
+cheapness does not always spell economy, and that one buys not alone
+for the present, but for the future as well.  Utensils which require
+scouring are not economical, either, for scouring is friction, and
+"friction means loss of energy."  Scouring has gone out with the heavy
+ironware which required it, in whose stead we have the pretty porcelain
+enamel ware and the less expensive agate ware, both of which need only
+a thorough washing in hot, soapy water, rinsing in boiling water, and
+careful drying.  Ware of this kind helps to produce the kitchen
+restful, and so, indirectly, the cook rested.  A well-cared-for kitchen
+is always more or less attractive, but why not make it rather more so
+than less?  Taste and harmony add nothing to the expense of furnishing,
+and there is a certain dignity and inspiration, as well as
+satisfaction, in being able to "bring forth butter in a lordly dish."
+Kitchen crockery is being rapidly supplanted by the porcelain enamel
+dishes, which, though rather more expensive in the beginning, are
+unbreakable, and so cheaper in the long run.  They are even invading
+the domain of the faithful yellow mixing bowl and becoming decidedly
+popular therein, being light in weight and more easily handled.  The
+complete equipment of the kitchen is a more costly operation than one
+is apt to imagine, individual items amounting comparatively to so
+little.  But the sum total is usually a rather surprising figure.  And
+so, remembering that Rome was not built in a day, carefully select
+those things which are really the essentials of every day, adding the
+useful non-essentials bit by bit.  The size and number of utensils must
+be governed by the size of the family in which they are to be used.
+Never buy anything of copper for kitchen use, as the rust to which it
+is liable is a dangerous poison.  There is one utensil only which is
+better to be of iron--the soup kettle--as it makes possible the slow
+simmering which is necessary for good soups and stews.  It is not worth
+while to buy knives of anything but wrought steel, which are best
+cleaned with pumice stone.  Cheesecloth for fish bags and strainers,
+and strong cotton for pudding bags must not be overlooked.
+
+And so, with kitchen complete, artistic, and satisfactory in every
+detail, it remains but to emphasize two facts--that perfect cleanliness
+is absolutely essential to health, and that she who looketh well to the
+ways of her kitchen eateth not the bread of idleness.
+
+The following list may be too extensive for some purposes, not suited
+to others, but out of it the new housekeeper can select what she thinks
+her establishment will need, and estimate the price of stocking her
+kitchen with those necessaries which make for good housekeeping:
+
+ 1 dozen individual jelly molds........................ $0.60
+ 1 griddle.............................................   .35
+ 1 small funnel........................................   .03
+ 1 large funnel........................................   .06
+ 1 gas toaster.........................................   .55
+ 1 coal toaster........................................   .08
+ 1 gas broiler.........................................   .65
+ 1 coal broiler........................................   .32
+ 1 six-quart iron soup kettle..........................  1.50
+ 1 skimmer.............................................   .14
+ 1 small ladle.........................................   .09
+ 1 porcelain enamel dipper.............................   .40
+ 1 porcelain enamel sink strainer......................   .40
+ 1 towel rack..........................................   .10
+ 1 clock...............................................  1.00
+ 1 puree sieve, with pestle............................   .18
+ 2 galvanized iron refrigerator pans...................   .50
+ 1 dozen dish towels...................................  1.20
+ 6 dishcloths..........................................   .30
+ 1 set of scales.......................................   .95
+ 1 vegetable slicer....................................   .25
+ 2 butter paddles......................................   .12
+ 1 can opener..........................................   .08
+ 1 potato ricer........................................   .25
+ 1 apple corer.........................................   .05
+ 1 chopping bowl.......................................   .15
+ 1 tea kettle..........................................  1.05
+ 1 ice pick............................................   .12
+ 1 pair scissors.......................................   .23
+ 1 scrub brush.........................................   .20
+ 1 sink brush..........................................   .08
+ 1 mop handle..........................................   .38
+ 1 oil can.............................................   .35
+ 1 whisk broom.........................................   .15
+ 1 small porcelain enamel pitcher......................   .26
+ 1 two-quart porcelain enamel pitcher..................   .55
+ 1 cake turner.........................................   .08
+ 1 porcelain enamel wash basin.........................   .28
+ 1 potato scoop........................................   .18
+ 1 towel roller........................................   .10
+ 1 rolling-pin.........................................   .15
+ 1 four-quart porcelain enamel saucepan, with cover....   .57
+ 1 eight-quart porcelain enamel bread bowl.............   .72
+ 1 gravy strainer......................................   .18
+ 1 nutmeg grater.......................................   .09
+ 1 spatula.............................................   .25
+ 1 egg beater..........................................   .10
+ 1 dish mop............................................   .05
+ 2 iron baking pans....................................   .20
+ 1 collander...........................................   .35
+ 1 ten-inch porcelain enamel bowl......................   .35
+ 2 eight-inch porcelain enamel bowls...................   .48
+ 3 five-inch porcelain enamel bowls....................   .33
+ 1 fryer and basket....................................  1.50
+ 4 bread pans..........................................   .60
+ 1 two-quart double boiler.............................   .95
+ 2 dish pans (agate)...................................  1.10
+ 1 omelet pan..........................................   .10
+ 1 porcelain enamel teapot.............................   .65
+ 1 porcelain enamel coffeepot..........................   .85
+ 6 porcelain enamel plates.............................   .78
+ 1 porcelain enamel platter............................   .40
+ 1 porcelain enamel platter (small)....................   .35
+ 6 porcelain enamel cups and saucers...................  1.14
+ Dredging boxes for salt, pepper, and flour............   .35
+ 3 pie tins. ..........................................   .12
+ 1 galvanized iron garbage can, with cover.............   .50
+ 1 large dripping pan..................................   .17
+ 1 small dripping pan..................................   .15
+ 1 lemon squeezer......................................   .05
+ 1 molding board.......................................   .40
+ 4 layer-cake tins.....................................   .16
+ 2 porcelain sugar jars................................   .50
+ 6 porcelain spice jars................................   .60
+ 1 half-pint tin cup...................................   .05
+ 1 six-quart milk pan..................................   .23
+ 1 four-quart milk pan.................................   .17
+ 3 wrought-steel knives................................   .48
+ 3 wrought-steel forks.................................   .48
+ 1 egg spoon...........................................   .08
+ 1 dozen muffin rings..................................   .46
+ 1 biscuit pan.........................................   .25
+ 1 round fluted cake tin...............................   .12
+ 2 basting spoons......................................   .24
+ 6 kitchen knives......................................   .50
+ 6 kitchen forks.......................................   .50
+ 6 kitchen teaspoons...................................   .48
+ 3 kitchen tablespoons.................................   .15
+ 3 asbestos mats.......................................   .15
+ 1 chopping knife......................................   .20
+ 1 wire dishcloth......................................   .12
+ 1 flour scoop.........................................   .19
+ 1 sugar scoop.........................................   .10
+ 1 meat grinder........................................  1.50
+ 1 soap shaker.........................................   .10
+ 1 flour sifter........................................   .25
+ 1 coffee mill.........................................   .50
+ 2 measuring cups......................................   .15
+ 1 meat fork...........................................   .09
+ 1 larding needle......................................   .10
+ 2 brooms..............................................   .60
+ 1 long-handled hair broom.............................  1.45
+ 1 dustpan.............................................   .12
+ 1 scouring box........................................   .50
+ 1 draining rack.......................................   .10
+ 1 bread knife.........................................   .25
+ 1 cake knife..........................................   .20
+ 1 meat knife .........................................   .55
+ 1 peeling knife.......................................   .10
+ 1 bread box...........................................   .70
+ 1 cake box............................................   .70
+ 1 three-quart porcelain enamel saucepan...............   .36
+ 1 oblong loaf-cake tin................................   .15
+ 1 jelly mold..........................................   .30
+ 1 wooden spoon........................................   .05
+ 1 salt box............................................   .25
+ 1 pepper box..........................................   .10
+ 1 graduated quart measure.............................   .16
+ 3 small vegetable brushes.............................   .15
+ 1 dozen glass fruit jars..............................   .60
+ 2 two-quart porcelain enamel saucepans................  1.00
+ 1 grater..............................................   .18
+ 1 paper scrub pail....................................   .25
+ 2 two-quart agate pans................................   .36
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE LAUNDRY
+
+What visions of dampness and disorder, of air malodorous with steam and
+soap, of meals delayed and hurriedly prepared, of tempers ruffled and
+the domestic machinery all disarranged and the discomforts of home
+prominently in the foreground, are called forth by that magic
+word--washday!  And yet, maligned though it be, it really is the day of
+all the week the best; for does it not minister more than any one other
+to our comfort and self-respect and general well-being?  It may be
+"blue Monday" or blue Tuesday or blue any-other-day, but we very soon
+come out of the azure when it is achieved and we find ourselves
+entering upon another week's enjoyment of that virtue which is akin to
+godliness.  In the brief interim of upheaval we may possibly wish we
+could hark back to the days of the "forty-niner," who solved his
+individual problem of personal cleanliness by simply dropping his
+soiled clothing into a boiling spring, where it was turned and churned
+and twisted and finally flung out, a clean and purified testimonial to
+Mother Nature's ability as a laundress.  Or perhaps the pretty pastoral
+of the peasant girl knee deep in the brook, rubbing her household linen
+on the stones, hath even greater charms.  But the trouble is that we
+are neither "forty-niners" nor peasants, but just plain, latter-day
+housekeepers with a laundry problem to face, and finding that it, like
+most other problems, is best solved by attacking it boldly,
+systematically, and according to certain fixed rules.
+
+[Illustration: The laundry.]
+
+
+
+LAUNDRY REQUISITES
+
+The home laundry must be well ventilated and lighted, and in the
+basement if possible, for obvious reasons, the chief being the relief
+thus afforded to the otherwise congested kitchen and overburdened
+kitchen stove, while at the same time one other menace to health--the
+steam generated by the washing and drying--is removed from the main
+part of the house.  It is highly essential that the laundry be properly
+and completely equipped for the work of washing, boiling, drying, and
+ironing.  Stationary tubs are much to be desired, those porcelain-lined
+being more sanitary than either soapstone, which has a tendency to
+absorb grease, or wood, which absorbs the uncleanness from the soiled
+linen.  It is especially necessary that the tubs be as impervious as
+possible when the linen is soaked overnight.  If tubs are to be bought,
+the paper ones have a decided advantage over the more well-known cedar
+ones in being much lighter and consequently more easily handled, with
+only a slight difference in price.  It seems so well worth while to
+minimize the strain of heavy lifting when and wherever one can, since
+washing at best involves much hard work and fatigue.
+
+
+
+THE STOVE AND FURNISHINGS
+
+The stove for laundry use may be either gas, oil, or coal, the latter
+being considered the most economical of fuel, while it often comes in
+very handy in the preparation of foods which require long stewing or
+simmering.  The wringer should be of medium size, either wooden or
+iron-framed, the former having the advantage of lightness, the latter
+of strength.  The screws must be loosened after each washing and
+thoroughly dried.  Any particles of rust can be removed with kerosene.
+The following list gives a very fair idea of the essentials of the
+well-furnished laundry, and their cost:
+
+ 2 paper tubs................................ $2.40
+ 1 wringer...................................  3.75
+ 1 block-tin boiler with copper bottom.......  2.15
+ 1 washboard.................................   .25
+ 1 paper pail................................   .25
+ 1 long-handled starch spoon.................   .08
+ 1 long-handled dipper.......................   .12
+ 1 set clothes bars .........................   .95
+ 1 wash bench ...............................   .75
+ 1 fifty-foot hemp line......................   .20
+ 1 ironing board, or ) ......................   .95
+ 1 skirt-board       ) ......................   .50
+ 3 Mrs. Potts' nickel-plated irons...........  2.85
+ 1 sleeve and ruffle iron....................   .35
+ 1 iron rest.................................   .08
+ 1 clothes stick.............................   .10
+ 1 clothes basket............................   .80
+ 5 dozen clothespins.........................   .10
+ 2 pieces beeswax............................   .05
+
+
+
+IRONS AND HOLDERS
+
+If the ordinary flatirons are preferred, they may be had at 5 cents a
+pound.  They require, of course, the use of a good, stout holder,
+asbestos covered with ticking affording the best protection to the
+hand.  Slip cases are nice for use of this kind, as they can be taken
+off and washed.  Pad the ironing board with Canton flannel or a coarse
+blanket, then draw tightly over it a white cotton cloth and fasten on
+the under side.  The padding must be absolutely smooth and without a
+wrinkle.  And there must be a piece of cheesecloth with which to wipe
+possible dust from the line, a scrubbing brush for the cleaning-up
+process which closes the washing drama, and the various preparations
+used to remove stains and assist in the cleansing of the linen and
+clothing--borax, starch, bluing, ammonia, oxalic acid, soda, kerosene,
+turpentine, etc.
+
+
+
+PREPARING THE "WASH"
+
+With all the "properties" in readiness, the fire burning well, and
+plenty of hot water to draw upon, the curtain rises on the laundress
+sorting the flannels, table linen, fine underwear, towels, and bed
+linen, colored clothes and stockings into separate piles, each to be
+disposed of in its turn, from fine articles down through to coarse,
+laying aside any which have stains.  These stains she removes in a
+variety of ways, according to their nature, but removed they must be
+before going into the tub, where, in most instances, the hot suds will
+render them ineradicable, although it has the reverse effect on dirt.
+It is a wise plan to mark, with a black thread before putting in the
+wash, any stains which are apt to be overlooked by the laundress, and
+those on large pieces, such as bedspreads.
+
+
+
+REMOVING STAINS
+
+The removal of stains from white goods is comparatively easy.  Fruit
+and wine stains are removed by stretching the fabric over a bowl and
+pouring boiling water through the stain, repeating until it disappears.
+Boiling milk is sometimes applied successfully to wine stains in the
+same way.  A thick layer of salt rubbed into the stained portion and
+followed with the boiling-water treatment is also effective.  Obstinate
+fruit stains yield to a thorough moistening with lemon, a good rubbing
+with salt (a combination which is to be found all prepared at the drug
+store under the name of Salts of Lemon), and the application of boiling
+water.  When nothing else avails, immerse the stained portion in a weak
+solution of Javelle water--one half cup to one pail of boiling
+water--allow it to soak a few minutes, and then rinse thoroughly.
+Javelle water can be procured of the druggist, but is as well prepared
+at home by dissolving four pounds of ordinary washing soda in one
+gallon of water, boiling ten minutes, and then adding to it one pound
+of chloride of lime.  It should be kept well corked, and resorted to in
+extreme cases alone, as it is violent in its action on the clothes.
+For this reason special care must be given to rinsing after its use.
+
+Tea and coffee stains usually surrender to boiling water, but if they
+prove obdurate rub in a little powdered borax and pour on more boiling
+water.  Chocolate stains can be removed in the same way.  Sprinkling
+the stain with borax and soaking first in cold water facilitates the
+action of the boiling water.
+
+Rub iron rust with lemon and salt, and lay in the sun, repeating until
+the spot disappears.  This is usually all that is necessary, but if the
+stain is very stubborn, spread over a bowl containing one quart of
+water and one teaspoonful of borax.  Apply hydrochloric acid, drop by
+drop, to the stain until it brightens, then dip at once into the water.
+
+If an ink stain is fresh, soak in milk, renewing the milk when it
+becomes discolored.  If very dry and well set use lemon and salt or the
+Javelle-water treatment.
+
+Mildew, which results from allowing damp clothes to lie in the basket
+for a length of time, is obstinate and difficult to remove.  Boil in
+salted buttermilk; or wet with lemon juice and stand in the sun.  If
+these treatments are ineffectual, resort to diluted oxalic acid or
+Javelle water, a careful rinsing to follow the application.  Grass
+stains may be treated in a like manner, or washed in alcohol.  Ammonia
+and water, applied while the stain is fresh, will often remove it.
+
+Remove paint stains with benzene or turpentine, machine oil with cold
+water and Ivory soap, vaseline with turpentine.
+
+Peroxide of hydrogen applied to blood stains while they are still moist
+causes them to disappear at once.  Soaking in cold water till the
+stains turn brown, then washing in warm water with soap is the usual
+treatment.  If the stain is on thick goods, make a paste of raw starch
+and apply several times.
+
+Pencil marks on linen should be rubbed off with an eraser, as hot water
+sets them.
+
+Soap and water is the best agent for removing stains from colored
+goods, _provided the color is fast_.  Moisten the article, soap the
+stain, and after a few minutes wash alternately with oil of turpentine
+and water.  If not satisfactorily removed make a mixture of yolk of egg
+and oil of turpentine, spread on the stain, allow to dry, scrape off,
+and wash thoroughly in hot water.  Tampering with stains on garments
+which are not warranted "fast color" is very risky, and often leaves
+the second state of the garments worse than the first.
+
+
+
+SOAKING AND WASHING
+
+The prologue of sorting the clothes and removing the stains being at an
+end, we are ready for the real "business" of the wash day--the washing
+itself--unless the laundress prefers to soak the clothes overnight.  If
+so, dampen, soap well, particularly the most soiled spots, roll up and
+pack in the bottom of the tub, pour over tepid water, and leave till
+morning.  Only the bed and body linen need be subjected to this
+treatment, as the table linen is rarely sufficiently soiled to require
+it, and the colored clothes and the stockings must never, under any
+circumstances, be allowed to stay in water beyond the time necessary to
+wash and rinse them.  The water, if only hard water be obtainable, may
+be softened by the addition of a little ammonia or borax.  Water which
+has been discolored by soil after heavy rains or by the repairing of
+water pipes, should be strained through Canton flannel before use.
+After soaking, the linen should be put through the wringer, which will
+take away much of the soil with the water, and then washed.  As to the
+way in which this should be done there are various opinions, most
+methods in use by experienced laundresses being reliable.  Each,
+however, usually has her favorite method of procedure which it is
+perhaps as well to allow her to follow.  Pity 'tis, 'tis true, that
+many housekeepers are so ignorant of how the wash-day programme should
+really be conducted that they are incapable of directing the
+incompetent laundress.  The mistress of the house needs also to be
+mistress of the laundry, guiding operations there as elsewhere, seeing
+to it that body and table linens are not washed together, flannels
+boiled, clothing rotted by overindulgence in sal soda, nor any other
+crimes committed against law and order in the laundry.
+
+
+
+WASHING POWDERS AND SOAP
+
+If bleaches of any kind are to be used--washing powders, sal soda,
+borax, and the like--it must be in either the soaking water or the
+boiler, and _very_ sparingly.  Indeed, the use of bleaches at any time
+is a custom more honored in the breach than the observance.  Though
+there is no hard-and-fast rule as to the order of precedence, it is
+well to wash the woolens first, after shaking them free from lint and
+dust.  Prepare two tubs of lukewarm suds, the second very light, adding
+a little borax dissolved in boiling water to each.  Never apply soap
+directly to the flannel, nor rub on a board, which mats the wool, but
+rub with the hands, squeezing and dipping up and down in the first
+water till clean, rinse in the second water, which should be of about
+the same temperature as the first, put through the wringer, shake well,
+pull into shape, and hang in the shade to dry.
+
+
+
+WASHING WOOLENS
+
+Woolens must never hang in the sun nor near the fire, as the too-quick
+drying causes them to shrink and harden.  When nearly dry, press on the
+wrong side with a moderately hot iron.  The rinsing water may be used
+for the first cotton wash.  If both colored and white flannels are to
+be washed, the former should be done first, thus avoiding the lint
+washed from the latter.  Drying can be accelerated by pressing
+repeatedly between soft cloths.  If the ordinary washing fails to
+remove any of the spots, spread on a smooth board and rub with a soft,
+wet, soapy brush.
+
+
+
+WASHING THE WHITE CLOTHES
+
+Next comes the washing of the table linen, then the body linen, and
+then the bed linen, the process for each being the same, though the
+table linen requires the least rubbing.  Wash in hot water in which the
+hand can be comfortably borne, soaping each piece well before it is
+rubbed, and paying particular attention to the hems of the sheets; drop
+into a second tub of clear, hot water, rinse, and wring into a boiler
+about half filled with cold water to which has been added one
+tablespoon of kerosene and sufficient soap chips to produce a good
+suds.  Bring the water to a boil and boil ten minutes, stirring
+occasionally with the clothes stick, Too long boiling yellows the
+clothes, and crowding the boiler is to be avoided.  From the boiler the
+clothes are lifted to a tub of clear, cold water, thoroughly rinsed,
+transferred to the tub of bluing water where they are well and evenly
+saturated, wrung out, and those which are not to be starched hung on
+the line where sun and breeze are most active.  The bluing must be
+thoroughly mixed with the water.  Clothes which have been carefully
+washed and rinsed need but little bluing.  Hang sheets and tablecloths
+out straight and stretch the selvages even.  Pillowcases should be hung
+by the seam opposite the hem.
+
+
+
+STARCH
+
+Prepare the starch by dissolving one half cup of starch in cold water,
+pour on this one quart of boiling water, and boil till clear and white,
+stirring constantly.  When nearly ready to take from the stove add a
+little borax, lard, butter, or white wax.  A teaspoonful of granulated
+sugar is believed by many to be the most desirable addition.  This will
+be of the right consistency for ordinary articles--skirts, aprons, etc.
+The same degree of strength in starch will not suit all kinds of
+fabrics, collars, cuffs, etc., requiring the stronger solution made by
+doubling the amount of starch; thin lawns and other fine materials the
+weaker produced by doubling the amount of water.  Dip each article in
+the hot starch, those requiring the most stiffening being dipped first,
+because it is necessary to thin the starch.  See that the starch is
+evenly distributed, press out as much as possible with the hands, put
+through the wringer, shake out all creases, and pin evenly on the line.
+Additional stiffness is given by dipping the already starched and dried
+article in raw starch, which is made by moistening a handful of starch
+in a quart of cold water and rubbing in enough Ivory or other fine
+white soap to produce a very slight suds.  Squeeze out the superfluous
+moisture, roll in a clean white cloth, and leave for half an hour.
+Iron while still damp.  In stiffening pillowcases dilute the starch
+until it is of the consistency of milk.  Mourning starch should be used
+for black goods.  Never hang starched things out in freezing, damp, or
+windy weather.
+
+
+
+COLORED CLOTHES
+
+Colored articles must be washed, starched, dried, and ironed as
+speedily as possible.  Prepare warm suds with Ivory or Castile soap and
+add to it a handful of salt to set the color.  Wash each piece through
+this, and rinse through two clear waters to which just enough vinegar
+to taste has been added, the latter to brighten the color, then stiffen
+in cool starch and hang in the shade.  When washing delicate colored
+fabrics a tablespoon of ox gall may be substituted for the salt.
+
+
+
+STOCKINGS
+
+Last come the stockings, which should be washed in clean water, first
+on the right side, then on the wrong, special care being bestowed upon
+the feet.  Rinse in clear water, with a final rinsing in hot water to
+soften the fiber, and hang on the line wrong side out, toes up.  Woolen
+stockings are washed in the same way as flannels.
+
+
+
+DAINTY LAUNDERING
+
+The dainty task of laundering centerpieces and doilies usually devolves
+upon their owner, unless the laundress has demonstrated her ability to
+cleanse and iron them properly.  Wash in warm Ivory or Castile
+soapsuds, squeezing, dipping, and rubbing between the hands until
+clean, rinse thoroughly--otherwise the soap will yellow--bluing the
+last rinsing water very slightly, squeeze out (never wring) as much
+moisture as possible, and hang on the line, in the shade if out of
+doors.  While still very damp lay face down on a thick flannel pad
+covered with a white cloth, and iron till dry.  If the piece is large
+it can be turned and ironed lightly on the right side where there is no
+embroidery.  Colored embroideries must never be sprinkled and rolled.
+Iron the linen of large lace-trimmed centerpieces, then lay on a bed or
+other flat surface, and stretch the lace by carefully pinning down each
+point.
+
+The cleansing of laces is best accomplished by basting on strips of
+cheesecloth, fastening down each point, and soaking for some time in
+warm, soapy water.  Squeeze out and put into fresh soapy water,
+repeating the process until the lace is perfectly clean, then rinse in
+clear boras water--four teaspoonfuls to one pint.  Place the
+cheesecloth, lace down, on a flannel or other soft pad, and iron until
+dry.
+
+
+
+HOW TO WASH SILK
+
+Put white and light-colored silks and pongees through strong, tepid
+white soapsuds, then through a second weaker suds, rinse, press out the
+water with the hands, shake out all wrinkles, spread on a clean sheet,
+and roll tight.  Cover with a cheesecloth and iron while still damp
+with a not too hot iron.  No portion of silk should be allowed to dry
+before ironing.  If this occurs do not sprinkle, but dampen by rolling
+in a wet cloth.  In laundering pure white silk, slightly blue the
+rinsing water.  A slight firmness can be imparted to any silk by the
+addition of one teaspoon of gum arabic to each pint of the rinsing
+water.  Silk hose are laundered just as other silk, except that instead
+of being rolled they must be dried as quickly as possible and ironed
+under a damp cloth.
+
+
+
+WASHING BLANKETS
+
+Do not allow blankets to become very much soiled before laundering,
+When this becomes necessary, put to soak for fifteen minutes in plain
+warm water--soft, if possible.  Then prepare a jelly with one pound of
+soap to each blanket, and boiling water, pour into a tub of warm water
+and lather well, wring the blankets from the soaking water into this
+and let soak for ten minutes, then rub between the hands, bit by bit,
+until as clean as possible, wring into the first rinsing water, which
+should be just warm, then rinse a second time in tepid water, and dry
+well without exposing to great heat.  Instead of being hung, blankets
+can be dried on curtain stretchers.  When dry rub with a piece of rough
+flannel; this makes them fluffy and soft.
+
+
+
+WASHING CURTAINS
+
+Curtains and draperies should be shaken and brushed free from all the
+dust possible, before washing.  Lace curtains, and especially those
+which are very fine or much worn, need dainty and careful handling.
+Soak for an hour or two in warm water containing a little borax, then
+squeeze out the water and drop into a boiler half filled with cold
+water to which have been added one half bar of soap, shaved thin, two
+tablespoonfuls of ammonia, and one of turpentine.  Bring to a boil and
+let stand at the boiling point, without boiling, for half an hour,
+stirring occasionally with the clothes stick, rinse thoroughly, starch
+well with thick boiled starch, and stretch on frames to dry.  If frames
+are not available, pin to a carpet which has been smoothly spread with
+a clean sheet.  When a pure white is desired, add a little bluing to
+the starch water.  Water tinted with coffee will produce an ecru
+effect, while tea will give a more decided hue.  Muslin curtains are
+laundered like any other fine white goods.
+
+
+
+TIDYING UP AND SPRINKLING
+
+The last article being hung on the line, each implement used in the
+process of washing must be cleaned, dried, and put in its place, the
+laundry floor scrubbed, and everything made spick and span; then comes
+the sprinkling and rolling of the piles of snowy, sweet-smelling linen,
+all full of fresh air and sunshine, to make a little rest time after
+the vigorous exercise which precedes it.  It must be done with care as
+much depends upon it.  Table linen, unless taken from the line while
+still moist, should be sprinkled very damp, folded evenly, rolled and
+wrapped in a white cloth, and placed in the clothes basket, which has
+been previously lined with an old sheet.  Bed linen and towels require
+very little dampening; they, too, to be rolled and placed with the
+table linen.  Sprinkle body linen well, particularly the lace and
+embroidery trimmings, roll tight, wrap, and add to the growing pile in
+the basket.  The kitchen towels which have just come from the line may
+be utilized for wrapping purposes.  Handkerchiefs receive the same
+treatment as napkins in sprinkling, folding, and ironing.  Although
+everything irons more easily after being rolled for some time, thus
+evenly distributing the dampness, an exception must be made of colored
+clothing, which must not be sprinkled more than half an hour before it
+is ironed.  When the sprinkling is all done, cover the basket with a
+damp cloth, then with a dry one, and leave till ironing time.  If a
+coal range is in use, see that the fire is burning steadily,
+replenishing from time to time, first on one side, then on the other,
+brush off the top of the stove, wipe the irons, and put on to heat.  If
+they heat slowly, invert a large dish pan over them.
+
+
+
+CARE OF IRONS
+
+When not in use, irons can be protected from dampness and resulting
+rust by covering with mutton fat or paraffine, rubbed on while slightly
+warm.  It is easily removed when the irons are wanted for use.  Rust
+spots can be removed by applying olive oil, leaving for a few days, and
+then rubbing over with unslaked lime.  Scrub with soap and water,
+rinse, dry, rub with beeswax, and wipe off with a clean cloth.  The
+soap and water treatment, followed by a vigorous rubbing on brick-dust,
+should be given frequently, irrespective of rust.  Irons must neither
+be allowed to become red-hot nor to stand on the range between usings,
+or roughness will result.  When not in use, stand on end on a shelf.
+Rubbing first with beeswax and then with a clean cloth will prevent the
+irons from sticking to the starched things.
+
+
+
+HOW TO IRON
+
+Before beginning to iron have everything in readiness--beeswax, a heavy
+paper on which to test the iron, a dish of water, and a soft cloth or a
+small sponge for dampening surfaces which have become too dry to iron
+well, or which have been poorly ironed and need doing over.  Stand the
+ironing table in the best light which can be found, with the ironing
+stand at the right and the clothes at the left, and work as rapidly as
+consistent with good results.  There is no royal road to ironing, but
+with perseverance and care the home laundress can become quite expert,
+even though she cannot hope to compete with the work turned out by
+those who do nothing but iron six days in the week.  Give the iron a
+good, steady pressure, lifting from the board as little as possible,
+and then--iron!  Take the bed linen first, giving a little extra press
+to the hems of the sheets.  Many housewives have a theory that unironed
+sheets are the more hygienic; that ironing destroys the life and
+freshness imparted by the sun and air.  Such being the case, the sheets
+can be evenly and carefully folded and put through the wringer, which
+will give them a certain smoothness.  Towels may be treated in the same
+way, while flannels, knit wear, and stockings may, if one chooses, be
+folded and put away unironed.  Table linen must be smoothed over on the
+wrong side till partially dry, and then ironed rapidly, with good hot
+irons and strong pressure on the right side, lengthwise and parallel
+with the selvage, until dry.  This brings out the pattern and imparts a
+satiny gloss to the fabric, leaving it dainty, soft, and immaculate.
+Iron all embroideries on the wrong side.  Trimmings and ruffles must be
+ironed before doing the body of the garment, going well up into the
+gathers with a light, pointed iron, carefully avoiding pressing in
+wrinkles or unexpected pleats.  Iron frills, either plain or with a
+narrow edge, on the right side to give the necessary gloss.  Bands,
+hems, and all double parts must be ironed on both sides.  Iron colored
+clothes--lawns, dimities, percales, chambrays, etc.--on the wrong side,
+with an iron not too hot, otherwise the color is apt to be injured.
+The home laundress is usually not quite equal to the task of ironing
+shirts, which would far better go to the laundry; but when done at home
+from choice or necessity, plenty of patience and muscle must be
+applied.  Iron the body of the shirt first, then draw the bosom tightly
+over a board and attack it with the regular irons, wipe over quickly
+with a damp cloth and press hard with the polishing iron.  The ironing
+of very stiffly starched articles may be facilitated by covering with
+cheesecloth and pressing until partially dry; then remove the cloth and
+iron dry.  As each piece is ironed, hang on bars or line until
+thoroughly dried and aired.  A certain amount of moisture remains; even
+after the ironing, and must be entirely removed before the final
+sorting and folding and putting away.
+
+And so the wash-day drama comes to an end.  We survey with pride and
+complaisance the piles of clean linen, shining with spotless elegance,
+and as we read therein a whole sermon on the "Gospel of Cleanliness,"
+we conclude that it is decidedly worth while, and rejoice that
+fifty-two times a year this is a "washing-day world."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+TABLE FURNISHINGS
+
+The mistress no doubt has a housewifely taste for receipts, and may,
+perhaps, find the following formula of service to her in her
+home-making:
+
+
+
+DINING-ROOM CHEER
+
+One set of fine, spotless table linen sprinkled--not too thickly--with
+pretty glass, china, and silver, and well lightened with brightness
+tempered to the right consistency not to dazzle.  To this add a few
+sunny faces, some good conversation spiced with gayety--the
+unpalatable, distasteful portions having been previously eliminated.
+Then quietly and by degrees add food which has been carefully and
+daintily prepared and arranged.  Over all scatter little flecks of
+kindliness and courtesy till an inward glow is produced, and keep at
+this point from half an hour to an hour, or longer.
+
+This receipt may be depended upon to give satisfaction under any and
+all conditions, and is compounded of ingredients which exemplary home
+makers have always at hand.  If conscientiously followed failure is
+impossible.  "Its use is a good habit."
+
+
+
+STOCKING THE CHINA CUPBOARD
+
+Of its component parts the more substantial ones are perhaps the most
+easily acquired; not in hit-or-miss, anything-to-get-it-done fashion,
+but with a view to carrying out some definite idea of table adornment,
+which is quite the most charming part of the home building.  Dishes are
+more or less mixed up with poesy, which is full of "flowing bowls,"
+"enchanted cups," "dishes for the gods," "flagons of ale," and other
+appetizing suggestions; and it would be rather a good thing to keep the
+poetry in mind during the fitting out, that there may be nothing
+aggressively cheap nor loudly assertive, but each piece harmoniously
+congenial to its fellows.  There need be no hurry--that is one of the
+delights o' it--and the shopping may mean only "looking," for the good
+buyer believes that many dishes are to be examined but few chosen--a
+meat set here, a salad set there, a piece of cut glass somewhere
+else--here a little and there a little, with time to get acquainted
+with and enjoy each added treasure as it comes.  It is a rare
+experience, this stocking the china cupboard; one likely to be
+prolonged through one's entire housekeeping experience, thanks be!
+
+
+
+THE GROUNDWORK
+
+There is so much exquisitely patterned and inexpensive china, glass,
+and porcelain turned out these days that one cannot wander very far
+afield in buying unless she gets lost among the intricacies of
+castors--pickle and otherwise--ironstone china, colored and imitation
+cut glass, and butter dishes with domelike covers.  Probably the
+persons who invented these have gone to join hands with the perpetrator
+of the red tablecloth.  May their works soon follow them!  Complete
+sets of dishes are giving way to the character and diversity imparted
+to the table by odd pieces and sets for different courses.  However, a
+pretty, inexpensive set of porcelain or china--something which will
+bear acquaintance, and of some easily replaced standard pattern--is a
+good beginning, for one rarely starts out with a full equipment of fine
+china, and even so, there should be something stronger to bear the
+heaviest brunt of wear.  All complete sets contain one hundred and
+seven pieces, and include one dozen each of dinner, breakfast, tea,
+soup, and butter plates, and cups and saucers of medium size, three
+platters of various sizes, vegetable dishes, covered and coverless, and
+a gravy boat.  Tureen, sugar bowl, and cream pitcher, and after-dinner
+coffees are not included, but may be ordered extra.
+
+The choice in everyday sets lies between plain white--preferably the
+French china, known as Haviland, which can be bought for $35--and the
+blue-and-white English porcelain of different makes--Copeland, Trenton,
+etc., a desirable set of which costs $15 and higher.  All-white is
+entirely blameless from the standpoint of good taste, and has a dainty
+fineness in the Haviland of which one rarely tires, while it never
+clashes with anything else on the table.  It is so infinitely
+preferable to cheap, gaudy decorations, so sincerely and honestly what
+it seems to be, that it has a certain self-respecting quality which one
+cannot help but admire.  Blue-and-white has an attraction which has
+never died since it had its birth in the original Delft, which is
+copied so extensively now in Japan and China.  And though the porcelain
+is but an imitation, it is a clever one, and one which leaves little to
+be desired in decorative value and general effect.  The design may
+strike one at first as being a little heavy, but it improves on
+acquaintance, and it has been very aptly said that the fact of its
+having survived enthusiasm should vouch for its worth.  Porcelain has a
+good glaze which does not readily crack or break.  Advancing in the
+scale of cost and fineness, we come to that most beautiful of all
+chinas--the gold-and-white--which can be had at from $50 a set up to as
+high as $1,500.  The gilding is in coin gold, the effect of richness
+tempered with chastity being carried through all grades in varying
+intensity.  It "expresses itself beyond expression," and is an honor to
+any table.
+
+
+
+COURSE SETS
+
+When it comes to the purchase of course sets, different tastes can find
+instant gratification in numberless colorings and designs.
+Overdecoration and large floral devices must be avoided, but any
+delicately expressed pattern is good, and here again the gold-and-white
+seems to fulfill all demands.  Soup, salad, tea, butter, and other
+plates can be had in china from 30 cents apiece up.  Articles of this
+kind, in a standard pattern, may be bought one or two at a time, and
+added to as ability permits until the set is completed.  Any unusual
+design runs through two years, after which it can be obtained only from
+the factory.  A dozen of each is a good number to aim at, for there
+will be many occasions which will call out one's whole dish brigade and
+keep it actively engaged.  The old joke about having to wash dishes
+between courses, and sending the ice cream afloat on a warm plate,
+really loses its amusing aspect when it becomes an actual experience.
+Unless the mistress prefers to serve her soup at the table, a tureen is
+not a necessity, but if used, it must match the soup plates.  It is a
+somewhat fluctuating fashion, out at present.  Soup plates are not the
+great flaring affairs of yore.  They either follow the old shape, much
+reduced, or are in the nature of a large sauce dish.  The meat set of
+platters, plates, and vegetable dishes comes into play at all meals,
+tea plates can be put to a variety of uses--in fact, many dishes
+supplement one another at a saving of expense and numbers.  If one has
+a handsome glass bowl sufficiently large, a special salad bowl is not
+an essential, but a china bowl demands plates to match.  Hand-painted
+china, in sets or odd pieces, is pretty--sometimes--if artistically
+designed and perfectly executed, but a little goes a long way.  Don't
+be the innocent victim of some well-meaning relative with the
+china-painting bee.  Gently but firmly refuse to sacrifice the beauty
+of your table to family ties; they ought to be able to stand the
+strain, but your table cannot.
+
+
+
+ODD PIECES
+
+Japanese and Chinese ware is steadily gaining in favor--another
+instance in which imitation is permissible, for the "real thing" is
+undoubtedly costly.  The quaint conceits in creams and sugars,
+chocolate pots, bonbon dishes, and plates, with their storks and
+chrysanthemums, their almond-eyed damsels and mandarins, are always
+interesting.  The fad of odd cups and saucers is fast developing into a
+fixed fashion, and a good one, which is a particular boon to the giver
+of gifts on Christmas and other anniversaries when "presents endear
+absents."  Pretty styles in all sizes of different French, German, and
+English makes can be found at 50 cents and up, with special reductions
+at sale times.  Larger plates, to accommodate both the slice of bread
+and the butter ball, have taken the place of the tiny butter plate, and
+should properly match the meat set.  A touch of gold with any china
+decoration gives it a certain character and richness.  The chop
+platter--among the nice-to-haves and bought as an odd piece--belongs in
+the lightning change category, for it may serve us our chops and peas
+during the first course, our molded jelly salad during the second, and
+our brick of ice cream or other dessert during the third.  The range in
+price is from $1 up to $5 and $6 for the choicest designs.  Then there
+are berry sets of a bowl and six saucers, both being turned to account
+for different uses, and costing in Haviland as low as $1.75.  And there
+must be some small bowls or large sauce dishes for breakfast use, if
+our housewife is cereally inclined, and a china tile or two on little
+legs to go under the coffee and tea pots.  The china pudding dish, with
+its tray and its heat-proof baking pan, is a pretty and convenient
+accessory, saving the bother of veiling the crackled complexion of the
+ordinary baking dish with a napkin, These cannot be had for less than
+$3.50 and are made in silver also, minus the tray and plus a cover.
+The teapot, true symbol of hospitality, has come down from the high
+estate to which it was formerly created, and is a fat, squatty affair
+now.  Dainty sets of teapot, cream, and sugar matching--a nobby little
+outfit--are to be had for $2, in gold-and-white, $3, etc.  There are
+after-dinner coffee sets, too.  Needless to say there must not be even
+the slightest acquaintance between fine china or porcelain and the hot
+oven if you value their glaze.
+
+[Illustration: Wedgwood pottery, and silver of antique design.]
+
+
+
+SILVER AND PLATE
+
+Of the purchase of silver there is little to say.  Unless her friends
+have been very generous in their gifts of solid ware, the mistress
+usually acquires it a little at a time, contenting herself with the
+plated for general use.  Here the souvenir fork or spoon frequently
+steps into the breach, but in default of any other, good shining plated
+ware presents just as good an appearance as the solid and serves every
+purpose until the plate begins to show wear, when it should be renewed
+without delay.  The plainer the pattern the better.  Medium-sized
+knives and forks of the best Rogers triple plate sell for $7 a dozen,
+teas for 10 cents less, fruit knives for $3.  Teaspoons in the dainty
+Seville pattern, with only a beaded trimming around the handle, are $4
+a dozen, dessert spoons $3.25 a half dozen, and tablespoons $3.75.  A
+gravy ladle costs $1.25.  The infinite variety of odd forks and spoons
+for various uses is best acquired with the other solid silver.  Plated
+ware ought never to serve acids nor top salt shakers, since both acid,
+and salt when damp, corrode the plating.  Solid salt and pepper shakers
+can be had as low as $1 a pair, cut glass with solid tops for $1 and
+$1.50.  If individual salt dishes are used, they must be accompanied by
+tiny solid salt spoons at 35 cents apiece and up.  Very nice though not
+altogether necessary accompaniments of the bread-and-butter plates are
+the individual butter knives at $10 a dozen.
+
+If steel-bladed knives are preferred to silver, the medium size, with
+composition handles of celluloid and rubber, are $4.50 a dozen, with
+accompanying forks with silver-plated tines at $7.50.  The carving
+knife, broad, long, and strong, with its fork, good steel both, can be
+had for $2.75, with a game knife, its blade short and pointed and its
+handle long, with its fork, $2.50.
+
+
+
+GLASS
+
+Cut glass is another of the can-do-withouts, except, perhaps, the
+carafe, now used instead of the old-fashioned water pitcher, at $3,
+$3.50, etc.; cruets for vinegar and oil, simply cut and in good style,
+for as low as $1.50 each; and the finger bowls, one for each person.
+The last, of thin crystal and perfectly plain save for a sunburst of
+cutting underneath, are $3 a dozen, with others more elaborate, and
+costly in proportion.  Tumblers, thin, dainty, and delightful, cut a
+little at the bottom, are $1.50 a dozen, and far pleasanter to drink
+from than their elaborately cut and artistic brethren.  Occasionally a
+pretty little olive dish can be picked up for as low as $1.50 or $2,
+but rather perfect and inoffensive plainness than imitation cut, cheap,
+crude, and clumsy.  The American cut glass is considered the choicest.
+Side by side with it, and preferred by many as being less ostentatious,
+is the beautiful Bohemian glass, with its exquisite traceries in gold
+and delicate colors.  Only in this glass is color permissible, and then
+principally in receptacles for flowers.  There is reason to believe
+that it was from a Bohemian glass plate the King of Hearts stole the
+tarts on a certain memorable occasion, and if so, one can readily
+understand why the temptation was so irresistible to him.
+
+[Illustration: A collection of eighteenth-century cut glass.]
+
+
+
+ARRANGEMENT
+
+To put all our pretty things on the table in such a way that the result
+shall be a picture of daintiness, grace, and symmetry is seemingly a
+simple matter, but the trick of good taste and a mathematical eye are
+both involved in it.  The manner of setting and serving the table
+varies somewhat with each meal, but a few suggestions apply to all
+alike.  The center of the table must be exactly under the chandelier,
+and covered with the pretty centerpiece with its dish of ferns, a vase
+of posies, or a potted plant in a white crinkled tissue-paper pinafore.
+Nothing else has the decorative value of the table posy, however
+simple, which seems to breathe out some of its outdoor life and
+freshness, and should never be omitted.  Twenty inches must be allowed
+for each cover, or place, to give elbow room, and all that belongs to
+it should be accurately and evenly placed.  At the right go the
+knives--sharp edges in--and spoons, with open bowls up, in the order in
+which they are to be used, beginning at the right.  At the points of
+the knives stands the water glass.  At the left are arranged the forks,
+tines up, also in the order of use, beginning at the left, with the
+butter plate, on which rests the butter knife, a little above the
+forks.  The napkin--which should be folded four times in ironing and
+never tortured into fantastic shapes, restaurant fashion--lies either
+at the left of the forks or on the plate at the center of the cover.
+If many spoons are to be used, the soup spoon alone rests beside the
+knife, with the others above the plate.  Individual salt cellars go
+above the plates, shakers at the sides or corners of the table, within
+easy reach, and one carafe is usually allowed for every three or four
+people.  Carving cloths are laid before the plates are put on, with the
+carving knife at the right, the fork at the left.  Water is poured,
+butter passed, and bread arranged on the table just before the meal is
+served.  Extra dishes and the plates for use during the different
+courses stand in readiness on a little side table, silver and glass
+alone being appropriate to the sideboard.
+
+
+
+DUTIES OF THE WAITRESS
+
+The maid stands behind the master or mistress to serve the plate of
+meat, the bowl of soup, and so on, taking it on her tray and placing it
+with her right hand from the right of the person served.  All plates
+are placed by the waitress, while she serves all vegetables, sauces,
+etc., from the left, holding the dish on her tray or, if it be a heavy
+one, in her hand, within easy reach.  Soiled dishes she removes from
+the right with her right hand, placing them on her tray one at a time,
+platter and serving dishes first, then individual dishes and silver
+until everything belonging to the course has been removed.  Crumbs are
+taken up from the left with a crumb knife or napkin, never with a
+brush.  Many housekeepers prefer to dismiss the maid after the main
+part of the meal is served, ringing for her when her services are
+necessary, thus insuring a greater privacy during the charmed hour, and
+affording an opportunity for those little thoughtful attentions when
+each serves his neighbor as himself.
+
+
+
+THE BREAKFAST TABLE
+
+The breakfast table is usually laid with centerpiece and plate doilies
+these days, and it may not be ill-timed to suggest that every effort be
+made to have this meal cheery and attractive, for it is, alas, too
+often suggestive of funeral baked meats and left-over megrims from the
+night before.  If fruit is to be served, followed by a cereal and a
+meat or other heavier course, each place is provided with a fruit plate
+with its doily and knife, a breakfast knife and fork, a dessert spoon,
+two teaspoons, and a finger bowl.  The fruit should be on the table
+when the family assemble, with the cups and saucers and other
+accompaniments of the coffee service arranged before the mistress's
+place.  Warm sauce dishes for the cereal and warm plates for the course
+which follows it must be in readiness.
+
+
+
+LUNCHEON
+
+Luncheon is the simplest, daintiest, most informal meal of the
+day--just a little halting place between breakfast and dinner, where
+one's pretty china comes out strongly.  The setting of the doily-spread
+table follows the usual arrangement.  Everything necessary for serving
+tea is placed at the head of the table, with the meat or other
+substantial dish at the opposite end.  Most of the food is placed on
+the table before the meal is announced, and as there are usually but
+two courses the plates are changed only once.  The only difference
+between luncheon and tea being the hour of serving, the same rules
+govern both.  The lunch cloth or the hemstitched linen strips may be
+used instead of the place doilies.
+
+
+
+DINNER
+
+Dinner is a more solemn matter.  On goes our immaculate tablecloth now,
+over a thick pad, its one crease exactly in the middle of the table,
+and all wrinkles and unevennesses made smooth and straight.
+Centerpiece and posy go squarely--or roundly--in the center, with
+silver, salts, and carving set arranged as usual.  The butter plate is
+frequently omitted from this meal, an oblong slice of bread, a dinner
+roll, or a bread stick being placed between the folds of each napkin,
+or on the butter plate, if used, with the butter ball and knife.  If
+soup is to be served, the spoon is placed at the right of the knives.
+There is a preference for the use of a "service plate" at this
+meal--the plate which is at each place when dinner is announced, and is
+not removed until the first hot course after the soup--but this is
+usually dispensed with when there is but one servant.  Proper cutlery
+for carving has its place before the carver, the carving cloth being
+removed before dessert.  If black coffee is served as the last course,
+the after-dinner coffee spoons are placed in the saucers before
+serving.  Finger bowls appear the last thing.
+
+
+
+THE FORMAL DINNER
+
+The formal dinner follows the general idea and arrangement of the
+family dinner, with considerable elaboration.  Out come our dress-up
+table linen, china, glass, and silver, and we add certain festive
+touches in the way of vines and cut flowers loosely and gracefully
+disposed in glass or silver bowls and vases.  At the four sides of the
+centerpiece go the dainty glass candlesticks, which cost 35 cents
+apiece, coming up to 91 cents with the candle lamp, candle, mica
+chimney, and shade complete, the shade matching the flowers in color.
+The lesser light which thus rules the night casts a witching glamour
+over the table, shadowing imperfections, softening features, warming
+heart cockles, and loosening tongues.  Yellow is always good, green
+cool in summer, red heavy, and pink of the right shades genial.  Lace
+and ribbon have been banished from the table as being inconsistent with
+simplicity, but a small bunch of flowers or a single flower at each
+place gives a pretty touch.  The water glass is moved over to the top
+of the plate now, to make room for the wine glasses which are grouped
+above the knives.  The oyster fork is placed at the right of the soup
+spoon, the fish fork at the left of the other forks.  Overmuch silver
+savors of ostentation; therefore, if many courses are to be served, the
+sherbet spoon may go above the plate, the other extra silver to be
+supplied from the side table when needed.  Fancy dishes containing
+olives, salted nuts, and confections are arranged on the table, all
+other dishes being served from the kitchen or side table.  It being
+taken for granted that the food is properly seasoned, no condiments are
+on the table.  Place cards rest on the napkins.
+
+
+
+THE FORMAL LUNCHEON
+
+The formal luncheon table closely follows the formal dinner table,
+except that place doilies are used instead of the tablecloth.  The
+bouillon spoon replaces the soup spoon, and other changes in the silver
+may be necessitated by the lighter character of the food served.  The
+room may be darkened and candles used if the hostess so elect.  If
+additional light is required at either dinner or luncheon, it should
+come through shades harmonizing with the candle shades, and hung not
+higher than the heads of the guests.
+
+
+
+WASHING GLASS
+
+And after this, the deluge--of dishwashing!  The cleansing of the glass
+opens the session.  If much fine or heavily cut glass is to be washed,
+cover the draining board and the bottom of the pan with a soft, folded
+cloth.  Wash one piece at a time in water not too hot--about three
+quarts of cold water to one of boiling, to which a _very_ little white
+soap, with a tablespoon of ammonia, has been added--going well into the
+cuttings with a brush; then rinse in water a little hotter than the
+first, leave for a moment, and turn upside down on the board to drain
+until the next piece is ready.  Then dry with a soft towel, or plunge
+into a box of nonresinous sawdust, better warm, which absorbs moisture
+not reached by the cloth.  Remove from the sawdust, brush carefully,
+and polish with a soft cloth.  If kept free from dust, sawdust can be
+dried and used indefinitely.  Care must be taken that there is no sand
+in dishpan or cloth to give the glass a scratch which may end in a
+crack or break.  Put a spoonful of finely chopped raw potatoes, or
+crushed eggshells, or half a dozen buckshot into decanters, carafes,
+jugs, and narrow-mouthed pitchers, with a little warm soda or ammonia
+water, and shake vigorously till all stain is removed, rinse and dry.
+The water in which glass is washed must be kept absolutely free from
+greasy substances.  If milk, ice cream, or custard has been used, rinse
+off with cold, then blood-warm water before washing.  Cut glass must
+never be subjected to marked differences in temperature, and for this
+reason should not be held under the faucets, as the heat cannot be
+regulated.  Glass with gilt decoration must be washed quickly and
+carefully with water free from either soda or ammonia, which attack the
+gilt, and dried gently.
+
+
+
+WASHING AND CLEANING SILVER
+
+The silver comes next, careful washing obviating the necessity for
+cleaning oftener than once a month.  Knives, forks, and spoons, which
+were separated into piles when taken from the table, are washed first,
+then the other pieces in use, in hot white soapsuds with a little
+ammonia, rinsed with clear scalding water, dried with a soft towel, one
+at a time, and rubbed vigorously, when all are done, with chamois or
+Canton flannel.  Egg or vegetable stains can be removed with wet salt,
+black marks with ammonia and whiting.  Only enough silver to supply the
+family use is kept out; the handsome jelly bowls, cream jugs, etc., are
+wrapped in white tissue paper, placed with a small piece of gum camphor
+in labeled Canton flannel bags, closing with double draw strings, and
+are then locked away in a trunk or a flannel-lined box with a
+close-fitting lid.  If put away clean and bright, as they should be,
+they retain their luster and only need polishing once a year.  When the
+regular silver-cleaning day comes around, wash and dry the silver in
+the prescribed way, and rub with sifted whiting wet with alcohol,
+leaving no part untouched, and allow to dry on.  When all the pieces
+have been treated thus, rub with a flannel cloth and polish with a
+silver brush.  Regular brushes are made for this purpose and are
+invaluable in getting into the ornamental work.  Never make the mistake
+of applying a tooth or nail brush, which will surely scratch and mar
+the fine surface.  Most silver polishes are made of chalk prepared in
+different ways, but beware of the one which cleans too quickly: it is
+liable to remove the silver with the tarnish.  Silver must not be
+allowed to become badly stained, thus necessitating hard rubbing and
+additional wear and tear.
+
+
+
+HOW TO WASH CHINA
+
+China washing requires a pan nearly full of water of a temperature not
+uncomfortable to the hand, beaten into a good suds with a soap shaker.
+Very hot water, or a sudden change from cold to hot, is apt to crack
+the fine glaze.  Use a dish mop for the cleanest dishes, and, beginning
+with the cups and saucers, and placing only a few in the pan at a time,
+wash quickly without allowing to soak, rinse in water a little hotter
+than the first, and wipe until perfectly dry and shiny.  Pouring hot
+water over china and leaving it to drain itself dry may save time, but
+it will be at the expense of the polish.  Spread the dishes out on the
+table to cool--piling them while hot injures the glaze--and put away
+the first washing before commencing on the heavy, greasy things.  The
+washing water must be changed as soon as a greasy scum collects around
+the sides of the pan.
+
+
+
+CARE OF KNIVES
+
+Bone-, wood-, or pearl-handled knives should never go into the dishpan,
+but be stood, blade down, in a pitcher containing a little water and
+soda, the blades having first been wiped off with paper, and left till
+everything else is done.  They are then washed singly with clean suds,
+special care being bestowed upon the juncture of the blade with the
+handle, rinsed, and dried immediately.  If stained, rub with half of a
+potato or with a cork dipped in powdered pumice stone, wipe dry, wash,
+and polish with a little bath brick or sapolio.  Clean carving knives
+and forks in the same way, going around the joinings with a rag-covered
+skewer.  Spots can be removed from ivory handles with tripoli mixed
+with sweet oil; from mother-of-pearl with sifted whiting and alcohol,
+which is washed off and followed with a polishing with dry whiting and
+a flannel cloth.  Cover rusted knife blades with sweet oil, rub in
+well, and leave for forty-eight hours, then rub with slaked lime.
+Britannia, pewter, and block tin in table use are polished the same as
+silver.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE BEDROOM
+
+The bedroom is very like an old familiar friend: it sees us as we
+really are, tempting us to throw off all veneer of pretense or
+worldliness and rest in just being ourselves--a rest so sweet and
+wholesome and good that we go from it recreated and strengthened.  In
+the spirit of truest friendship it exacts nothing, but by its subtle,
+quiet sympathy charms away our restlessness and presents us anew to
+that person known as our better self.  The friend of our choice is the
+one who wears well; who never intrudes, never wearies, never pains us;
+whose influence is one of rest, of restoration, of reinspiration--the
+embodiment of the true mission of the bedroom.  It, like our friend,
+must be able to survive with honor the test of that familiarity which
+comes with intimacy--whether it shall breed contempt or content.  And
+so as we plan it, let us endeavor to temper our likes and dislikes with
+judgment until we can be reasonably sure that it will be a room
+pleasant to live with, and companionable, which will not irritate our
+moods into becoming moodier, nor our weariness into becoming wearier.
+
+
+
+LIGHT AND AIR
+
+Of first importance, of course, are light and air; these we must have,
+and sun if possible.  One good warm ray of sunshine is a more effective
+destroyer of disease and "dumps" than all the drugs on the market;
+while good ventilation is one of the most valuable as well as one of
+the cheapest and most ignored assets of the home, particularly of the
+bedroom, where our hereditary enemy, the microbe, loves especially to
+linger.  Given air and light, we have the best possible start toward
+our rest room and upon its exposure and size depends largely what we
+shall add unto it in the way of furnishings and decorations.  Dark
+walls and floors wrap one in gloom and have no place in any bedroom.  A
+warm, sunny exposure invites the use of contrastingly cool light blues,
+grays, greens, and creams; while the glow of delicate pinks and yellows
+helps to make a sunshine in the shadows of a north light.  East and
+west lights adapt themselves to the tasteful use of almost any color,
+saving and excepting red, which cannot be mentioned in the same breath
+with rest and has the red-rag-to-the-bull effect on nerves.  If an
+overstrong affection for it demands its use, it must be indulged in
+sparingly and much scattered and tempered with white.  Though a certain
+sympathetic warmth should be expressed in the bedroom coloring, we want
+rather to feel than to see it, and too much becomes a weariness.
+
+
+
+CARPETS VERSUS RUGS
+
+Beginning with the base, as becomes a good builder, and working upward,
+floor coverings which cover without covering, if one may indulge in an
+Irishism, are far preferable to those which extend from wall to wall.
+Carpets undoubtedly have their uses: they make over well into rugs,
+supply heat to the feet, particularly in summer, and to the disposition
+during the semiannual house cleaning.  They also cover a multitude of
+moths.  But they belong to the dark ages of unenlightened womanhood
+whose chief end was to keep house, and have been jostled into the
+background by bare floors or mattings, with rugs.  Hardwood floors
+certainly are nice and seem to wear an air of conscious pride of birth,
+but their humbler self-made brethren of common pine, stained and
+varnished or oiled, answer the purpose fully as well.  It really
+amounts to a case of rugs make the floor, for if they are pretty and
+conveniently disposed about it, the floor itself receives very little
+attention.  Small rugs before bed, dresser, and chiffonier will suffice
+in a small room, and can be easily taken out and cleaned, but a more
+commodious room requires the dressed look imparted by the larger rug.
+Whatever its size, avoid large figures and strong colors, choosing
+rather a small, somewhat indistinct pattern woven in the deeper shades
+of the other decorations of the room, at the same time supplying a
+foundation which, without calling attention to itself, becomes a good
+support for the general decorative plan--a base strong but neither
+heavy nor striking.  Since we were made to stand erect and look up, it
+is irritating to have one's eyes drawn downward by the unattractive
+attraction of an ugly rug.  The colonial cotton rag rugs are quite the
+most desirable for bedroom use, from a sanitary as well as an artistic
+standpoint, and are woven to produce charming effects.  The usual
+combination is two colors--white with blue, yellow, green, or pink,
+black with red, different shades of the same color, etc.  Occasionally
+three colors are used, but more are apt to destroy the dainty
+simplicity which is the chief charm of rugs of this kind.  They are
+woven like any other rag rug, and of any dimensions.
+
+
+
+MATTINGS
+
+Mattings, if preferred to the bare floor, come in a variety of patterns
+and colors and look neat and fresh, and cool in summer if used without
+rugs.  They are a yard wide and range in price from 10 to 50 cents a
+yard for the Chinese, and from 20 to 60 cents for the Japanese.  There
+is very little choice between the two, though the Chinese wears a
+little better, perhaps.  Matting is easily broken and should not be
+used where the bed must be drawn away from the wall to be made, or
+heavy furniture moved about.
+
+
+
+WALL COVERING
+
+Passing from floor to walls, we reach that portion of the room which
+gives it its real atmosphere and supplies a background for all that it
+contains, of both "things and people."  The bedroom seems to be
+preeminently a woman's room: here she reads and writes, rests and sews;
+it is her help in trouble, her refuge in times of storm.  The
+intangible something which surrounds the eternal feminine clings about
+her room and tells a very truthful tale of the individuality of its
+occupant.  Her favorite color peeps out from wall and drapery; her
+books, well-thumbed and hearing evidences of intimate association, lie
+cozily about, and her workbasket reveals the source of certain dainty
+covers and indescribable nothings which so materially refine the whole
+aspect of the room.  Though she receives her formal calls in the
+drawing-room, it is in her bedroom that those confidential chats, so
+dear to the feminine heart, take place; therefore its background must
+be chosen with some idea of its becomingness, and the happy medium in
+color and tint selected, softening and becoming to all alike.  As
+absence of manners is good manners, so absence of effect is, after all,
+the best effect.  First and foremost, avoid the plague of white walls
+and ceilings, which cast a ghastly light over the whole room and make
+one fairly shiver with cold.  The general plan is to shade the color up
+from floor to ceiling, and this is accomplished in so many differing
+and equally attractive ways that it is impossible to do more than offer
+suggestions which may be elaborated to suit individual tastes and
+conditions.  Of course calcimine is the simplest and cheapest style of
+decoration, and recommends itself to the anti-germ disciple because it
+can be renewed annually at slight expense.  The only difficulty lies in
+getting just the right tint, for decorators, though no doubt worthy of
+their hire, are not always capable of handling the artistic side of
+their business, and an uncongenial shade gets on the nerves after a
+while.  The same thing holds true of painted walls and ceilings, though
+they too are hygienically good.  When we come to papers, we are lost in
+a maze of stripes and garlands and nosegays, either alone or in
+combination.  Prettiness is by no means synonymous with expense these
+days, when the general patterns and colors of costly papers are
+successfully reproduced in the cheaper grades.  Tapestry papers are too
+heavy for bedrooms.  Those figured with that mathematical precision
+which drives the beholder to counting and thence to incipient insanity,
+and others on which we fancy we can trace the features of our friends,
+are always distracting, especially during illness, when restfulness is
+so essential.  The plain cartridge-papered wall with frieze and ceiling
+either flowered or of a light shade of the same or a contrasting color
+is never obtrusive and always in good taste.  With a flowered wall a
+plain ceiling is a relief, and vice versa.  Figures in both walls and
+ceiling are tiring, besides having none of the effect resulting from
+contrast.  Walls in plain stripes need to be livened with a fancy
+ceiling, or ceiling and frieze, with their background always of the
+lightest tint in the side wall.  One room of particular charm was all
+in yellow.  The molding had been dropped three feet from the ceiling,
+giving the impression of a low ceiling and that snugness which goes
+with it, and up to it ran the satin-striped paper, while over frieze
+and ceiling ran a riot of yellow roses.  And here was asserted the
+ingenuity of its occupant, who had cut out some of the roses and draped
+them at the corners and by door and window casings, where they seemed
+to cling after being spilled from the garden above.  This same idea can
+be worked out with garlands or bunches of different flowers, bow knots,
+or other distinct designs.  No large figures of any description should
+be introduced into a small room, and the whole effect of the decoration
+must be cheerful without being boisterous, gay, or striking.  If the
+ceiling is low, the wall paper continues up to it without a frieze, the
+molding--which corresponds with the woodwork--being fastened where wall
+and ceiling join.  Backgrounds of amber, cream, fawn, rose, blue, or
+pale green, with their designs in soft contrasting colors, are the
+strictly bedroom papers.
+
+
+
+BEDROOM WOODWORK
+
+The very prettiest bedroom woodwork is of white enamel, which has that
+light, airy look we so want to catch, and never quarrels with either
+furniture or decorations.  But of woodwork painted in any color beware,
+take care!  Finely finished hardwood has the honesty of true worth and
+needs no dressing up; but its poor relation, that hideous product of
+old-time dark stain and varnish is only a kill-beauty, and should be
+wiped out of existence with a dose of white paint.
+
+
+
+BEDROOM DRAPERIES
+
+In selecting bedroom draperies, two "don'ts" must be strictly observed:
+don't use flowered drapery with a flowered wall, and don't buy heavy,
+unwashable hangings of woolen, damask, satin, or brocade, which not
+only are out of harmony with the whole idea of bedroom simplicity, but
+shut out air and sunlight, make the room seem stuffy, and collect and
+hold dust and odors.  The patterns of chintzes, cretonnes, and
+silkolenes are manufactured to follow closely the paper designs, and
+where flowered ceiling and frieze are used with a plain wall, the same
+color and design may be carried out in bed and window draperies, and in
+couch and chair coverings.  With a flowered or much-figured wall snowy
+curtains of Swiss, muslin, or net, with ruffles of lace or of the same
+material, are prettier than anything else; and for that matter, they
+are appropriate with any style of decoration and can always be kept
+fresh and dainty.  But elaborate lace curtains which have seen better
+days elsewhere are most emphatically _not_ for bedrooms, and should
+find another asylum.  A pretty window drapery is the thin white curtain
+with a colored figured inner curtain.  The use of figured draperies
+demands a good sense of proportion and of the eternal fitness of
+things, else it easily degenerates into abuse.
+
+[Illustration: The bedroom.]
+
+
+
+BEDROOM FURNISHING
+
+The bedroom furniture must be chosen rather with a view to fitness than
+to fashion.  "Sets" are no more.  How stereotyped and assertive they
+were, and undecorative!  Bed, dresser, and washstand, forcibly
+recalling to one the big bear, middle-sized bear, and little bear of
+nursery lore, were clumsy and heavy and bad, even in hardwood; but when
+they were simply stained imitations of the real thing, and ornate with
+wooden knobs, machine carving, and ungraceful lines, they were truly
+unspeakable.  The bed with its fat bolster, on top of which, like Ossa
+on Pelion piled, stood the pillows, perhaps covered with shams which
+bade one "Good night" and "Good morning" in red cotton embroidery--was
+especially hideous as contrasted with our present-day enameled or brass
+bed, and belongs to the dark ages of crocheted "tidies," plush-covered
+photograph albums, "whatnots," prickly, slippery haircloth furniture,
+and other household idols which bring thoughts that lie too deep for
+tears.  Only two styles of sets find a welcome in the up-to-date
+home--the rich, dark, mellow mahogany, which is too costly for the
+average pocketbook, and the white enameled.  Even so the component
+parts differ from those of a few years back; then the dresser was
+considered an absolute essential; now we frequently prefer the more
+graceful dressing table, with its small drawer or two for the
+unornamental toilet accessories, or the compromise between the two--the
+princess dresser--with the roomy chest of drawers or chiffonier.  The
+all-white furniture gives the room an air of chaste purity and is no
+more expensive than a set in any other good wood, but must be well
+enameled or it will be impossible to keep it clean.
+
+
+
+CAREFUL SELECTION
+
+The trend of popular sentiment is toward the metal bed, with
+accompanying furniture in plain or bird's-eye maple, mahogany, dark
+oak, curly birch, or mahogany-birch.  Dressers range in price from $9
+to $50; princess dressers from $10.50 to $50; chiffoniers from $10 to
+$35; and dressing tables from $10 to $50.  Furniture, like friends,
+cannot be acquired promiscuously without unpleasant consequences.
+There is no economy in buying cheap, veneered pieces which will be--or
+ought to be--always an eyesore.  The truly thrifty homemaker will wait
+until she can afford to buy something genuinely good, and then buy it
+with the conviction that she is laying up treasures of future happiness
+and contentment.  The "good" piece is exactly what it claims to be,
+without pretense or artificiality, of hardwood of course, of simple
+construction, and graceful, artistic lines, its few decorations carved,
+not glued on.
+
+
+
+TOILET AND DRESSING TABLES
+
+Simplicity must be the keynote of all bedroom furnishings.  The middle
+course in price is the safe one to follow, leaning toward the greater
+rather than toward the lesser cost.  If there is a bathroom
+conveniently near, it is better to dispense with a washstand; but if
+its use is imperative, make it as little obtrusive as possible.  The
+home carpenter can easily fashion one from a plain pine table, hung
+with a valance to match the other draperies.  If a marble-topped table
+is available, so much the better.  Toilet sets can be purchased for $4
+and up, and should be of simple design and decoration, plain white or
+gold-and-white being advisable for general use, as neither will clash
+with anything else in the room.  A very satisfactory set in the
+gold-and-white is to be had for $8.  A dainty dressing table follows
+the idea of a makeshift washstand.  It should be made of a sizeable
+drygoods box, with shelves, and the top padded and covered to match the
+drapery.  The mirror which hangs over it may be draped, or simply
+framed in white enamel, gold, or whatever blends with the room.
+Overdraping not only looks fussy, but means additional bother and care.
+The drapery is thrown over a frame fastened above the mirror.
+
+
+
+FURTHER COMFORTS
+
+In addition to what is considered the regulation bedroom furniture,
+there should be a small table at the head of the bed for the glass of
+water, the candle or night lamp, and books of devotion; a couch for the
+mistress's rest hours, and to save the immaculateness of the bed; a
+comfortable rocker, with a low sewing chair and one or two with
+straight backs; and, when two people occupy the room, a screen which
+insures some degree of privacy and affords a protection from draughts.
+If one is restricted in closet room, a box couch is a great
+convenience; if in sleeping room, an iron cot or a folding sanitary
+couch, which becomes a bed by night, is invaluable.  A chintz,
+cretonne, or other washable cover, with plenty of pretty pillows to
+invite indolence, can be used on either, with an afghan or some other
+sort of pretty "throw."  Though upholstered furniture is out of place
+here, chair cushions corresponding with wall paper or draperies give a
+touch of cozy comfort.  One room with dove-gray walls dotted with
+white, and all other furniture of white enamel, had mahogany chairs of
+severe simplicity of design, with backs and seats covered with
+rose-strewn cretonne which extended in a box-plaited flounce to the
+floor.  This was the only touch of color, save a water color or two, in
+a room overflowing with restfulness and that "charm which lulls to
+sleep."  Willow chairs are pretty and appropriate, too.  The screen,
+with its panels draped in harmony with other hangings, should match the
+furniture.  The new willow screens are light, dainty, and easily moved.
+A table, footstool or two, and desk can be added if desired.  A greater
+length of mirror than that afforded by the dresser glass can be secured
+by setting a full-length mirror into the panels of one of the doors--a
+fashion both pretty and convenient.  Have a care that all mirrors are
+of plate glass, for the foreshortened, distorted image which looks back
+at one from an imperfect looking-glass has a depressing effect on one's
+vanity.
+
+
+
+THE BEDSTEAD
+
+And now to the _piece de resistance_ of the room, the
+
+        ". . . delicious bed!
+  That heaven on earth to the weary head!"
+
+Furnished complete it represents a considerable sum, but here again it
+is well not to count the cost too closely, for the return in comfort
+and refreshment cannot be estimated in dollars and cents.  The change
+from wooden to metal beds is desirable in every way.  Besides being so
+much more hygienic, they seem to take up less room, and admit of a
+freer circulation of air; they can be painted over and freshened up
+when necessary, and look well with any furniture.  The best patterns
+are formed by parallel bars and circles, those with simple lilies
+conveying the idea of solidity, and with the least ornamentation, being
+preferable always.  The extension foot facilitates the arrangement of
+spread or valance, and if drapery is desired, beds with head posts
+fitted with canopy frames or "testers" are to be had.  Brass beds are
+the most expensive of metal beds, costing from $22 to $55, or as much
+more as one cares to pay.  They have to be handled with great care--or
+rather, not handled at all unless through the medium of a soft cloth.
+The _vernis Martin_ bed of gilded iron produces the same general
+effect, and is but little more costly than the enamel bed, but, after
+all, it is only another "imitation."  Enameled beds can be had for from
+$2 all the way up to $31.  It cannot, of a surety, be necessary to warn
+against those hideous embodiments of bad taste, colored beds, with
+their funereal blacks, lurid reds, and sickly blues, greens, and
+yellows.  Enough said!  And avoid too much brass trimming.  The bed
+should stand on casters--wooden--and not too high.
+
+
+
+SPRING, MATTRESS, AND PILLOWS
+
+Those two friends to nightly comfort, a first-class spring and a hair
+mattress, are vastly important.  If the still, small voice of economy
+whispers that other mattresses are "just as good," stifle it.  The hair
+mattress is the only really sanitary one, since it can be washed and
+made over and plumped up times without number, and surely no other
+enjoys the distinction of descending from generation to generation,
+with the other family treasures.  Hair mattresses cost from $10 up,
+according to the length of the hair, but a good one of full size cannot
+be had under $30.  Felt mattresses, from $7.25 to $13.50, are next in
+desirability, the best of these, warranted not to cake, being
+preferable to the cheap hair mattress with short hair.  Then come moss
+mattresses with cotton tops, $4.70 to $8; husk with cotton tops, $3.15
+to $4; and excelsior, cotton-topped, $2 to $4.  Mattresses in two
+unequal parts, the larger going at the head of the bed and the smaller
+at the foot, are more easily handled and turned than those in one
+piece.  A slip of heavy white cotton cloth covering the mattress
+entire, is a great protection, and should be washed at stated intervals.
+
+Box springs are luxuriously comfortable, an average spring,
+felt-topped, costing $17--hair-topped, $18.50.  Those topped with tow
+and moss are less expensive.  There is only one objection to the box
+spring: when the bedbug once effects an entrance therein, the days of
+that spring are numbered, for there is no evicting him.  Woven wire and
+coil springs run from $2.25 up, according to the number of coils,
+wires, and weight.
+
+Mattress and pillows are covered to match, these days, in all sorts of
+charming colors and designs, if one cares to add a little to the cost.
+Over the mattress goes a quilted cotton pad, interlined with one
+thickness of cotton batting.  Pads can be made at home, or purchased
+for $1.25, $1.50, or $1.75, according to the size of the bed.  The
+unbleached cost 25 cents less.  Some housekeepers prefer a flannel pad
+as being more porous, and therefore more easily aired.  Each bed should
+have its own pair of white woolen blankets, an average pair costing
+about $5, but a really "worth-while" one is scarcely obtainable under
+$12 or $15.  A little cotton mixed with the wool is not objectionable,
+as it prevents so much of the shrinkage to which wool is liable.  Heavy
+and uncomfortable "comforts," which supply in weight what they lack in
+warmth, are neither desirable nor healthful.  Folded across the foot of
+the bed should lie the extra covering for cold nights, either an
+eiderdown or less costly quilt, daintily covered with cheesecloth,
+silkolene, etc.
+
+Two night pillows to a bed are the usual allowance.  Good live-goose
+feather pillows sell for from $3 to $7, depending on the size, and
+should be provided with extra cotton slips, buttoning on, to protect
+the tick.  The feather bolster has had its day.  Its descendant, the
+bedroll of hair, paste-board, or _papier mache_, is for ornament only,
+and is used as a finish at the head of the bed with fancy draperies or
+coverings, which it matches.  Shams, too, are going out, with other
+things which are not what they seem.  The thought of untidiness always
+underlies their freshness, and so we prefer to put the night pillows in
+the closet during the day and let the bedroll or the day pillows take
+their place.  If there is a shortage of pillows, the night cases can be
+exchanged for pretty ruffled ones of lawn, muslin, dimity, or linen.
+If one still clings to shams, corresponding sheet shams should also be
+used.
+
+
+
+BED DECORATION
+
+There remains yet to be found anything more airily, chastely dainty
+than the all-white bed with its plain or fringed Marseilles spread and
+its ruffled pillows.  Though drapery has a picturesque effect, it
+interferes to a certain extent with the free circulation of air, and
+affords a lurking place for our insidious enemy--the microbe.  If used
+at all, it should only be in a large, well-ventilated room, and
+sparingly, for a fussy, overloaded bed looks anything but restful.  If
+considerable color has already been introduced into the room, the bed
+drapery, cover, and valance should be of some thin white washable
+material--dimity, Swiss, and the like.  But with plain papers, flowered
+cretonne, chintz, etc., are appropriate.  The canopy top is covered
+with the material, stretched smooth, and either plain or plaited, and
+the drapery gathered about the back, sides, and front of this, from
+which it hangs in soft folds to within two or three inches of the
+floor.  It should be simply tied back.  The canopy projects not more
+than half a yard beyond the head of the bed, and may be either oblong
+or semicircular.  Very thin white material is used over a color.
+Whatever the material, it must, of course, be washable and kept
+immaculate.  The newest bed, all enameled and with a bent bar of iron
+at head and foot, lends itself to a pretty style of drapery, which is
+simply a plain, fitted white slip-over case for head and foot, finished
+with a valance of the same depth as that of the counterpane, which
+leaves no metal visible anywhere about the bed.  Pretty Marseilles
+spreads may be had for $3; cheaper ones in honeycomb follow the same
+designs.  The white spread, with a colored thread introduced, may
+answer for the maid's room--never for the mistress's.
+
+
+
+SIMPLICITY
+
+When two persons occupy a room, twin beds furnished exactly alike are
+preferable to the double bed.  An exclusively man's room demands
+somewhat different treatment, though the general principles of
+furnishing apply to all bedrooms.  A man abhors drapery, and usually
+prefers an ascetic simplicity to what he is pleased to term
+"flub-dubs."  His notions of art are liable to express themselves in
+pipes, steins, and other masculine bric-a-brac; but whatever his wills
+and wonts on the furnishing question, his room must show care and
+attention.
+
+The rule of elimination is a good one to follow in bedroom pictures; no
+"rogue's gallery" of photographs, no useless, meaningless, and trivial
+pictures, but just a madonna or two, perhaps a photographic copy of
+some old master, with a favorite illuminated quotation--something to
+help and quiet and inspire.
+
+Tables, dresser, and chiffonier should have each its spotless cover of
+hemstitched or scalloped linen, or ruffled lawn or Swiss--anything but
+towels.  They will answer, of course, but we want a little more than
+just answering.
+
+
+
+CARE OF BEDROOM AND BED
+
+Much of the refinement of the bedroom depends upon its daily care.
+This begins with its airing the first thing in the morning.  The bed is
+stripped of its coverings, which are spread over two chairs placed
+before the open window; the mattress is half turned over, and night
+clothes and pillows are placed near the window.  The slops are then
+emptied, bowl and all toilet articles washed in hot water and dried,
+pitcher emptied and refilled with fresh water, and soiled towels
+replaced by clean ones.  Soiled towels must never be used to clean the
+crockery.  Cleaning cloths for bedroom use should be kept for that
+purpose alone.  Once a week slop receptacles must be scalded with sal
+soda water and stood in the sun.  After an hour the windows may be
+closed and the bed made.  The first thing is to turn the mattress--end
+for end one day, side for side the next--and then comes the pad, and
+after it the sheets.  The lower one is put on right side up, drawn
+tight, and tucked in smoothly all around; the upper should be wrong
+side up, drawn well up to the head, and tucked in at the bottom, and
+the blankets brought up to within half a yard of the head, with the
+open end at the top.  When all is straight and even, the upper sheet is
+turned back smoothly over the blankets and both are tucked snugly in.
+The counterpane, which was folded and laid aside during the night, then
+goes on, and is brought down evenly over the foot and sides of the bed,
+the bedroll or day pillows are added, and the bed is itself again.  On
+Saturday the bottom sheet is replaced by the top sheet, which, in turn,
+is replaced by a clean one, and the pillowcases are changed.  The
+spread usually needs changing about once a month.  The night pillows
+are now beaten and put away, and night clothes are hung in the closet.
+Other articles are put in their places, the dresser top is brushed off
+and its various contents properly arranged, litter is taken up with
+dustpan and brush, or carpet-sweeper, and the room is dusted.  Opened
+windows at night are a foregone conclusion.
+
+
+
+VERMIN AND THEIR EXTERMINATION
+
+Though it seems indelicate to suggest the possibility of a bug in a
+well-kept, charming chamber, even the best housekeeping is not always
+proof against feeling "things at night."  Metal beds are rather
+inhospitable to bugs, and if carefully examined, with the mattress,
+once a week, there is small danger of their getting a foothold.  If
+traces are discovered, hunt out the bugs and exterminate them if
+possible, and sprinkle bed and mattress with a good, reliable insect
+powder; or spray with gasolene, or wood alcohol and corrosive
+sublimate, and keep the room shut up for a few hours.  Baseboard and
+moldings should also be treated in this way.  If, after repeating
+several times, this proves ineffectual, smoke out the room with
+sulphur, first removing all silver and brass articles and winding those
+which cannot be moved with cloth.  Then proceed according to directions
+for fumigating the closet, using a pound of sulphur for a room of
+average size.  If the room has become badly infested, it will be best
+to tear off the wall and ceiling paper, and fill all cracks and
+crevices with plaster of Paris.  Such shreds of self-respect as these
+terrors by night may possess cannot long survive such treatment, and
+they will soon depart to that country from whose bourne no bug returns.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE BATHROOM
+
+With the subject of the bathroom before us, it would seem to be in
+order to promulgate the only really true theory of bathing.  But this
+is not a treatise upon hygiene, and the world already has been flooded
+with advice on this subject, ranging from the urgings of those
+amphibiously inclined folk who would each day run the whole gamut of
+splash, souse, and scrub, to the theories of the dauntless Chicago
+doctor who would put all humanity on a level by abolishing bathing
+altogether.  So we shall merely discuss the means of making the
+bathroom attractive and serviceable, trusting to our individual good
+sense for its proper use.
+
+Everyone has heard of the good woman who was showing some friends about
+her new home.  The bathtub was an object of special pride.  "Why," she
+exclaimed, in a glow of enthusiasm, "it's so nice that we can scarcely
+wait till Saturday night."  We may laugh at her naivete, but there is a
+good deal more of the "waiting for Saturday night" proposition than is
+good for--some of our neighbors.  And, on the other hand, there is more
+of the heroic sort of bathing by faithful devotees of cleanliness than
+is necessary.
+
+The persistent spirit will have his bath, if it has to be with bowl and
+sponge in a cold room.  But while most persons are persistently
+cleanly, bathing in the interest of healthfulness should be regular,
+and it should be enjoyable, and it cannot be either unless the bathroom
+is properly equipped and is ready for service when wanted.  Even at
+some extra cost, it should be made possible to secure hot water
+promptly, and without agitating the whole household, at any reasonable
+hour of any day of the week.  No family that we ever knew went bankrupt
+on account of the cost of hot water for bathing, and if they did they
+would have a pretty valid excuse.
+
+
+
+PLUMBING
+
+The bathroom is the heart of the plumbing problem, and it is not
+necessary to declare that the plumbing is the most important feature of
+the house, so far as health is concerned.  Did we examine an old house
+(one of even ten years ago) with a view to purchasing or renting, the
+condition of the plumbing would be a first consideration.  If it were
+not safe and in good order, we should have to make it so, for of course
+no one who is mentally competent would take any chances on such a
+menace to the family welfare.  And to repair antiquated plumbing is an
+ungrateful task, while to replace it entirely requires both courage and
+a willingness to let go of one's money in large wads.
+
+Now, we want to remember that we shall wish to have our plumbing
+satisfactory, not only when the house is new, but ten years later, when
+it is not new.  To make sure of this, we need first of all to know
+something of modern methods and equipment.  Then we should employ a
+capable plumber, though he may cost us more than the merely passable
+sort.  Finally, we should supplement good workmanship with the best
+materials.  It may be noted that after the supply houses have evolved
+the best materials, in the sense that the materials are convenient,
+good to look at, and perfectly sanitary, they add frills and
+decorations that bring up the cost to any amount we insist upon
+spending.  But we can get what we really require without paying for the
+frills, if we exhibit tolerable ability in the selection of essentials.
+
+Open plumbing is, of course, the only sort that any self-respecting
+plumber of these days would consent to put in; if he hints at anything
+else, we may well be suspicious of him.  Not only should the plumbing
+be where we can see and get at it, but sinks, lavatories, and tubs
+should have no inclosures that may retain filth or become water-soaked.
+
+Sewer gas is not the only evil to be guarded against, but it is the
+greatest.  It is also the subtlest, for in some of its most deadly
+forms it is inodorous, and usually does its work before we become
+conscious of its existence.  The poisonous gas is not necessarily
+generated in the sewer, but may be created anywhere in the pipes that
+obstructions or uneven surfaces permit filth to accumulate.  If,
+however, the plumbing is modern and of substantial quality to begin
+with, has stood all the tests, and is accessible and fairly well
+understood by at least one member of the household, reasonable
+vigilance will obviate practically all worry about sewer gas.
+
+
+
+BATHROOM LOCATION AND FURNISHING
+
+Usually the bathroom is placed in a central location on the second
+floor, accessible, if possible, by both rear and front stairways.  In a
+small house the upper floor is always advisable, as the bathroom should
+be well retired from the living quarters.  Where the space can be
+spared, there should be a closet, however, on the main floor, or at
+least in the basement, where it will be readily accessible from the
+back part of the house.  If the bathtub is popular with the household,
+it is in constant use, and for this reason the closet is in some cases
+cut off from it, and is reached by a separate door.
+
+[Illustration: The bathroom.]
+
+The principal thought being to eliminate anything which will retain
+water, tile or rubber flooring is preeminently best for the bathroom.
+If wood is substituted, it should be oak or maple, thoroughly oiled.
+Nothing should rest upon the floor to prevent any portion of the
+surface from being thoroughly cleaned.  A tile wainscoting is almost
+indispensable.  Paper will not stand steam and moisture, and calcimine
+is scarcely better.  Canvas or burlap above a four- or five-foot
+wainscoting makes an attractive combination.  All-white is not called
+for, but light tints of green, buff, or terra cotta will give a
+softening touch of color without destroying the general effect of
+immaculateness.
+
+Art glass in the window can scarcely fail to add to the attractiveness
+of the room.  It may be had for from 75 cents to $3.50 per square foot.
+A rug is an essential, but it should be of a sort that will not readily
+absorb and retain water.  Speaking of the window, it must be observed
+that outdoor ventilation, without disturbing privacy, should be made
+possible.  Often a bathroom becomes quite suffocating, and with weakly
+persons the danger of being overcome in a locked room is not to be left
+out of consideration.
+
+
+
+THE TUB
+
+The tub may be of enameled iron or of porcelain.  The former costs very
+much less and is almost as satisfactory as the latter, though in the
+cheaper sorts at least the enamel will eventually crack.  Of course it
+can be reenameled, but in most things for the home there will be enough
+of repairing without counting too much upon the ease with which it may
+be done.  That which will go longest without any repairs is usually
+best.  Still, as between the two kinds of tubs, one can scarcely make a
+mistake either way, and the difference in price will govern the
+decision of most of us.
+
+To be consistent in our thought of keeping the floor clear, we should
+have a bathtub that rests upon legs.  It should not, if avoidable, be
+placed under the window, and if it can be several inches from the wall,
+it is more easily cleaned on the outside, and the space next to the
+wall need not accumulate--or at least retain--soap, towels, and sponges
+that elude the grasp of the bather.  Tubs come in lengths from four to
+six feet, and cost accordingly.  The comfort of a six-foot bath to
+persons of any considerable elongation is always manifest, while a
+four-foot tub is merely better than a footbath.  Where hot water is not
+on tap in unlimited quantities, five feet is a fair compromise.  In
+porcelain enameled ware a tub of this size costs from $27 to $60,
+without fittings.  The better-class goods, included in this range, are
+warranted not to crack or "craze."  Porcelain prices are almost double
+those mentioned.  If we want stripings or pretty flowers or highly
+ornamented legs for the tub, we will be permitted to pay for them, but
+they are scarcely requisites in the bathroom economy.
+
+Waste and overflow arrangements for the tub must be well looked after.
+When the master of the household is likely at any time to turn on the
+water for a dip and then become absorbed in studying the latest
+automobile catalogue, one feels safer to know that the superfluous
+water will find a ready outlet through the pipes, rather than the
+floors and halls.  The same precautions are to be observed with the
+lavatory, where young America may choose to devote himself to original
+experiments in hydrostatics instead of performing the simple process of
+expeditiously removing the grime from his digits.
+
+
+
+THE LAVATORY
+
+Anything that is all of one piece is likely to prove more lasting than
+the other kinds, in the lavatory.  There are various combinations, some
+of them including handsome marble tops, but basin and top should not be
+separate.  If the wall is tile, the back that fits to it is not
+essential; but if the back is used, it should be of a piece with the
+slab, bowl, and apron, to avoid ugly cracks and breakage.  The bracket
+form is usually regarded as most convenient, as legs are often in the
+way, unobtrusive looking as they may be.  Another method of attachment
+is by a concealed wall hanger.  The pedestal design is somewhat more
+artistic, but additionally expensive not only in the beginning, but
+afterward in the event of damage.  Lavatories in enameled iron cost
+from $16 to $75, including fittings and pipes above floor.  Some people
+like running water in their bedrooms, and a private lavatory is certain
+to be appreciated by visitors.  Objection has been made that the
+introduction of plumbing into the bedroom affords a new source of
+sewer-gas poisoning, but with modern materials and workmanship this
+need not be feared.  For the bedroom the supply man will recommend the
+pedestal arrangement, costing about $50; but less expensive forms might
+serve.  Of course every additional outlet, such as this, increases the
+piping bill and outlay for labor.
+
+
+
+THE CLOSET
+
+So far as the health of the family is concerned, the most important
+feature of the bathroom is the closet.  Here it would be simply folly
+for us to let any consideration of dollars prompt us to substitute an
+inferior or out-of-date apparatus for the safe kind.  It would be
+better to sell the piano or even to steal the money from the baby's
+bank.
+
+The only safety against sewer gas in the closet is to prevent it (the
+gas) from entering the house, and to make sure that gas from the water
+pipes is given an adequate exit and compelled to make use of it.  The
+old-style washout closet was a pretty good assurance that the one gas
+would get in and that the other could not get out.  The siphon closet
+of recent manufacture seems to be a much more dependable sort of
+contraption, though we need not accept as gospel the makers' assertion
+that it is perfection.
+
+The most reliable way to shut out gas is with water.  Even in the old
+closets it was supposed that the outlet pipe would be kept covered with
+water, but as one could not see where the water was or was not, the
+supposition wasn't always to be regarded as proper material for an
+affidavit.  Many a person has moped around and growled at the weather
+or the cook or anything he could think of to blame, when it was the
+cheap old plumbing arrangement he hadn't thought of that was at the
+bottom of his misery.  Sometimes, too, we think a little sewer gas is
+preferable to the plumber and his bill; but that is a very silly
+thought indeed.
+
+The siphon closet not only overflows, but it siphons, or draws out, the
+contents of the bowl.  This is replaced with clear water, which
+completely shuts off the outlet pipe.  Comparing the actions of the two
+systems, we readily see the better cleansing power of the double
+action, while the seal on the vent pipe is always evident.  A good
+siphon closet costs from $30 to $50, and unless we find something still
+safer we would better choose it.
+
+The low tank is preferable in many ways to the sort that is attached to
+the wall near the ceiling.  It is more compact, can be installed under
+windows or stairways, and looks better.  Besides, it is not so noisy
+and operates with greater ease, with either chain or push button.  The
+extra cost is slight.
+
+
+
+HOT WATER AND HOW TO GET IT
+
+We have named the essentials for use in a bathroom.  But there are
+other features that add much to its convenience and attractiveness.
+Some of these need not be purchased at once; in fact, it is better
+here, as elsewhere in the house, to let many things wait upon a
+demonstration of their need.
+
+A bathroom without plenty of hot water accessible is not, as we have
+previously hinted, likely to become a popular resort.  When the wash
+boiler and the tea kettle have to be heated on the range and brought up
+in a precarious progress that threatens a scalding for fingers, feet,
+and floors, to even hint the possibility of the entire household's
+insisting upon a daily hot bath suggests lunacy.  But if the hot-water
+tank is dependent upon the furnace or other house-heating arrangement,
+summer is likely to find it out of commission, with the chief element
+of a good bath obtainable only with much ado.  Then some special means
+of heating water is required.
+
+There are many devices, most of them using gas, and disposed to be
+cantankerous late at night when all but the would-be bather have
+retired.  The gas heaters are placed either in connection with the
+water tank in kitchen or basement, or above the tub, the water running
+in coils over the heater.  These arrangements are speedy and
+comparatively economical.  They are slightly dangerous, however; not
+that they are likely to explode, but from the fact that the gas,
+particularly if of a poor quality--which is usually the case--rapidly
+vitiates the air of the room, and may cause fainting or even
+suffocation.  If the apparatus is properly adjusted, and one makes sure
+of the ventilation, heating the water and admitting fresh air before
+entering the tub, no distress need be anticipated.  There are also
+gasolene and kerosene heaters, and an electric coil placed in the water
+is the safest and cleanest but not the quickest or cheapest scheme of
+all.  Its cost is from $5 to $20.
+
+None of these heating attachments is sure to prove fully satisfactory,
+but any one of them is likely to add a great deal to the
+serviceableness of the bathroom.  To many wholesome people one ideal of
+living is to be able to take a dip whenever one wants it, not merely
+when one can get it.
+
+A seat of wood, in natural finish or white enamel, is a handy
+appurtenance to the tub.  It will cost us 50 or 75 cents at a
+department store, or we can pay four or five times as much for a
+fancier quality at the supply house.
+
+
+
+BATHROOM FITTINGS
+
+Of soap holders there are innumerable designs: nickel plated or rubber.
+The latter will hardly be chosen.  A sort that will come as near as any
+to permitting one to grasp the soap without sending it to the far
+corner of the room has a grooved bottom and is retailed for 45 cents.
+A sponge holder at the same price will keep that useful article within
+reach, and for the towels there are bars, rings, and projecting arms.
+Nickel-plated brass or glass bars are preferred, as the rings are
+elusive affairs for both hands and towels, while the projecting arms
+are usually unsubstantial, and if placed too high, constantly threaten
+to stimulate the artificial-eye market.  The bars, if strongly attached
+to the wall, sometimes are a friend in need when one is getting in or
+out of the tub or regaining equilibrium after balancing on one foot.
+
+A mirror of good plate but simple design should be in the room, not
+necessarily over the lavatory, but better so.  Nice ones may be had for
+$3 or more.  There are tooth-brush and tumbler holders galore, and some
+one of these arrangements will be found useful.  The kind that provides
+for a toothpowder box, and has numbered compartments for brushes, is
+best, though there is something to be said for the retention of such
+articles within the private domains of their individual owners.  An
+attachment for toilet paper may be had for a quarter or for a dollar,
+and a workable one is worth while, as is a good quality of paper.  A
+glass shelf, costing anywhere from $1.75 to $12, is almost a necessity,
+but there are better places than the bathroom for the medicine cabinet.
+
+A single-tube shower-bath attachment of the simplest sort is a lot
+better than none, and need not cost over 50 cents.  The more adaptable
+kind, with two ends, will be found ticketed at about $2.  Thence up to
+the elaborate fittings at $250 there are many variations.  Sitz baths
+and footbaths are rather superfluous in the ordinary bathroom, but we
+can spend a hundred dollars for the one and half that for the other
+without being taken for plutocrats.
+
+A very fair bathroom, such as would please most of us, may be equipped
+on a scale about as follows:
+
+Bathtub...............................  $36.00
+
+Five feet long, three-inch roll rim, porcelain enameled, nickel-plated
+double bath cock, supply pipes, connected waste and overflow with
+cleanout.
+
+
+Lavatory...............................  30.00
+
+Twenty by twenty-four inches, porcelain enameled, slab, bowl and apron
+on four sides in one piece, nickel-plated waste, low-pattern
+compression faucets with china indexes, supply pipes with compression
+stops, and vented traps.
+
+
+Closet.................................  35.00
+
+Porcelain enameled, siphonic, oak saddle seat and cover, oak tank (low
+set) with marble top and push button, nickel-plated supply pipe with
+compression stop.
+
+Total for main essentials..............$101.00
+
+
+ Tub seat, natural oak.................  $0.50
+ Soap holder...........................    .90
+ Sponge holder.........................    .95
+ Toothbrush and tumbler holder.........    .75
+ Glass shelf...........................   1.75
+ Shower attachment.....................   2.00
+ Mirror................................   3.00
+ Robe hooks............................    .75
+ Towel bars............................   1.00
+ Toilet-paper holder...................    .50
+ Towel basket..........................   1.00
+
+ Grand total...........................$113.10
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+CELLAR, ATTIC, AND CLOSETS
+
+Modern city and town life, with butcher and grocer so conveniently
+near, has done away to some extent with the cellar of ye olden
+tyme--dubbed one of the aids to "successful diplomacy," the other being
+that very necessary adjunct, a good cook.  Those were truly days of
+bounteous hospitality and plenty which filled the cellar with barrels
+of apples of every variety, bins of potatoes, bushels of turnips and
+onions, barrels of pork "put down," corned beef, kegs of cider turning
+to vinegar, crocks of pickles and preserves of all kinds, quarters of
+beef, pans of sausage, tubs of lard and butter, and--oh, fruits and
+good things of the earth which we now know only as "a tale that is
+told."  But the cellar of to-day accommodates itself to to-day's needs,
+for though we may still lay in some commodities in quantity, we know
+the things of to-morrow can be had from the market on comparatively
+short notice.  Nevertheless, the things of to-day--and some other
+things--must be carefully stowed away, and the deeps of the house made
+hygienic, for as the cellar, so will the house be also, and to this
+might be added that as the floor, so will the cellar be also.
+
+
+
+THE CELLAR FLOOR
+
+In country places, where there is no sewage to contaminate the soil, a
+hard, well-beaten dirt floor is not particularly objectionable, except
+that it cannot well be cleaned.  Boards raised from the ground by small
+blocks nailed to the under side, and leading to bins, cupboards, and
+furnace room, should be laid across it to prevent the tracking of dirt
+to the upper rooms, and these little walks must be swept and kept free
+from dirt and dust.  If the cellar is floored with boards, the flooring
+should be raised sufficiently to allow free circulation of air beneath
+it; but the only strictly sanitary flooring is of concrete, six inches
+thick, covered from wall to wall with Portland or other good cement.
+Cellars, being below the street, and therefore receiving some of the
+surface drainage, are prone to dampness, and, are easily contaminated
+by leakage from drains and sewers, and other filth communicated to them
+through the soil.  These conditions are largely counteracted by the
+concrete and cement flooring, which also bars the entrance of ants and
+other vermin.  The communication of damp cellar air, polluted by
+noxious gases from sewers and decaying vegetable matter, to the upper
+parts of the house is responsible for many an otherwise unexplainable
+case of rheumatism, consumption, typhoid, and other diseases, and any
+outlay of time and money which can render the cellar wholesome and
+immune to ravages of agents external and beyond our control, must not
+be grudged.
+
+
+
+VENTILATION
+
+One who owns his home can adopt preventive measures, such as outside
+area ways or air spaces, impossible to the renter; but certain ounces
+of prevention are available to all.  For instance: if drain pipes run
+through the cellar, have them examined often for leaks; if there is an
+open drain, wash it out frequently with copperas and water, and give it
+an occasional flushing with chloride of lime or lye in strong solution
+to destroy any possible odor arising from it; and see that the roof
+drains do not empty too near the house, thus dampening the cellar
+walls.  Whitewash the walls semiannually, not only for sanitary reasons
+but to lighten the "darkness visible," and above all else--_have
+sufficient ventilation_!  A perfect circulation of air is insured when
+there are opposite windows; but whatever their location, all windows
+should hang from the top on hinges, or be so put in that they can be
+easily removed from the inside; for open they must be, and that all the
+year round, except in the coldest winter weather, and even then they
+can be opened during the warmer hours of the middle of the day without
+danger of freezing the contents of the cellar.  The cellar can be
+protected from invasion from without by galvanized iron netting, and
+wire screens will exclude the flies.  Both screens must, however, be so
+adjusted that they will not interfere with the opening and closing of
+the windows.
+
+
+
+THE PARTITIONED CELLAR
+
+The cellar which is partitioned off into small rooms is more easily
+cared for and kept in order than that which consists of just the one
+large space.  Rough pine-board partitions cost very little, and one to
+shut off the furnace (provided there be one) from the rest of the room
+is absolutely necessary, since the heat which it generates must not be
+allowed to spread and so spoil the cellar for cold-storage purposes,
+for warm, damp air hastens the degeneration of vegetables and meats.
+Unless some other provision is made in the cellar plan for the coal, a
+strong bin, with one section movable, should be built for it in the
+furnace room.  To the posts of this bin hang the shovels--one large and
+one small--used in handling the coal.  The premature burial of many a
+shovel might have been prevented had its owner only bethought him of
+those simple expedients, hammer and nails.  A strip of leather nailed
+to another post supports ax or hatchet, while near by is the neat pile
+of kindling which its sharp edge has made--perhaps out of old and
+useless boxes and barrels.  These must not be allowed to accumulate,
+but be chopped up at once.  Logs and large sticks have each their own
+pile, while chips, sawdust, and shavings take up their abode in a large
+basket or box.  The ashes from the furnace go into boxes and barrels
+outside of the house.
+
+
+
+ORDER IN THE CELLAR
+
+The cellar is primarily a storing place for food, and not an asylum for
+hopelessly maimed and decrepit furniture.  If there is any which is
+mendable, mend and use it; if not, consign it to the kindling pile at
+once, there to round out its career of usefulness.  Odds and ends of
+rubbish collect very quickly and make a cellar unsightly and difficult
+to keep in order.  If necessary to keep certain boxes for future
+packing purposes, pile them neatly against the wall where they will be
+out of the way, or else send them up to the attic.  When there are no
+rooms partitioned off for their accommodation provide bins, or their
+cheaper substitutes, barrels or boxes, for vegetables and fruits--boxes
+preferably, since they are more shallow and their contents can thus be
+spread out more.  Vegetables and fruits should be looked over
+frequently, and anything showing signs of decay removed.  Instead of
+placing boxes and barrels, vinegar kegs, firkins, stone jars, etc.,
+directly on the floor, stand them on bricks, small stones, or pieces of
+board.  When so placed, they are more easily handled and moved in
+cleaning, and the circulation of air beneath prevents dampness and
+consequent decay.
+
+
+
+SHELVES AND CLOSETS
+
+A swinging shelf--double or single--held by supports at the four
+corners, securely nailed to the joists of the floor above, is almost
+indispensable to the convenience of the cellar.  It should be about
+three feet wide and from six to eight feet in length, and may be
+covered on three sides with galvanized wire fly netting, the fourth
+side to have double frame doors, also wire-covered, and swinging
+outward.  Ordinary cotton netting can he used instead of the wire, and
+is of course cheaper, but must he renewed each year, while the wire
+will last indefinitely.  And so we have evolved a cool, flyless place
+for our pans of milk, meats, cooked and uncooked, fresh vegetables,
+cakes, pastry, etc.  If poultry or meat is to be hung here for a little
+while, wrap it in brown paper or unbleached muslin.  Wash the shelves
+once a week with sal soda water and dry thoroughly.
+
+A windowless closet as far as possible from the furnace, and best built
+under some small extension, thus giving it three cool stone walls, is
+the place where preserves and jellies keep best.  Label each jar and
+glass distinctly and arrange in rows on the shelves, taller ones
+behind, shorter in front.  If there is no closet of this kind, a
+cupboard, standing firmly on the floor, can easily be built, for
+preserves must have darkness as well as coolness; otherwise they are
+apt to turn dark and to ferment.  The shelves of the fruit closet must
+be examined frequently for traces of that stickiness which tells that
+some bottle of fruit is "working" and leaking.  Pickles keep better in
+crocks on the cellar bottom.
+
+Laundry tubs and scrub pails are usually kept, bottom up, in the
+cellar.  All articles stored there should be well wrapped in strong
+paper and securely tied, and it will be found a great convenience,
+especially at cleaning time, to hang many things from the ceiling
+beams.  The cellar should be swept and put to rights every two weeks,
+cobwebs brushed down, and all corners well looked after.  Here, as
+nowhere else, is the personal supervision of the housewife essential.
+
+
+
+THE ATTIC
+
+It is with a lump in our throats and an ache in our hearts that we turn
+our thoughts wistfully backward to that place of hallowed memories,
+which is itself becoming simply a memory--the attic!  What happy hours
+we spent there, rummaging among its treasures, soothed by its twilight
+quiet, and a little awed by the ghosts of the past which seemed to
+hover about each old chest and horsehair trunk and gayly flowered
+carpet bag; each andiron and foot warmer and spinning wheel and warming
+pan!  Roof and floor of wide, rough boards, stained by age and leaks;
+tiny, cobweb-curtained windows; everything dusty, dim, mysterious!
+Where is it now?  Gone--pushed aside by the march of civilization;
+supplanted by the modern lathed and plastered attic, with its smoothly
+laid floor, which harbors neither mice nor memories.  And though we
+sigh as we say so, the attic of to-day _is_ a better kept, more
+compact, more hygienic affair than its ancestor; for we have grown to
+realize that sentiment must sometimes be sacrificed to sense.  Whatever
+comes we must have hygiene, even at the expense of the little spirit
+germ which seems sometimes to develop best in the "dim religious
+light."  For we cannot forget Victor Hugo and Balzac and Tom Moore in
+their attics.
+
+
+
+ORDER AND CARE OF ATTIC
+
+Frequently so much of the attic space is finished off for bed and other
+rooms that what remains is somewhat limited, and cannot be turned into
+a catch-all for the may-be-usefuls.  Indeed, only such things as have
+true worth should go into it, whatever its size, these to be carefully
+stowed away, like things together--boxes, furniture, winter stovepipes
+with their elbows, piles of magazines systematically tied together by
+years, trunks, etc.  In each trunk place its own special key and strap,
+and when garments or other articles are packed therein, fasten to the
+lid a complete list of its contents.  Upholstered furniture must be
+closely covered with old muslin or ticking.  The family tool chest
+seems to fit into the attic, as well as the small boxes of nails, rolls
+of wire, screws, bolts, and the hundred odds and ends of hardware which
+the lord of the house must be able to lay his hand on when he wants to
+do any tinkering about the place.  A semiannual sweeping, mopping, and
+dusting will keep the attic in good condition if thoroughly done, with
+the help of the "place for everything, and everything in its place," a
+precept as well as an example which has entered prominently into the
+upbringing of most of us.  Here is another spot where corners and
+cobwebs like to hobnob, and such intimacy must be sternly discouraged.
+If old garments are kept in the attic, they should be either packed
+away in labeled boxes or trunks, or hung on a line stretched across the
+room and carefully covered with an old sheet.  This line is also
+serviceable when rainy days and lack of other room make it necessary,
+to dry the washing here.  The modern attic is for utility only, and so
+its story is soon told.
+
+
+
+CLOSETS
+
+If woman's rights would only usurp one more of what have hitherto been
+almost exclusively man's rights--the profession of architecture--she
+would in truth become the architect, not only of her own fortune, but
+of the fortunes of a suffering sisterhood, whose great plaint is, "So
+many things and no place to put them!"  For who ever knew a mere man,
+architect and artist of the beautiful though he were, who had even the
+beginning of a realization of the absolute necessity for closets--large
+ones, light ones, and plenty of them?  In his special castle, boxes,
+bundles, and clothing seem to have a magic way of disposing of
+themselves, "somewhere, somewhen, somehow," and so it does not occur to
+him that his own particular Clorinda is conducting a private condensing
+plant which could put those of the large packers to the blush.  But let
+him have just one experience of straightening out and putting to
+rights, and then only will he appreciate that closets are even more
+essential than cozy corners and unexpected nooks and crannies for
+holding pieces of statuary and collecting dust.  If a woman could be
+the "& Company" of every firm of architects, there would be an
+evolution in home building which would lengthen the lives and shorten
+the labors of "lady-managers" in many lands.  When that comfortable
+wish becomes a reality, let us hope that "Let there be light" will be
+printed in large black letters across the space to be occupied by each
+closet in every house plan, for the average closet is so dark that even
+a self-respecting family skeleton would decline to occupy it, evil
+though its deeds are supposed to be.  The downpour of the miscellaneous
+collection of a closet's shelves upon the blind groper after some
+particular package thereon, gives convincing proof that absence of
+light means presence of confusion; while it also invites the elusive
+moth to come in and make himself at home--which he does.
+
+
+
+THE LINEN CLOSET
+
+But after all, it is a blessed good thing to have some closets, even
+dark ones, and proper care and attention will go a long way toward
+remedying their defects.  Clothes closets we must have, china closets
+we usually have, and linen closets we sometimes have, not always.  To
+the housewife who possesses a linen closet it is a source of particular
+pride, and the stocking and care of it her very special pleasure.  Its
+drawers should be deep and its shelves wide and well apart--not less
+than eighteen inches, and even more in the case of the upper ones, for
+the accommodation of the reserve supply of blankets, quilts, and other
+bed coverings.  Arrange on the lower shelves the piles of counterpanes,
+sheets, and pillowcases in constant use, linen and cotton in separate
+piles, and those of the same size together.  Washcloths and towels,
+heavy, fine, bath and hand, have each their own pile on shelf or in
+drawer, according to room.  Shams and other dainty bed accessories go
+into the drawers, one of which may be dedicated to the neat strips and
+tight rolls of old linen and cotton cloth, worn-out underclothing,
+etc., as they gradually accumulate.  Where no provision is made for a
+linen closet, a case of the wardrobe type, built along the inner wall
+of a wide hall, answers the purpose very well, and is not unpleasing to
+the eye if made to harmonize with the other woodwork.  A closet of this
+kind may vary in width from four to six feet, with swinging or sliding
+doors, preferably the latter, and drawers and shelves, or shelves
+alone.  Or there may be a cupboard above and shelves below, or vice
+versa.
+
+
+
+CLOTHES CLOSETS
+
+Clothes closets of this description can also be built against
+unoccupied bedroom walls, the objection to the number of doors thus
+introduced being offset by the great convenience of having one's
+clothing immediately at hand, exposed to light and to view directly the
+doors are opened, for we find things by sight here, not by faith.
+Angles and recesses which have no special excuse for being are easily
+converted into closets, one to be used as a hanging place for the
+various brooms, brushes, dustpans, and dusters in use about the house.
+Brooms, by the way, must never be allowed to stand upon their bristles,
+but must either stand upside down or hang.  Another nook becomes a
+convenient place for hanging canvas or ticking bags filled with odds
+and ends of dress goods, white and colored, news and wrapping papers,
+balls of twine, and other pick-me-ups.
+
+
+
+THE CHINA CLOSET
+
+The china closet is designed for the accommodation of everything in use
+on the dining table, with drawers or cupboards for linen and silver,
+and shelves for dishes.  The latter should be arranged with an eye to
+artistic effect as well as to convenience, platters and decorative
+plates standing on edge and kept from slipping by a strip of molding
+nailed to the shelf, pretty cups hanging, and those of more common
+material and design inverted to keep out the dust.  Stand the large and
+heavy pieces, vegetable dishes, and piles of plates on the bottom
+shelf, and on the next cups and saucers, sauce dishes, small plates,
+etc., placing the smaller dishes in front, the taller ones behind.  The
+third shelf may be devoted to glass alone, with tumblers inverted and
+bowls and odd pieces tastefully arranged, or to both glass and silver.
+On the fourth shelf place such pieces of glass and silver as are only
+occasionally brought into service.  Personal taste and convenience
+dictate to a great extent the placing of the dishes, but absolute
+neatness and spotlessness must hold sway.  No other closet is more
+prone to disarrangement than the china closet, where the careless
+disposal of one dish seems to invite the general disorder which is sure
+to follow.  For this reason it demands the frequent rearranging which
+it should receive.  Its walls should harmonize in color with those of
+the dining room.  Small, fringed napkins or doilies on and overhanging
+the shelves help to impart an air of daintiness and make a pretty
+setting for the dishes.  When the china closet does not connect with
+the dining room, but is a "thing apart," its shelves may receive the
+same treatment accorded those in the pantry--white paper or oilcloth
+covering and valance.
+
+While well-filled linen and china closets appeal to the aesthetic side
+of the housewife, clothes closets speak directly to her common-sense,
+managerial side.  If she had a say-so in the matter, their name would
+be Legion, but she must not think over-hardly of the few she has, for
+they are invaluable developers of her genius for putting "infinite
+riches in a little room"; while the constant tussle in their depths
+with moth and dust induces a daily enlargement of her moral biceps--and
+her patience.  May their shadow never grow less (perish the thought!).
+
+
+
+CLOSET TIGHTNESS
+
+Before anything goes into a closet see that all the cracks in the floor
+are entirely filled with putty, plaster of Paris, or sawdust, for
+otherwise dust and lint will accumulate in them, and there the beetle
+will find a house and the moth a nest for herself.  Whiting and linseed
+oil mixed well together until the paste is smooth will make the putty.
+The plaster of Paris is easily prepared by mixing the powder with cold
+water till it is of the right consistency to spread, but it hardens so
+quickly that only a little can be made ready at a time.  Or, dissolve
+one pound of glue in two gallons of water, and stir into it enough
+sawdust to make a thick paste.  Any of these preparations can be
+colored to match the floor, put into the cracks with a common steel
+knife, and made smooth and even with the boards.  A better way,
+however, seems to be to omit the coloring and give the entire floor two
+coats of paint after the cracks are filled.  There are those who prefer
+covering the floor with enamel cloth; but try as we will, it is all but
+impossible to fit it so closely that dust and animal life cannot slip
+under it.
+
+
+
+CLOSET FURNISHING
+
+The floors attended to, next see that there are plenty of hooks screwed
+on the cleat which should extend around three sides of the closet.
+They must be at a convenient height, say five feet, and three inches
+below the first of two or three shelves, to be not over fifteen inches
+apart, thus making at least two available for use.  On the under side
+of this first shelf screw double hooks, and additional hanging room can
+be made by suspending a movable rod across the closet on which to hang
+coat hooks holding garments.  Skirts, waists, and coats hold their
+shape far better when disposed of in this way, and can be packed
+closely together.  A twelve-inch piece of barrel hoop wound with
+cambric or muslin, and with a loop at the center, is a good substitute
+for the commercial hook.  On the shelves go hat and other boxes, and
+various parcels, each to be plainly labeled.  A chest of drawers at one
+end of the closet is handy for the disposal of delicate gowns, extra
+underwear, furs, summer dresses, etc., while a shoe bag insures
+additional order.  The soiled-clothes hamper belongs, not in the
+clothes closet, but in the bathroom.  Too much emphasis cannot be
+placed on this.  The odor from the linen pollutes the naturally close
+air of the closet and clings to everything it contains.
+
+
+
+CARE OF CLOSETS AND CONTENTS
+
+Wash the woodwork, drawers, floor, and shelves of all closets
+thoroughly with water containing a few drops of carbolic acid--not
+enough to burn the hands--and wipe dry.  Painted walls which can also
+be washed are most desirable; if calcimined, the tinting must be
+renewed each year.  If furs are to be put away, brush and beat well,
+and then comb to remove possible moths or eggs, sprinkle with camphor
+gum, wrap in old cotton or linen cloth, then in newspaper, and tie
+securely.  Moths, not being literary in their tastes, will never enter
+therein.  All woolens should be put away in the same manner.  The
+closet is clean and sanitary now, and the main thing is to keep it so.
+All garments ought to be thoroughly brushed and aired before hanging
+away, particularly in the summer time, with a special application of
+energy to the bottoms of street gowns, the microscopic examination of
+one of which revealed millions of tubercular germs--not a pleasant
+thought, but a salutary one, let us hope.
+
+It seems such a pity that the sun, that great destroyer of bacteria,
+cannot shine into our closets; but until the new architect comes to our
+rescue with a window, all we can do to sweeten them is to remove the
+clothing and air by leaving doors and adjacent windows open for a
+couple of hours.  An annual disinfecting with sulphur fumes will
+destroy all germs of insect life.  Use powdered sulphur--it is far more
+effective than the sulphur candles which are sold for the same purpose.
+Stand an old pie plate or other tin in a pan of water; on it build a
+little fire of paper and fine kindling, pour on the powdered sulphur,
+and leave to smudge and smoke for twenty-four hours.  The closet must
+be sealed up as tight as possible, every crack, crevice, and keyhole
+being stuffed with newspaper to prevent the fumes from escaping, the
+entering door, of course, being sealed after the fumes are started.  If
+one desires the sealing to be doubly sealed, newspaper strips two
+inches wide and pasted together to make several thicknesses, can be
+pasted over cracks in doors and windows with a gum-tragacanth solution,
+prepared by soaking two tablespoons of the gum in one pint of cold
+water for an hour, then placing the bowl in a pan of boiling water, and
+stirring till dissolved.  This is easily washed off and will not stain
+or discolor the woodwork.  Although there is an impression to the
+contrary, clothing may be left in the closet with entire safety during
+the smoking, provided it is well away from the fire.  Indeed, clothing
+needs purifying as much as closet, and an occasional disinfecting will
+help on the good work of sanitation.  After the closet is once rid of
+moths, tar paper specially prepared for the purpose and tacked on the
+walls, is effectual in keeping them away, for they seem to "smell the
+battle afar off."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HANGINGS, BRIC-A-BRAC, BOOKS, AND PICTURES
+
+"Step by step" is a good thought to hold when we reach the fancifying
+of the house, as we only do after days of planning, nights of waking,
+over the must-be's.  And, after all, these last accessories are divided
+from the necessaries by but a hair line, for it is they which give the
+home its soul--that beautiful, spiritual softness and radiance which we
+love and which differentiate the home from the house which is but its
+shell.  The life and spirit of the home should be one of growth and
+development, which can only be achieved in a proper atmosphere and
+environment; and these it now rests with the home builder to supply in
+the radiant harmony and softness which flow from these final
+"trimmings," which not only create but reflect character.
+
+
+
+THE CHARM OF DRAPERY
+
+Hangings have a considerable share in making the home atmosphere, their
+mission being to soften harsh angles and outlines and warm cold, stiff
+plainness into comfort.  Window curtains act as an equalizer in
+bringing the very best out of both light and dark rooms, serving at the
+same time as a partial background for their contents; while portieres
+are not only aesthetic but useful in deadening sounds, cutting off
+draughts, and screening one room from another.  "Drapes," those flimsy,
+go-as-you-please looking bunches of poor taste knotted, cascaded, and
+festooned over mantels, pictures, and chair backs, we have outgrown,
+confining our efforts in this line to the silk draught curtain to
+conceal the inelegant yawn of an open grate; and even this is being
+supplanted by the small screen.
+
+
+
+CURTAINS
+
+Windows must be curtained with relation to their shape and position and
+the nature of the room.  The lower floor of the house, being naturally
+the heavier, can be curtained in a statelier manner than the lighter
+upper story.  Here is the proper place for our handsome curtains of
+Irish point and other appliques of muslin or lace on net, and of scrim
+with insertions and edges of Renaissance, Cluny, and other laces.
+These curtains are manufactured in three shades--dark cream or ecru,
+light ivory, and pure white, the ivory being the richest and most
+desirable--and in simple, inexpensive designs as well as those costly
+and elaborate, and usually run about 50, 54, and 60 inches wide, and 3
+1/2 yards long.  The applique curtain wears better in an elaborate
+all-over design which holds the net together and gives it body, cheaper
+designs which can be had as low as $8 being coarser in quality and
+pattern.  Nottingham curtains must be discredited among other
+imitations; they are well-meaning but both tasteless and cheaply
+ostentatious.  Lace curtains are rarely draped, but hang in straight
+simplicity, most of the fullness being arranged in the body that the
+border design may not be lost in the folds.  They are shirred with an
+inch heading on rods fastened outside of the window casing over which
+they extend, and care must be taken, if the pattern is prominent, that
+corresponding figures hang opposite each other.  The double hem at the
+top is nearly twice the diameter of the pole, with the extra length
+turned over next to the window, the curtains, when hung, clearing the
+floor about 2 inches.  They usually stretch down another inch, which
+brings them to just the right length.  There is no between length in
+curtains; they must be either sill or floor length.  Over curtains may
+or may not be used with the lace curtains.  They are not necessary but
+have a certain decorative value, particularly in a large room.  Raw
+silk, 30 inches wide, and costing from $0.75 to $1.50 a yard, is the
+only fabric sold now for this purpose for drawing-room use.  The inner
+curtains may be simply side curtains, or made with a valance as well,
+and hang from a separate pole to obscure the top of the casement and
+just escape the floor, covering the outside edges of the lace curtains
+without concealing their borders.  The over curtain should reproduce
+the coloring of the side wall and ceiling in a shade between the two in
+density, but if just the right tint cannot be caught, recourse to some
+soft, harmonious neutral tint will be necessary.  Lining is not used
+unless there is an objection to the colored curtain showing from the
+street, when the lining silk or sateen must be of the shade of the lace
+curtain.
+
+Almost any sort of pretty net or scrim curtain is appropriate for the
+downstairs windows, with a preference in favor of the more dignified
+lace in the drawing-room.  With the other rooms we can take more
+liberty.  The ruffled curtain is sash length and looped with a band of
+the same, or with a white cotton cord and tassel at the middle sash if
+the window be short, otherwise midway between it and the sill.  There
+are fine fish nets, or _tulle de Cadiz_, 45, 50, and 60 inches wide at
+50 cents a yard, which make charming living- or dining-room curtains,
+edged on three sides with the new 1-inch fringe or fancy edge, at 5 and
+10 cents a yard, which comes for that purpose; and madras, plain or
+figured, is also good, a pretty combination being the fish net with
+colored madras over curtain.  Raw-silk curtains are in use, too, but
+anything which stands too much between the home dwellers and the air
+and light is best avoided.  Silk curtains are usually trimmed with a
+brush edge.  Glass curtains are only necessary as a screen or to soften
+the harsh outline of a heavy curtain, and must be as transparent and
+inconspicuous as possible, the right side toward the glass.  They are
+sill length, shirred to a small brass rod set inside the casing, and
+draped if the over curtain hangs straight, to maintain a balance.
+Those used on windows visible at once from the same quarter must be
+alike.  The lace panels with a center design which we sometimes see in
+windows, but more frequently in doors, are too severe to be either
+graceful or ornamental.  The vestibule door is best treated to
+correspond with the drawing-room windows, with an additional silk
+curtain to be drawn at night; or the silk curtain harmonizing with the
+woodwork of the hall may be used alone.
+
+The curtaining of bedroom windows has already been discussed at some
+length.  Swisses, dimities, figured muslins, and madras, either alone
+or supplemented by a valance, an over curtain, or both, of madras,
+chintz or cretonne, are preeminently the bedroom curtains, and may
+either be draped or hang straight, depending somewhat on the shape of
+the window.  The long, narrow window needs the broadening effect of the
+draped curtain, the illusion of width being further increased by
+extending the curtain out to cover the casement, while the
+straight-hanging curtain gives additional length to the short window.
+Frilled curtains are usually looped, and seemingly increase the size of
+the room by enlarging the area of vision.  An extra allowance of 6
+inches is made for draping, with an additional inch or two for
+shrinkage.  The charm of simplicity is always to be borne in mind when
+curtaining a room.
+
+
+
+PORTIERES
+
+Portieres must serve their purpose, which is most emphatically _not_
+that of "drapery" in the sense in which the word has been so much used,
+but of convenience and utility, beauty, of course, being the twin
+sister of the latter nowadays.  Figured portieres with plain walls, and
+vice versa, are the rule, the coloring blending with both floor and
+walls and coming between the two in density.  Again the neutral tint
+comes to the rescue if difficulty in matching is met.  There is almost
+an embarrassment of riches in portiere materials in plain and figured
+velours, woolen brocades, soft tapestries, furniture satins, damasks,
+velvets, etc., but we are learning the true art value of the simpler
+denims (plain and fancy), reps, cotton tapestries, rough, heavy linens,
+and monk's cloth--a kind of jute--for door hangings.  The plain goods
+in dull, soft greens, blues, and browns, with conventional designs in
+applique or outlining, are not only inexpensive but artistic to a high
+degree, and are easily fashioned by home talent.  Plain strips, too,
+are used for trimming, and stencil work, but the latter requires rather
+more artistic ability than most of us possess.  Whatever the material,
+it must be soft enough to draw all the way back and leave a full
+opening, but not so thin as to be flimsy and stringy.  The portiere is
+either shirred over the pole or hung from it by hook safety pins or
+rings sewed on at intervals of four inches.  Double-faced goods have
+the hems on the side on which they will show least, with any extra
+length turned over as a valance on the same side.  The finished curtain
+should hang one inch from the floor and will gradually stretch until it
+just escapes--the proper length.  Single-faced materials are lined to
+harmonize with the room which receives the wrong side.  Lengthwise
+stripes give a long, narrow effect, while crosswise stripes give an
+apparent additional width, and plain materials seem to increase the
+size of a doorway.  Rods may be either of a wood corresponding with the
+other woodwork, or of brass, with rings, sockets, and brackets of the
+same material, the brass rod to be an inch in diameter and the wooden 1
+1/2 inches or more and set inside the jambs.
+
+Portieres are also of service in softening the opening of a large bay
+window, making a cozy corner, or cutting off an awkward length of hall.
+When a doorway is very high it is better to carry the portiere to
+within a foot or so of the top, leaving the opening unfilled, or
+supplying a simple grille of wood harmonizing with the wood of the
+door.  A pretty fashion is to introduce into this space a shelf on
+which to place pieces of brass or pottery.  Beaded, bamboo, and rope
+affairs are neither draperies nor curtains, graceful, useful nor
+ornamental, and are consequently not to be considered.
+
+Men of science may cry "Down with draperies!"--but we members of that
+choicer cult known as domestic science stand loyally by them, for
+though in draperies there may he microbes, there is also largess of
+coziness and geniality.
+
+
+
+BRIC-A-BRAC
+
+The old-fashioned "whatnot" with its hungrily gaping shelves is
+responsible for many crimes committed in the name of bric-a-brac, and
+calls to mind sundry specimens with which proud owners were wont to
+satisfy its greed: the glass case of wax or feather flowers, flanked
+and reenforced by plush photograph frames, shells, china vases shining
+"giltily," silvered and beribboned toasters, peacock-feather fans, with
+perhaps a cup and saucer bearing testimony to our virtue with its "For
+a good girl," and other fill-upables, gone but not forgotten.  And then
+followed a time when mantels and bookcase tops bore certain ills in the
+way of the more modern painted plaques, strings of gilded nuts,
+embroidered banners, and porcelain and brass clocks so gaudy and
+bedizened as to explain why time flies.  But the architect has come to
+the rescue with his dignified, stately mantel which repels the trivial
+familiarity of meaningless decoration, and the bookcase whose simple,
+quiet elegance is in itself decorative.  Blessed be the nothingness
+which allows Miladi to build her own art atmosphere untainted by gifts
+of well-intentioned but tasteless friends.
+
+
+
+THE GROWTH OF GOOD TASTE
+
+The germs of the capacity for good taste are born in most of us, but
+must be sedulously cultivated before they can rightly be called taste,
+and bric-a-brac presents the best of possibilities for their
+development.  Begin by buying one piece which you know to be
+beautiful--simple and refined in outline, choice in design, modest in
+coloring, and fit for the use to which it is to be put--live with it,
+study it, master it.  It will take on many unexpected charms as you
+grow to know it, and when you are ready to select the next piece you
+will find that the germ of your talent for discrimination has quietly
+become other ten talents and grown into a reliable ability to separate
+the chaff from the wheat.  Each acquisition will have its own peculiar
+individuality which, once conquered, means a liberal education.
+
+
+
+USEFULNESS WITH BEAUTY
+
+While all bric-a-brac should be beautiful, some certain kinds, such as
+lamps, clocks, and jardinieres, are also essentially useful, and these
+have undergone a wonderful transformation during recent years as a
+result of the movement toward simplicity, honesty of purpose, and
+fitness.  It would be hard to imagine anything more incongruous than
+the porcelain lamp decorated with flowers of heroic endurance which
+blossomed unwiltingly on, regardless of the heat; or the frivolously
+decorated clock when the passing of time is so serious a matter; or the
+gaudy jardiniere, whose coloring killed the green of the plant it held.
+But we have grown past this.  Now our light at eventide is shed through
+a simple, plain-colored shade of porcelain or of Japan paper and bamboo
+(if one cannot afford the plain or mosaic shades of opalescent glass),
+from an oil tank fitted into a bowl of hand-hammered brass or copper,
+or of pottery, of which there are so many beautiful pieces of American
+manufacture in dull greens, blues, browns, grays, and reds.  These
+lamps are not expensive--no more so than their onyx and brass
+forbears--and are quiet, restful, beneficent in their influence.
+Jardinieres we find in the same wares and colorings, which not only
+throw the plant into relief but tone in with the other decorations of a
+room in which nothing stands out distinct from its fellows, but all
+things work together for harmony.  Clocks no longer stare us out of
+countenance, but follow, in brass, copper, or rich, dark woods, the
+sturdy simplicity of their ancestor, the grandfather's clock, and so
+become worthy of the place of honor upon the mantel, where
+candlesticks, antique or modern, in brass or bronze, also find a
+congenial resting place.
+
+[Illustration: The drawing-room.]
+
+
+
+CONSIDERATIONS IN BUYING
+
+There are so many vases, jugs, bronzes, medallions, jars, and bowls
+that one must needs walk steadfastly to avoid buying just for the
+pleasure of it, whereas each piece must be chosen with reference to the
+place it is to occupy and to its associates.  Any piece of genuine
+Japanese art ware, of which Cloisonne is perhaps the best known; old or
+ancestral china; objects of historical interest; different examples of
+American pottery, among others the Grueby, Van Briggle, and Teco, with
+their soft, dull glazes, and the Rookwood with its brilliantly glazed
+rich, mellow browns, its delicately tinted dull Iris glaze, and other
+styles which are being brought out; Wedgwood with its cameo-like
+reliefs; the rainbow-tinted Favrile glass; the Copenhagen in dull blues
+and grays--all these embody, each in its individual way, the
+requirements of art bric-a-brac.
+
+But the brown Rookwood will overshadow the Copenhagen, and the
+multicolored Cloisonne will kill the Iris, and so each piece must have
+a congenial companion if any.  And above all, don't crowd!  Bric-a-brac
+needs breathing room, and individual beauty is lost in the jumbling
+together of many pieces in a heterogeneous maze of color, which
+confuses and wearies the eye.  All the fine-art product asks is to be
+let alone--a small boon to grant to so great worth.
+
+"Tip-overable" flower holders defeat their own ends--utility--but there
+are many which are well balanced and beautiful, too: tall, wide-mouthed
+cut, Bohemian, or more simple glass for long-stemmed roses, carnations,
+or daisies; brown Van Briggle, Grueby, or Rookwood bowls for
+nasturtiums, golden rod, and black-eyed Susans; green for hollyhocks,
+dull red for dahlias, gladioli, etc., flowers and receptacles thus
+forming a true color symphony.
+
+Parian and Carrara marble, immortally beautiful, we can but gaze at
+from afar, but masterpieces of the sculptor's chisel are ours at small
+cost in ivory-tinted plaster reproductions of the Venus de Milo, the
+Winged Victory, busts and medallions of famous personages, etc., which
+may with truth be called "art for art's sake."
+
+Dining-room bric-a-brac generally consists of whatever occupies the
+plate rail--an interesting array of plates, pitchers, bowls, jars, cups
+and saucers, steins, cider mugs, and tankards.  And here our cherished
+ancestral china finds a safe haven from which it surveys its young,
+modern descendants with benignant toleration.
+
+
+
+BOOKS
+
+A spirit of friendliness and companionship radiates from a good book--a
+geniality to be not only felt, but cultivated and enjoyed.  The
+friendship of man is sometimes short-lived and evanescent, but the
+friendship of books abideth ever.  Paraphrasing "Thanatopsis":
+
+      "For our gayer hours
+  They have a voice of gladness, and a smile
+  And eloquence of beauty, and they glide
+  Into our darker musings, with a mild
+  And healing sympathy, that steals away
+  Their sharpness, ere we are aware."
+
+Truly, a book for every mood, and a mood for every book,
+
+
+
+THEIR SELECTION
+
+The true measure of a book is not "How well does it entertain," but
+"How much help does it give in the daily struggle to overcome the bad
+with the good," and as one makes friends with muscle-giving authors the
+fancy for light-minded acquaintances among books gradually wears away.
+Although different tastes require special gratification in certain
+directions, yet some few books must have place in every well-balanced
+library.  First always, the Bible, with concordance complete for study
+purposes, a set of Shakespeare in small, easily handled volumes, a set
+of encyclopaedias, and a standard dictionary.  Then some of the best
+known poets--Milton, Spenser, Pope, Goldsmith, Burns, Wordsworth,
+Keats, Shelley, the Brownings, Byron, Homer, Dante, etc., with
+Longfellow, Riley, and some others of our best-loved American
+poets--for though we may not care for poetry we cannot afford to deny
+ourselves its elevating influence; standard histories of our own and
+other countries; familiar letters of great men which also mirror their
+times--Horace Walpole, Lord Macaulay, etc.; essays of Bacon, Addison,
+DeQuincey, Lamb, Irving, Emerson, Lowell, and Holmes; and certain works
+of fiction which have stood the test of time and criticism, with
+Dickens and Thackeray heading the list.  Indulgence in all the
+so-called "popular" novels of the day, like any other dissipation,
+profits nothing, and vitiates one's taste for good literature at the
+same time.  Therefore, hold fast that which is known to be good in
+novels, with here and there just a little spice of recent fiction; for
+man cannot live by spice alone, which causes a sort of mental dyspepsia
+which is very hard to overcome.
+
+
+
+SETS
+
+An appetite for "complete sets" is a perverted one which usually goes
+with a love for the shell of the book rather than its meat.  It is
+better far to prune out the obscure works and buy, a few at a time if
+necessary, the best known works of favorite authors, than to clutter up
+one's bookshelves with volumes which will never be opened.  Partial
+sets acquired in this way can be of uniform edition and gain in value
+from those which are left in the shop.
+
+
+
+BINDING
+
+Books, like our other friends, have an added attraction if tastily
+clothed.  Good cloth bindings, not too ornate or strong in color, are
+substantial and usually best for the home library.  Real leather
+bindings of morocco or pigskin are rich and suggestive of good food
+within, but imitation leather must join other domestic outcasts.
+Though it may look well at first it soon shows its quality of
+shabby-genteel.  Calf has deteriorated because of the modern quick
+method of tanning by the use of acids, which dries the skin and causes
+it to crack.  Books in party attire of white paper and parchment and
+very delicate colors are not good comrades, for the paper cover which
+must be put on to protect the binding is a nuisance, while without it
+"touch me not" seems to be written all over the book.  Our best book
+friends are not of this kind, but permit us to be on terms of friendly
+intimacy with them, receiving as their reward all due meed of courteous
+treatment.  There can be no true reverence for books in the heart of
+the vandal who leaves marks of disrespectful soiled fingers on their
+pages, turns down their leaves, and breaks their backs by laying them
+open, face down.
+
+
+
+PAPER
+
+Their paper should be of a good quality, not too heavy, and the type
+clear, both of which conditions usually obtain in an average-priced
+book.  Their housing has much to do with their preservation.  Dampness
+is, perhaps, their deadliest enemy, not only rotting and loosening the
+covers, but mildewing the leaves and taking out the "size" which gives
+them body.  An outside wall is always more or less damp, and for this
+reason the bookcase must stand out from it at least a foot, if it
+stands there at all, and preferably at right angles to it.  Dust is
+also an insidious enemy, from which, in very sooty, dirty localities,
+glass doors afford the best protection.  These must be left open
+occasionally to ventilate the case, for books must have air and light
+to keep them fresh and sweet and free from dampness, but not sun to
+fade their covers.  Intense artificial heat also affects them badly,
+wherefore, the upper part of the room being the hotter, cases should
+never be more than eight feet high, the use of window seat and other
+low cases having very decided advantages, apart from their decorative
+value.  Whatever the design of the case--and, of course, it must
+harmonize with the other wood of the room--its shelves must be easily
+adjustable to books of different heights, standing in compact rows and
+not half opened to become permanently warped and spoiled.  Varnished or
+painted shelves grow sticky with heat and form a strong attachment for
+their contents.  The bookcase curtain is useful more as a protection
+against dust than as an art adjunct, for there is nothing more
+delightful to the cultivated eye than the brave front presented by
+even, symmetrical rows of well-bound volumes, so suggestive of hours of
+profitable companionship.  All the books must be taken down frequently
+and first beaten separately, then in pairs, and dusted, top and covers,
+with a soft brush or a small feather duster.
+
+"The true University of these days is a Collection of Books," and one's
+education cannot begin too early.
+
+
+
+PICTURES
+
+So many homes combining taste and elegance and refinement in their
+furnishing, still impress one with the feeling that somewhere within
+the lute there is a rift which destroys its perfect harmony, and that
+rift is not far to seek--it lies in the pictures.  Cheap chromos,
+lithographs, and woodcuts have small excuse for being in these days of
+fine reproductions in photographs, photogravures, and engravings, and
+their presence in a home indicates not only a lopsided development of
+the artistic sense, but an indifference to that beauty of which art is
+but one of the expressions.  Happy, indeed, is the homemaker in
+realizing the necessity and privilege of growing up to the works of
+artists who have seen beauty where she would have been blind, and felt
+to a depth which she has not known; for in that realization lies the
+promise of ability to rise to the point where she will at last be able
+to feel as the artist felt when he wrought.
+
+
+
+ART SENSE
+
+Mrs. Lofty, who never has to stop to count the cost, loses the valuable
+art education which our housewife all unconsciously acquires in the
+months which necessarily pass between her picture purchases--months in
+which she has time to discover new beauties, fresh interest, deeper
+meaning, in those she already has.  All these new impressions she
+carries with her to the selection of her next treasure, and the result
+will probably be a choice of greater artistic merit than she would have
+been capable of making before.  So long as there is something in a
+picture which impresses her, the fact that she does not fully
+understand its underlying meaning need be no obstacle to its purchase;
+the light of comprehension will come.
+
+
+
+THE INFLUENCE OF PICTURES
+
+The picturing of the home should be undertaken in no light humor, for
+better no pictures at all than poor ones.  Little, trivial, meaningless
+nothings are like small talk--uninspiring and devitalizing--and
+therefore unprofitable; battle and other exciting scenes wear on the
+nerves; the constant presence of many persons is tiring in pictures as
+well as out; small figures and fine detail which cannot be
+distinguished across the room cause visual cramp; and the rearing horse
+which keeps one longing for the rockers cannot be called reposeful.
+Any picture in which one seeks in vain the rest and peace and quietude
+and inspiration which the home harmony demands, is but a travesty of
+art--domestically speaking.  There is probably nothing more rest-giving
+than the marine view, and next come the pretty pastoral and cool
+woodland scenes, while madonnas and other pictures of religious
+significance express their own worth--just a few choice, well-selected
+photographs, etchings, and engravings of agreeable subjects, with a
+painting or two; that's all we want.
+
+
+
+OIL PAINTINGS
+
+Really fine oils are costly, and no house can stand more than one or
+two at most, because of the impossibility of giving them the correct
+lighting and the distance they require, without which their best effect
+is lost.  Properly, an oil painting should be given a wall or even a
+whole room to itself, as water colors and colored prints seem
+colorless, and black-and-whites cold, by comparison.  The deep gold
+frame is its best setting.  Gold frames and mats are usually effective
+on colored pictures of any kind in bringing out certain colors, dark
+ones especially, though artists are growing to use wood frames filled
+to harmonize with and throw into relief some one tone in the picture,
+the mat taking the same color.  Gilt has no place on photographs,
+etchings, or engravings, their simple, flat frames of oak, birch,
+sycamore, etc., with their mats, if mats are used, toning with the
+gray, brown, or black of the picture.  Fantastically carved and
+decorated frames are things of the past, both frame and mat being now
+essentially a part of the picture and blending with it, while setting
+it off to the best advantage.  Passepartout is an inexpensive
+substitute for framing, particularly of small pictures, and is
+effectively employed with a properly colored mat and binding.  White
+mats are still in occasional use for water colors and for
+black-and-whites, but for photographs we find a more grateful warmth in
+following the tone of the picture.
+
+
+
+ENGRAVINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS
+
+Engravings and photogravures most satisfactorily reproduce paintings,
+as hand work always has more life than the photographic copy.  All
+reproductions, however, bring the works of world-famous artists within
+our reach, and enable us to be on intimate terms with the animals of
+Rosa Bonheur, the peasants of Millet, the portraits of Rembrandt,
+Rubens, Van Dyck, Sargent, and Gainsborough, the landscapes of Corot,
+Daubigny, Dupre, and Turner, and the madonnas of Raphael, Botticelli,
+Bodenhauser, and Correggio.  Amateur photography, with its soft pastel
+effects in black, green, white, red, and gray, is making rapid strides
+and doing much to advance the cause of art in the home.  The
+hand-colored photograph is acceptable if the coloring is true and
+rightly applied, while certain charming colored French prints, so like
+water colors as to be hardly distinguishable from them, have distinct
+worth.  Then there are the reproductions of our present-day
+illustrators, in both black-and-white and colors, and in which we seem
+to have a personal interest.  Originals are always costly and hard to
+get, the exception being the obscure but worthy artist whose fame and
+fortune are yet to be won.  The carved Florentine frame is a valuable
+setting for certain colored heads or painted medallions.
+
+
+
+SUITABILITY OF SUBJECTS
+
+Although any good picture may be hung with propriety in almost any of
+the first-floor rooms, heads of authors and pictures having historic
+and literary significance seem especially suggestive of the library;
+musicians and musical subjects of the music room, or wherever one's
+musical instruments may be; dignified subjects, such as cathedrals,
+with the game and animal pictures which used to hang in the dining
+room, of the hall; while we now picture our dining room with pretty
+landscapes or anything else cheery and attractive.  Family portraits,
+if we must have them, hang better in one's own room, but really their
+room is better than their company, as a rule.
+
+
+
+HANGING OF PICTURES
+
+As to hanging pictures, the main thing is to have them on a level with
+the eye, and each subject in a good light--dark for light parts of the
+room, light for dark.  Small pictures are most effective in groups,
+hung somewhat irregularly and compactly.  All pictures lie close to the
+wall, suspended by either gilt or silvered wire, whichever tones best
+with the wall decoration.  The use of two separate wires, each attached
+to its own hook, is preferable to the one wire, whose triangular effect
+is inharmonious with the horizontal and vertical lines of the room.
+Small pictures are best hung with their wires invisible, thus avoiding
+a network on the walls.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE NICE MACHINERY OF HOUSEKEEPING
+
+  "Solomon Grundy,
+  Born on Monday,
+  Christened on Tuesday,
+  Married on Wednesday,
+  Took ill on Thursday,
+  Worse on Friday,
+  Died on Saturday,
+  Buried on Sunday.
+  That's the end of
+  Solomon Grundy."
+
+This little tale serves to show how it simplifies life to have a time
+for everything and everything in its time.  System was probably a habit
+in the Grundy family, and was so bred in Solomon's bones that it never
+occurred to him that he could reverse the order observed by the Grundys
+for generations back and be married on Thursday, for instance.  And yet
+there is room for conjecture as to how much difference it might have
+made in his life if he had elected to contract an alliance on that day
+instead of a fatal illness.  System is a fine servant but a poor
+master.  Simply because custom has decreed that Monday shall be wash
+day, Tuesday ironing day, and so on, it does not necessarily follow
+that this programme must be strictly adhered to in every family, or
+that the schedule of the week's work, once made out, cannot be changed
+to meet the unexpected exigencies which are apt to arise.  To be sure,
+Monday as wash day has many points in its favor; but if it must be
+postponed until Tuesday, or the clothes have not dried well and the
+ironing has to go over into Wednesday, there is no reason why the whole
+domestic harmony should become "like sweet bells jangled, out of tune
+and harsh."  Although order is heaven's first law, it occasionally
+happens that it is better to break the law than to be broken by it.
+And so, when the young housekeeper's nicely arranged plans for each day
+in the week are suddenly turned topsy-turvy, let her take heart of
+grace, remembering that there are whole days that "ain't teched yet,"
+and begin again.
+
+
+
+MONDAY
+
+The chief objection to washing on Monday is that it necessitates
+sorting and putting the soiled linen to soak on Sunday, which not only
+violates the religious principles of many households, but shortens and
+spoils the flavor of the maid's free Sabbath evening.  Then, too, the
+sorting of the linen often reveals holes and rents which should
+properly be repaired before laundering increases the damage, and a
+Tuesday washing makes this possible, with the straightening out and
+readjustment generally necessary after Sunday.  On the other hand, the
+longer the linen remains unlaundered the more difficult it is to
+cleanse, with the risk that good drying days may tarry and the ironing
+thus linger along till the end of the week, which is inconvenient and
+bothersome all round.  Therefore it seems quite advisable for Mrs.
+Grundy to wash on Monday, and an occasional postponement until Tuesday
+will not then be a matter of any great moment.  The routine work of
+every day--the airing, brushing up, and dusting of the rooms, the
+preparation and serving of meals at their regular hours, the chamber
+work, dish-washing, in short, all the have-to-be-dones, must not, and
+need not, be interfered with by the special work which belongs to each
+day.  There are hours enough for both, and rest time, too, unless the
+housekeeper or maid be cut after the pattern of Chaucer's Sergeant of
+the Law:
+
+  "Nowher so bisy a man as he ther nas,
+  And yet he semed bisier than he was."
+
+Wash day is always somewhat of an ordeal, and a long pull, a strong
+pull, and a pull all together is necessary to carry it successfully
+through.  A simple breakfast will give the maid an opportunity to sort
+and put the clothes to soak, if this was not done the night previous,
+heat water for the washing, and perhaps prepare vegetables for the
+day's meals, before breakfast is served; and if her mistress lends a
+helping hand with the dishes, dusting, or other regular work of the
+day, she can go to her tubs just that much earlier.  Getting up in the
+wee sma' hours and working by early candle light is misdirected
+ambition.  The maid needs her rest to fit her for her day's labors, and
+washing well done requires the light of day.  Set the breakfast hour
+ahead half an hour and so gain a little extra time.  Foresight and
+extra planning on Saturday will provide certain left-overs from
+Sunday's meals which can be quickly and easily transformed into
+Monday's luncheon.  Dinner, too, should be a simple meal, but don't add
+to the other trials of the day cold comfort at meal time.  A
+smoking-hot dinner has a certain heartening influence to which we are
+all more or less susceptible.  The doors leading from the room in which
+the washing is done must be kept closed to exclude the steamy odor from
+the rest of the house, and the maid allowed to proceed with her work
+without interruption.  By eleven o'clock she will probably have reached
+a point where she can stop to prepare luncheon.  If the family is very
+small, she can frequently do not only the washing but considerable of
+the ironing as well on Monday, but that is crowding things a little too
+much.  After the washing is accomplished the line should be drawn at
+what _must_ be done, and nothing which is not absolutely necessary put
+into the few remaining hours of the day, for the maid's back and arms
+have had quite enough exercise for the time being.  If a laundress is
+employed, the cleaning of the kitchen floor and the laundry and the
+ironing should be about accomplished by night, unless it seems best to
+have her clean and do other extra work after the washing is finished.
+If the housewife is her own laundress, she must acquire the gentle art
+of letting things go on the hard days, for she cannot possibly be
+laundress, maid, and house-mother all in one, and her health and
+well-being are of prime importance.
+
+
+
+TUESDAY
+
+The washing being done on Monday, it naturally follows that Mrs. Grundy
+irons on Tuesday, after the regular routine work has been dispatched.
+The first thought is the fire, if the ironing is done by a coal range.
+After breakfast is prepared the fire box should be filled with coal to
+the top of the lining, and draughts opened, to be closed as soon as the
+surface coal begins to burn red, the top of the stove brushed off, and
+the irons set on to heat.  This is a good place to sandwich in a little
+baking, before the fire becomes too hot for cakes or delicate pastry.
+If the maid feels that she must devote this time to the preparation of
+vegetables, or to other work which is liable to interfere with her work
+later on, madam may choose to step into the breach and try her hand at
+sundry delectables for the ironing-day luncheon or dinner, both meals
+being as simple as consistent with comfort and health.  The ironing,
+once commenced, should continue uninterruptedly until time to prepare
+luncheon, when the irons are pushed back and the fire shaken or raked
+and replenished.  By this time the clothes bars should begin to take on
+a comfortable look of fullness.  It is well to keep them covered with
+cheesecloth as a protection from dust and soot and, in summer, fly
+specks.  If any frying is to be done, set the bars in another room
+until it is over and the kitchen thoroughly aired, otherwise the odor
+will cling to the clothes.  After luncheon the range is cleaned and the
+irons drawn forward to heat for the afternoon session; and by the time
+the table is cleared, dishes washed, and kitchen brushed up, both they
+and the maid are ready for the renewed onslaught.  Though it may
+occasionally run over into the next day, the average ironing ought to
+be completed during the afternoon and remain well spread out on the
+bars overnight to dry and air.  Tuesday, though a full day, is so clean
+and neat that there is no reason why the maid should not keep herself
+equally so and be ready to serve the table and attend the door without
+further preparation than slipping on her white apron--and cap, if she
+wears one.
+
+
+
+WEDNESDAY
+
+On Wednesday Mrs. Grundy mends and puts away the clean clothes and
+picks up some of the household stitches which had to be dropped on the
+two preceding days.  The kitchen must be put in order, the refrigerator
+must have its semiweekly cleaning, and the ashes which have accumulated
+in the stove removed, a new fire built, and the hearth washed.  While
+the oven is heating for the mid-week baking there are vestibules and
+porches to wash, walks to sweep, the cellar to investigate, and a dozen
+little odds and ends to attend to which, with the baking, make a busy
+morning.  The cleaning of silver dovetails nicely with the Wednesday
+work, and during the canning season the preserving of fruit can be done
+at this time with the least interference with the other work of the
+house, though when it becomes a case of the fruit being ripe, other
+work must give way for the nonce.  In short, Wednesday is the general
+weekly catch-all into which go all the odd jobs for which room cannot
+be found elsewhere.
+
+
+
+THURSDAY
+
+It is Mrs. Grundy's theory, strengthened by practical experience, that
+it is better to extend the weekly sweeping and cleaning over two days
+than to condense it all into one; and so Phyllis takes the bedroom
+cleaning as her special Thursday work, and armed with broom, dustpan,
+pail, and cleaning cloths, she ascends to the upper regions as soon as
+she has reduced the lower to their everyday nicety.  The daily brushing
+up with broom or carpet sweeper removes the surface dirt, but sweeping
+day means a good "digging out."  She commences operations by sweeping
+out the closet and wiping off the floor with a cloth wrung out of hot
+borax water.  Then she brushes down, rolls or folds all curtains and
+draperies, and fastens them up as near the pole as possible, perhaps
+slipping a case over each as a protection from the dust.  If the bed is
+hung with a valance, that, too, is pinned up.  All small toilet
+articles and knicknacks are dusted and placed on the bed, and covered
+with a dust sheet of coarse unbleached muslin, or calico; bowl,
+pitcher, and other crockery are washed and dried, inside and out, and
+placed in the closet, with dresser and stand covers, which have been
+shaken out of the window.  These, if soiled, are relegated to the
+clothes hamper, to be replaced by fresh ones.  Chairs and easily moved
+articles of furniture are dusted and set outside of the room.  If there
+is a fire the ashes are carefully removed and brushed from the stove;
+the windows are opened unless there is a strong wind, when they are
+opened a little after the cleaning is done, and the sweeping begins.
+
+The broom should be of about medium weight, held almost perpendicularly
+and passed over the carpet with a long, light stroke and steady
+pressure which will not scatter the dirt, and turned every few strokes
+that both sides may receive equal wear.  Steps can be saved by sweeping
+to a central point, going with the nap of the carpet, never against it,
+taking special care to dislodge the dust which gathers between the
+edges of the carpet and the baseboard.  Shreds of dampened paper, or
+damp bran scattered over the carpet facilitate its cleaning; or in lieu
+of these the broom may be wet and shaken as free from water as possible
+before using.  Any method of keeping down the dust saves much cleaning
+of woodwork, walls, and pictures.  Rugs are swept in the same way as
+carpets.  After they are cleaned the edges are turned up and the bare
+floor gone over with a long-handled hair brush, or with a broom covered
+with a Canton-flannel bag.  If the floor is painted, follow the duster
+with a damp cloth; if hardwood, rub well with a flannel slightly
+moistened with crude oil and turpentine.  Small rugs are taken out of
+doors and shaken or beaten.  They must be held by the sides, never by
+the ends.  Matting should be swept with a soft broom and wiped over
+with a damp cloth, using as little water as possible, and no soap,
+which stains and discolors it.  Rubbing with a cloth wrung out of hot
+water will usually take out the spots which the regular cleaning has
+failed to remove, while grease spots yield to the application of a thin
+paste of fuller's earth left for three days and then brushed off.
+Rooms not in daily use do not need a thorough sweeping oftener than
+every two weeks, a whisk broom and carpet sweeper sufficing between
+times.
+
+While the dust is settling put a fresh bag or a clean, soft duster on
+the broom and brush off ceiling and walls, using a straight downward
+stroke for the latter.  The cloth must be renewed when it becomes
+soiled.  A long-handled feather duster is handy for cleaning moldings
+and cornices.  This, by the way, is the only legitimate use to which a
+feather duster can be put, in addition to dusting books and the backs
+and wires of pictures.  Instead of taking up the dust, it simply sets
+it free to settle elsewhere, making a lingering trouble, long drawn
+out; for though one may whisk around with it and then enjoy the
+conscious virtue which comes with having "one more thing out of the
+way," the complacency is short-lived and the cheesecloth duster finally
+has to come to the rescue.  All dusters should be hemmed, otherwise the
+ravelings are apt to catch and pull down the bric-a-brac.  After the
+walls Phyllis dusts the woodwork and goes over it with a clean, damp
+cloth, not omitting doorknobs, and looking out for finger marks in
+likely places.  If these are stubborn, a little kerosene in the
+cleaning water will help on the good work.  She brushes and wipes off
+the window casings and gas fixtures, dusts and replaces the furniture,
+polishes the mirrors, and washes the windows the last thing, provided
+the sun is not shining on them at this time.  If so, the work will have
+to be deferred and slipped in with special work of some other time.  In
+localities where there is little smoke the weekly washing may be
+dispensed with, dusting off each pane with a soft cloth being all that
+is necessary.  In freezing weather this is the only cleaning possible,
+though if the glass is much soiled it can be gone over with a sponge
+wet with alcohol; or with whiting mixed with diluted alcohol or
+ammonia, followed by much the same rubbing process employed in cleaning
+silver, with a final polishing with soft paper, tissue preferably,
+which gives the finest possible shine to any vitreous surface.  If
+there are inside or outside blinds, they must be well brushed, and
+casings and sills which are much soiled washed, before the glass is
+cleaned.  The requirements for successful window cleaning are a third
+of a pail of hot water containing a little ammonia or borax, plenty of
+clean, soft cloths free from lint, a complete absence of soap, and a
+decided presence of energy--aye, there's the rub!  The less water used
+the better.  Instead of allowing it to run down in tears, squeeze the
+cloth out nearly dry, going quickly over one pane at a time, following
+immediately with a dry cloth, and then polishing.  Wrap the cleaning
+cloth around a skewer and go into the corners and around the edges of
+the glass.  Nothing is more productive of distorted vision than looking
+through a glass darkly.  Wherefore, for the sake of the mental as well
+as the physical eye, see that Phyllis's window cleaning is a success.
+
+After the bedrooms are in order the halls and passages on the same
+floor, and the bathroom, are swept and cleaned.
+
+
+
+FRIDAY
+
+On Friday Mrs. Grundy's living rooms and first-floor halls are treated
+to their weekly renovation, which is similar to that which the bedrooms
+receive, only there is more of it.  The preparation of the drawing-room
+for sweeping is more elaborate, containing, as it does, more pieces of
+furniture and bric-a-brac to be cared for.  All movable pieces are
+dusted and taken from the room.  Upholstered furniture must be well
+brushed, going down into the tufts and puffs with a pointed brush
+similar to that used by painters, and pieces which are too large to
+move covered with a dust sheet.  A vigorous brushing with a whisk broom
+will be necessary around the edges of the carpet, in the corners, and
+under the heavy furniture.  Mirrors must be polished, glasses, frames,
+backs, and wires of pictures wiped off, and fancy carving which the
+duster will not reach cleaned out with a soft brush.
+
+If the room contains a marble mantel, it can be cleaned with sapolio or
+almost any good scouring powder, and tiles washed with soap and water.
+The fireplace should be cleaned out before the sweeping is done, and
+the hearth brushed, with a bath afterwards.  Brass trimmings and
+utensils in use about the grate can be easily kept clean by rubbing
+first with kerosene and then with red pomade; but if neglected and
+allowed to become tarnished, it is somewhat of an undertaking to
+restore them to their pristine brightness.  In an extreme case rub with
+vinegar and salt, wash off quickly, and follow with some good polish.
+Results obtained in this way are not lasting, and the vinegar and salt
+should be resorted to only after other well-tried means have failed.
+Another home cure for tarnished brass and other metals is a mixture of
+whiting, four pounds; cream of tartar, one quarter pound; and
+calcinated magnesia, three ounces.  Apply with a damp cloth.
+
+The dust will settle while the brasses are being cleaned, and then the
+carpet or rug should be brushed over a second time, lightly, and may be
+brightened once a month or so by rubbing, a small space at a time, with
+a stiff scrubbing brush dipped in ammonia water--two tablespoons of
+ammonia to a gallon of water--and then quickly wiping over with a dry
+cloth.  The chandeliers and gas fixtures should be wiped with a cloth
+wrung from weak suds, the globes dusted or washed as required, and a
+doubled coarse thread drawn back and forth through the gas tips, if gas
+is in use.  Registers should be wiped out and dusted every sweeping day
+to prevent the accumulation of dust.  All woodwork, if painted, is
+dusted and then wiped down with a damp cloth; if hardwood, use the
+crude oil and turpentine, going into grooves and corners with a skewer,
+and rub hard with a second clean flannel.  Hardwood floors receive the
+same treatment after being swept, and it is a good plan to go over all
+the furniture in the same way to preserve the life and fine finish of
+the wood, but it is imperative that the wood be rubbed _absolutely dry_.
+
+When the windows have been washed, furniture replaced, and everything
+is in apple-pie order in the drawing-room, each of the remaining rooms
+is cleaned in like manner, ending with the hall, where each stair is
+brushed with a whisk broom into the dust pan, and carpet, walls,
+ceiling, and woodwork attended to as in the other rooms.  The dusting
+cloths and broom bags should go regularly into the weekly wash.  It is
+far better to do one room complete at a time than to have a whole floor
+torn up at once.  Just because it is sweeping day is no reason for
+turning the family into a whole flock of Noah's doves, with no place
+for the soles of their feet.  It is very easy to transform black Friday
+into good Friday by a little judicious manipulation of the household
+helm.  The cleaning, in addition to the routine work, is about all
+Friday can hold, without crowding.  A few anxious thoughts for the
+morrow's baking will provide all things necessary to it, so there will
+be no delay about commencing it; for--
+
+
+
+SATURDAY
+
+Saturday Mrs. Grundy devotes to providing for the wants of the inner
+man.  The heaviest part of the day's work is the preparation of food
+for two or three days.  Then the refrigerator must have its second
+cleaning, and the pantry, too, probably requires renovating by this
+time.  Entries must be cleaned, a second tour of inspection of the
+cellar made, and the house put in trim for the "day that comes betwixt
+a Saturday and Monday."
+
+
+
+HOUSE CLEANING
+
+This is not the domestic bugbear it used to be, when one mighty spasm
+of cleanliness shook the house from garret to cellar and threw its
+inmates into a fever of discomfort and dismay.  The modern
+house-cleaning season is one of indolence and ease compared with what
+it once was, when not only the cleaning and living problem, but the man
+problem as well, had to be solved; when the master sighed for a spot in
+some vast wilderness, vaguely wondering, as he dined lunch-counter
+fashion and then gingerly wound his weary way through a labyrinth of
+furniture, boxes, and rolls of carpet to his humble couch set up behind
+the piano or in some other unlikely place, if marriage were a failure,
+while contact with the business end of a tack gave point to his
+thoughts.  No, indeed!  The spring and autumn of his discontent are
+made glorious summer now by the more civilized system which, beginning
+at the attic and working downward, cleans one room, or perhaps two at a
+time, as a day's work, restoring everything to order before a new
+attack is made.
+
+
+
+PREPARATION
+
+The task of cleaning a house in which the regular work is
+systematically carried on is not so very arduous, and follows the
+general plan of the weekly cleaning.  Before the real work begins have
+a general overhauling and weeding out of cubbies, boxes, and trunks,
+scrub out drawers and reline with clean paper, and clean
+clothespresses, wardrobes, and closets.  In the spring, there will be
+furs and flannels to shake, brush, and put away, and in the fall,
+summer clothing.  Before the spring cleaning the stoves must be taken
+down and cleaned out, stovepipes cleaned and rubbed with boiled oil to
+prevent rust, and both put away in the attic.  Chimneys, too, must be
+cleaned, and if the heating is by furnace, it should be put in order
+and all its parts swept free from soot, covering the registers during
+the operation.  This is better done in the spring so the summer winds
+cannot scatter the dust and soot through the house.  The supply of coal
+and wood for the ensuing year should be put into the cellar, and then
+the preliminaries are over.  The fall cleaning must be delayed until
+the canning and pickling are all done, and the "busy, curious, thirsty
+fly" is pretty well extinct.  Now is the best time for painting,
+whitewashing, papering, and other decorating and repairing.  If done in
+the spring, its freshness is bound to be more or less spoiled by
+insects during the summer, be as careful as one may.
+
+
+
+CLEANING DRAPERIES, RUGS, CARPETS
+
+The first step in the real cleaning is to take down draperies, shake
+well, hang out on the line, right side under, and beat out the dust
+with a dog- or riding-whip.  Follow with a hard brushing on the wrong
+side and wipe down quickly with a damp cloth, following the nap, if
+there is one.  Lace and muslin curtains are repaired, if necessary, and
+laundered, or sent to the cleaner.  If only slightly soiled, they can
+be freshened by folding, after shaking, and sprinkling all the folds
+thickly with magnesia.  Let this remain three or four days and then
+brush out thoroughly.  Next rugs and carpets come out and are well
+swept on both sides, then hung on the line and beaten with a flail--one
+of two feet of rubber hose partially slipped over a round stick and
+split lengthwise into four parts, being the best--until no vestige of
+dust remains.  Heavy carpets, Brussels, velvets, Wiltons, Axminsters,
+and Moquettes, need not be lifted oftener than every two or three
+years, unless the presence of moths about bindings, corners, or seams
+is detected, when they must come up at once.  The ravage of moths can
+be prevented by drawing the tacks occasionally, turning back the edge
+of the carpet half a yard or so, laying a cloth wrung out of hot water
+on the wrong side, and pressing with a very hot iron, holding the iron
+on until the cloth is dry and then moving on until all the edges are
+thoroughly steamed and dried.  This will not injure the carpet and
+kills the eggs and larvae.  Follow this up by washing the floor with
+hot borax water, dry thoroughly, sprinkle with black pepper, and retack
+the carpet.  Sometimes small pieces of cotton batting dipped in
+turpentine and slipped under the edges of the carpet will keep the
+moths away.  If there are cracks at the juncture of baseboard and
+floor, pour in benzine and fill with plaster of Paris.  Three-ply or
+ingrain carpets can be steamed and ironed without removing the tacks.
+
+
+
+CLEANING MATTINGS AND WOODWORK
+
+Mattings must be lifted, shaken, swept, wiped off with a cloth dampened
+in borax water, and left on the lawn to sun.  No soap should be used on
+linoleum, and but little water.  Clean by rubbing with a damp cloth
+till no soil comes off, and polish with a very little linseed oil.  All
+upholstered furniture should be taken out, covered with a cloth, and
+thoroughly beaten with a rattan, shaking the cloth as it becomes dusty.
+Before rugs and carpets go down, walls, woodwork, and floors are
+cleaned.  Walls, if painted, are washed with hot water containing a
+little kerosene, a square yard at a time, which is dried before moving
+on to the next area.  Rubbing down with the inside of the crust of
+bread a day old will clean papered walls.  Painted woodwork is best
+cleaned with whiting mixed to a thick cream with cold water, rubbed on
+with a cloth wrung out of hot water, following the grain of the wood.
+Wash off the whiting with a second cloth, rub dry, and polish with
+flannel.  Painted walls may also be treated in this way, beginning at
+the top and working down.  If soap is preferred, use the suds, rubbing
+the soap itself only on very much soiled spots.  Kerosene in the water
+obviates the necessity for soap.  Enameled paint requires only a cloth
+wrung out of hot water, followed by a rubbing with a dry cloth.  Avoid
+using water on hardwood, boiled oil or turpentine and oil being best
+for woodwork and floors.  Now is the time to scrub floors, if pine,
+with hot borax suds, and to rewax or varnish hardwood floors if they
+require it.
+
+
+
+CLEANING BEDS
+
+Beds come to pieces and go out of doors, where the slats are washed
+with carbolic-acid water, and springs and woodwork thoroughly brushed
+and sprinkled with corrosive sublimate and alcohol, if traces of bugs
+are found.  If the beds are enameled, they are washed entire, with the
+exception of the brass trimmings, with hot water and ammonia, and wiped
+dry.  Bedclothes, mattresses, and pillows are hung out and sunned,
+mattresses and pillows both beaten, and the former carefully brushed,
+going into each tuft and crevice.  Shades which have become soiled at
+the bottom can be reversed.  House cleaning is not an unmixed joy, but
+if done systematically, one room at a time, it is soon accomplished and
+becomes a part of that biography which all housekeeping is at last--a
+biography which should be written in characters of gold, its pages
+richly illumined with crosses, and palms, and laurels, and at its end a
+jeweled crown bearing the inscription:
+
+  "She hath done what she couldn't!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+HIRED HELP
+
+The difficulty of dealing with the subject of hired help is about as
+great as the dealing with the help herself, who is so often not a help
+at all.  The appellation is the one insisted upon by the great
+unorganized union of the "household tramp," whose pride cannot endure
+the stigma implied in the name "servant," and who has never learned
+that we, in all walks of life, are more or less servants--servants of
+Fame, or Ambition, or Duty, or Country, or Business.  The maid who gave
+notice on the spot because she was introduced by the daughter of the
+house to her mother as "your new servant," seems to be the incarnation
+of that spirit of independence which is loosening the very foundations
+of our national structure.  England has servants; Germany has servants,
+but America has help.  Let us then, like Agag of old, walk delicately,
+remembering that help, by any other name, is even more surrounded by
+thorns.
+
+
+
+THE GENERAL HOUSEMAID
+
+It is almost impossible to get a competent girl for general housework
+these days, and viewed in the light of past experiences with the able
+but unwilling, the willing but unable, the stupid, the dishonest, the
+ignorant servant within our gates, with the very occasional good genius
+of the kitchen to leaven the lump of incompetency, we are sorely
+tempted to give up the struggle and do our own work, feeling that the
+time and strength so consumed are more than compensated for by the
+peace of mind which comes with the cessation of hostilities.  But after
+a breathing spell we are generally ready for another joust, and the
+struggle goes on as of yore.  Shops and factories have greatly reduced
+the supply of servants, and of these so many specialize as cooks,
+waitresses, and nurses that we really have a very small choice when
+seeking an all-round maid--one who has some knowledge and experience of
+the different branches of housecraft.  And right here we encounter
+another difficulty: ways of living and methods of household management
+are so diverse that a girl might be considered competent by one
+mistress and entirely the reverse by another.  Our servants are more or
+less as we make them, and it is frequently the case that the mistress
+herself needs a course of instruction before she is capable of rightly
+instructing her maid--a course which shall embrace not only
+housewifery, but the cultivation of self-command, patience, wisdom,
+consideration, and that power which comes only with knowledge.  The raw
+foreigner with whom she often has to deal is so entirely ignorant of
+life as we know it; her training in field and peasant's cottage has in
+no way prepared her for the refined home with its dainty furnishings
+and food, and the difficulty of understanding and being understood adds
+to the perplexities of the slow and undeveloped mind.  Such a servant
+is really nothing but a child, so far as her faculties are concerned,
+and should be treated as one until experience and training shall enable
+her to put away childish things.  Like most children, she is an
+imitator; let it be our care that we set only a worthy example before
+her.  She is quick to recognize inconsistency or unfairness, and to
+seize an opportunity to get the upper hand.  Try to treat her with a
+firmness which is not arbitrary, and a kindness and consideration which
+are not familiarity.  Make her feel that she is an entity, a person of
+place and importance in making home comfort, and a good bit of that
+subtle antagonism which seems to exist between mistress and maid will
+be gradually smoothed away.  Don't wonder if she has the blues
+occasionally; you have them yourself.  Don't be worried if she is a
+trifle slow; help her to systematize and so shorten her labors.  If she
+cracks and breaks your dishes show her how to handle and care for them,
+with a timely word about avoiding undue haste.  If she wants to do
+certain things in her own way, let her, provided it is not a bad way,
+until you can prove to her that yours is better.  You know there are
+other ways than yours--good ones, too.  Study her as you would a
+refractory engine; if she runs off the track, or doesn't run at all, or
+has a hotbox or any other creature failing learn the cause and remedy
+it if you can.  She is human, like yourself, and young too, probably,
+and needs diversion.  Don't begrudge it to her when it is of the right
+kind.  Like you, she needs rest occasionally, between whiles; make an
+opportunity for it.  She needs good strengthening food; see that she
+has it, and if she prefers plain living and high thinking on bread and
+tea, that's her own lookout.  She probably will have strong leanings
+toward the jam closet; lock the door and keep the key, and leave no
+money, jewelry, or other valuables carelessly about to tempt her,
+perhaps beyond her strength.  Don't be overnice in your exactions; if
+she is even a fairly good cook, waitress, and laundress, you are indeed
+blessed among women.  Give judicious praise or kindly criticism where
+due; sometimes a warning in time will save nine blunders.  While she is
+under your roof and a member of your family you are in a measure
+responsible for her welfare, moral, spiritual, and physical, and are
+her natural and lawful protector.  She may neither need nor want your
+protection, but let her feel that it is there, none the less.
+
+
+
+HOW TO SELECT A MAID
+
+And now, how shall we find this person to assist us in making domestic
+life "one grand, sweet song"--we hope!  The usual way is to apply to a
+reputable agency where you will find the better class of girls and be
+dealt with honestly.  An agency of this kind usually keeps on file the
+references of girls offering themselves for service, which will give
+you at least some idea of the qualifications of the maid you may
+engage.  Many housekeepers advertise in the daily papers or trades
+journals, the advertisement being a concise statement of the location,
+whether city or country, the kind of service expected, and the wages
+paid.  A third and usually most satisfactory way of obtaining help is
+through some friend, who can back her recommendation with a guarantee.
+Having entered your application, decide upon your plan of action in the
+interview which will take place when Dame Maid presents herself for the
+mutual inspection--mutual because, though 'tis not hers to "reason
+why," she has a perfect right to know what awaits her.  This
+cross-examination is somewhat of an ordeal, especially to the novice in
+the servant-hiring business.  It is essential for the housekeeper to
+know just what questions to put to the applicant, what questions to
+look for in return, what to tell her of the household regime and of her
+individual part in it; in short, she must know her ground and then
+stand on it--it is hardly necessary to add, with decision and dignity.
+The applicant's personal appearance tells something of what she is: if
+slovenly, her work would be ditto; if flashy, with cheap finery and
+gew-gaws--well, she may be honest and reliable, but she may also make
+it difficult for you to be mistress in your own house.  Be a little
+wary of the middle-aged servant; if she is really desirable, she is not
+apt to be casting about for a position, and besides, she is usually
+"sot" in her ways.  The fact of a girl's looking sullen or morose
+should not militate against her--she may be only shy or embarrassed.
+If she is impertinent--maybe her former mistress "talked back," or made
+too great an equal of her.  Anyway, be your own ladylike self and she
+will probably fall in line.  The quiet, steady-looking girl who evinces
+a willingness to learn is apt to be a safe investment.
+
+
+
+QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
+
+Question her about her housework experience, her ability to do plain
+cooking and baking, make beds, serve, wash, and iron.  She cannot
+possibly be an expert along each of these lines, perhaps not on one
+even, but a general working knowledge of all is very desirable.  Have a
+complete understanding with her at the outset regarding her work,
+wages, hours of work and of leisure, and breakages.  Don't try to put
+the best foot forward, though there is no particular harm in pointing
+out the special advantages she would enjoy in your home, but give her a
+frank and honest statement of what she may expect.  If she asks you, as
+she no doubt will, if you have much company, say so, if you have, but
+add that you will relieve her as much as you can of the extra work
+entailed.  And don't resent her asking about the size of your family,
+and about her room, for she would naturally be interested in both.  A
+complete understanding at every point may save considerable future
+trouble.  The question of a uniform may come up during your talk.  Some
+girls absolutely refuse to don anything which looks to them like a
+badge of servitude; if this happens, let it go, because you know it is
+not an absolute essential.  At the close of the conference ask for
+references.  No mistress is obliged to give a reference to her
+departing servant, but if she does so it ought, in all conscience, to
+be an honest one.  It is a deplorable fact that many housekeepers,
+either in a desire to be magnanimous, or to avoid a scene or annoyance,
+give utterly undeserved recommendations, thus opening the way for other
+reigns of terror which a little personal application of
+do-as-you-would-be-done-by could have prevented.  Investigate these
+references, either in person or by letter; otherwise you may discover
+later on that they were forged by the girl herself or by some of her
+accommodating friends.
+
+
+
+AGREEMENTS
+
+The term of service is determined by an agreement between mistress and
+maid.  The usual custom is to take the applicant for a week's trial;
+if, at the expiration of that time, both are satisfied, the arrangement
+continues from week to week, if the payments are weekly.  In households
+in which monthly payments are preferred the maid is hired by the month.
+The agreement entered into is nothing more nor less than a legal
+contract, and not to be lightly violated.  When serving by the week the
+maid is entitled to, and must also give, three days' notice; when by
+the month a week's notice is required, or if for any reason her
+mistress wishes her to leave at once, she may pay her one week's wages.
+If the maid leaves suddenly and without giving notice, in the middle of
+her term, she forfeits all claim to wages which have accrued since her
+last payment.  If discharged unjustly and without sufficient cause
+before the expiration of her term, she is entitled to her wages in
+full; but if discharged without notice because of intoxication,
+immorality, dishonesty, arrant disobedience, or permanent incapacity
+from illness, she can claim nothing.  It is customary with some
+housekeepers to start the new maid on a comparatively low salary, with
+the promise of an increase of perhaps fifty cents per month, in case
+she proves herself worthy, till the maximum is reached.  This is often
+an incentive to good service.
+
+
+
+THE MAID'S LEISURE TIME
+
+Her times of leisure vary somewhat, according to circumstances; but one
+week-day afternoon and evening, and Sunday afternoon and evening of
+each week are usually allowed her, though she may be given only every
+other Sunday.  If an extra evening can be given her, all well and good.
+The maid should be able to count on getting away at a certain hour so
+she can arrange to meet her friends; and she must also understand that
+ten o'clock is to see her in the house, that hour being as late as any
+girl ought to be out.  In homes which employ two maids equal privileges
+are granted each, one assuming the work of the other during her
+absence.  It is a simple matter to arrange for light meals on the
+cook's day out, and to minimize the serving when the waitress is to be
+away.  When night dinner is the custom and but one maid employed, she
+either goes from ten until four, leaving her mistress to prepare
+luncheon, or else, if she is away over the dinner hour, the meals are
+shifted, with dinner at noon and tea at night.  She leaves on Sunday
+immediately after the dinner work is done and does not return to
+prepare tea.  If she prefers to spend her leisure time quietly at home
+reading or sewing, she should be encouraged to do so and not be forced
+to go out in self-defense to escape calls for extra work at that time.
+The mistress has no claim on her maid's "off" hours.
+
+
+
+DRESS AND PERSONAL NEATNESS
+
+The maid's uniform consists of three print gowns, with a gingham apron
+for morning wear, and for afternoons a white apron with white collar or
+kerchief and cuffs, cap, or whatever additional touches her mistress
+may prefer.  The maid usually buys her own gowns, while her mistress
+provides the accessories, which remain her property when the maid
+leaves.  The afternoon dress of one week becomes the morning dress of
+the following.  Black is frequently adopted for afternoon wear, but
+whatever the dress, insist upon its being washable; woolens absorb
+odors and perspiration and in time make not only her person but her
+room offensive.  Issue an edict against frowzy pompadours and
+"frizzes," pointing out the necessity for having smooth, neat hair,
+particularly in the kitchen.  Require her to bathe regularly.  The
+question of allowing the maid to use the bathroom must be settled
+individually.  If she is careful about cleaning the tub and leaving
+things in good order, there seems to be no reason why she, who so needs
+them, should be deprived of advantages for cleanliness which the rest
+of us enjoy.  "Standing on one foot in a slippery washbowl," footbath,
+or even larger tub, is a poor substitute.  Instruct her about arranging
+her clothing at night so it will air.  You may even find, if she is a
+just-over foreigner, that you will have to introduce her to the
+nightdress--such things have happened--explaining to her the
+undesirability of sleeping in underclothing which she has worn all day.
+
+
+
+CARELESSNESS
+
+If a girl is habitually careless about handling the dishes, and breaks,
+nicks, and cracks result, hold her responsible and deduct from her
+wages what you consider a fair equivalent for the loss.  Such a course
+is astonishingly curative sometimes.  The painstaking, careful girl
+seldom injures anything, and the occasional accident may be overlooked.
+Before your new maid arrives write out an itemized list of all
+crockery, silver, glass, and table linen which are to be in constant
+use, designating those which are defaced in any way, and go over it
+with her every week, holding her responsible for any damaged or missing
+articles.
+
+
+
+THE MAID'S ROOM
+
+Remove from the servant's room all traces of its last occupant, and put
+it in order for the new maid, with the bed freshly made up with clean
+blankets, linen, and spread.  The room should be comfortably furnished
+with a single enameled bed--the plainer the better and more easily
+cleaned--an inexpensive dresser and washstand, the bowl, pitcher, etc.,
+for the latter preferably of the white porcelain enamel ware, a
+comfortable high-backed rocker, and one common cane-seated chair.  A
+pair of plain white muslin or scrim curtains draped back with a band of
+the same, and plain white covers on washstand and dresser impart a
+certain air of dainty hominess.  A cheap set of hanging shelves for
+books and clock would be a welcome addition.  Walls and floor should be
+painted, and a colonial rug placed before the bed.  Don't give the
+servant's room the look of a perpetual rummage sale by making it a
+dumping ground for old defaced pictures, furniture, and bric-a-brac.
+Remember that it is her only haven of rest, and have it restful, if
+only for selfish reasons, for renewed bodily vigor means well-done work
+and a made-over disposition.  When we think of the average servant's
+room, small, stuffy, poorly ventilated, hot in summer, cold in winter,
+and unattractive to a degree, it ought to bring a blush of shame.
+Above all, see that the bed is comfortable; for who can blame a tired
+girl for getting out on the "wrong side" of a bed so hard and lumpy
+that it surely must rise and smite her!  Place on the woven wire spring
+a good mattress either all cotton, or of straw with cotton top and
+bottom.  Over this spread one of the washable pads which come for the
+purpose, then the sheets--unbleached if one prefers--the inexpensive
+colored blankets, and a honeycomb spread.  One feather pillow of
+average size will be sufficient.  When two servants occupy a room two
+single beds should be provided.  If there is no closet, make a
+temporary one by means of a shelf and curtain.  An attractive room
+carries with it a subtle and refining influence.
+
+
+
+HOW TO TRAIN A MAID
+
+"Set thine house in order," and have everything--pantry and kitchen in
+particular--as you expect your maid to keep it.  First impressions are
+truly the most lasting, and if she comes into a littered, soiled,
+untidy kingdom, you may expect her reign to be proportionally lax and
+her respect for your housekeeping abilities conspicuously absent.  This
+is a bad beginning, and then it is not exactly fair to set her to work
+the very first thing to bring order from chaos.  See that she has all
+the tools necessary to her work, replacing broken or useless utensils
+and assuring yourself that the cutlery and crockery for her individual
+table use are whole and inviting.  Show the maid to her room as soon as
+she arrives, with instructions to don her working garb; and then begins
+the induction into office, a trying experience to you both, and one
+which should be sufficiently prolonged to enable her to get a good grip
+of each new duty as it presents itself.  Avoid confusing her at the
+start with a jumble of instructions, but make haste slowly, giving
+directions in a way which she can understand.  Introduce her into her
+workroom, explain the range and show her how to operate it, point out
+the different utensils and their uses and where foods are kept.  If she
+comes in the morning, her first duty will be the preparation of
+luncheon; give her instructions for that meal, what to have, and how to
+set the table, this being the proper time to go over the list of table
+furnishings with her.  Don't embarrass her by being continually at her
+heels, but give what directions you think necessary and then let her
+apply her judgment and previous experience to carrying them out.  If
+you find that she has neither, don't be discouraged, for you may be
+entertaining an angel unawares, but adopt the line upon line, precept
+upon precept plan, and the situation will slowly but surely brighten.
+If she is overstupid in one direction, she may be bright enough in some
+other to establish a balance.  Luncheon and its dishes disposed of,
+arrange with her about dinner, and after its completion speak about her
+hour of rising, the preparation of breakfast, etc.  And the morning and
+the evening were the first day!
+
+
+
+THE DAILY ROUTINE
+
+The day's routine of work varies in different households and makes it
+impossible for one to offer an infallible system.  The keeping of but
+one servant does not admit of an elaborate mode of living, and on the
+days on which the heaviest work--washing and ironing--falls, madam
+would do well to assume considerable of the regular work herself, the
+care of bedrooms, dusting and putting to rights of living and dining
+rooms, preparation of lunch, and whatever else seems best.  All of the
+hardest work should be done in the morning, before the first freshness
+of maid and day is worn away.  After you have established a
+satisfactory schedule abide by it and oblige your maid to do the same.
+It soon becomes automatic and is, therefore, accomplished with less
+exhaustion of mind and body.  The regular day's work is about as
+follows: The maid rises an hour or an hour and a half before the
+breakfast hour, throws open her bed and window, and goes to the
+kitchen, where she starts the fire (if a coal range is used), fills and
+puts on the teakettle, and puts the cereal on to cook.  Then she airs
+out dining and living rooms and hall, brushes up any litter, wipes off
+bare floors, dusts, closes windows, opens furnace drafts or looks after
+stoves, and, leaving tidiness in her wake, sets the table and completes
+the preparations for breakfast.  The amount of work she can accomplish
+before it is served depends upon herself and upon how elaborate the
+meal may be.  After the main part of the breakfast has been served she
+may be excused from the dining room, and takes this time to open
+bedroom windows and empty slops, after which she has her own breakfast.
+When the breakfast table has been cleared, the dining room set to
+rights, food taken care of, and utensils put to soak, the mistress
+inspects pantry and refrigerator, offers suggestions for the disposal
+of left-overs, arranges with the maid for the day's meals, and makes
+out the list for grocer and butcher, adding whatever she thinks best to
+the list of needed staples already prepared by the maid--tea, sugar,
+soap, etc.  Never leave the entire ordering of supplies to the maid,
+her part being simply to jot down on a pad hung in the kitchen for that
+purpose a memorandum of such things as need replenishing.  When the
+conference is ended the maid washes the dishes, puts kitchen and pantry
+in order, fills and cleans lamps, prepares dishes which require slow
+cooking, makes the beds--unless her mistress prefers to do this
+herself--and tidies up bed- and bathrooms.  If the living rooms were
+not dusted before breakfast, she attends to it now, perhaps sweeping
+front porch and steps, and is then ready for the extra work of the day,
+the cleaning of silver, washing of windows, etc.  When the after-lunch
+work is disposed of she will probably have an hour or two to herself
+before it is time to begin preparations for dinner.  She should not be
+interrupted in her work for this, that, or the other, but allowed to go
+on with it according to schedule.
+
+She usually attends the door except on wash day or during extra stress
+of work.  She will, perhaps, object to doing so when her mistress is at
+home, and may need instruction about slipping on a clean white apron,
+greeting a caller with civility, presenting a small tray for her card,
+etc.  Initiating her into the mysteries of setting and serving the
+table may be a long operation, for the good waitress is usually born,
+not made.  But don't be too exacting; remember that she is not a
+specialist and arrange the flowers and add other nice touches yourself,
+and dispense with elaborateness of serving.  Teach her to economize
+time by washing dishes between courses when her presence is not
+required in the dining room, and insist upon having meals served at
+stated hours, being careful that your family respond to the summons to
+the table with corresponding punctuality.
+
+
+
+DUTIES OF COOK AND NURSE
+
+Each additional servant complicates the planning of the work.  When
+there are two they are usually cook and waitress, the former having
+entire charge of her own special domain, the kitchen, with all that
+pertains to it, except, perhaps, the preparation of salads and the
+washing of glass, silver, and fine dishes.  She does the heavier part
+of the laundry work and some part of the sweeping, washes windows,
+takes charge of cellar and pantry, or does such other work as her
+mistress designates, each duty being plainly specified at the time she
+is hired.  The tasks of the waitress are more varied.  The airing,
+brushing up, and dusting of the living rooms falls to her share, with
+the entire charge of the dining room, serving the table, and washing
+the dishes, glass, and silver.  She also has charge of the bedrooms, a
+part of her duties in that connection being to prepare them for the
+night, removing spreads and shams, turning down covers, closing blinds,
+and carrying to each room iced water the last thing before retiring,
+and hot water the first thing in the morning.  She attends the door,
+cleans silver, wipes off woodwork, and even helps with the mending when
+the family is small.  She usually does her own washing, and assists
+with the ironing if her mistress so decree.  The division of labor
+between cook and waitress is sometimes a delicate matter, and here more
+than ever is adherence to rule and routine imperative.  The tendency
+for one servant to override the other and more yielding, must be
+guarded against.  When a nurse is to be hired she should be questioned
+as to her experience in caring for children, and her cleanliness,
+honesty, truthfulness, morals, and general character carefully
+investigated.  She ought to be fond of children, and young-hearted
+enough to enter into their little games and joys and sorrows.  No maid
+whose example is demoralizing to the little ones should have any place
+in the home.  The nurse probably will do the baby's washing, and may
+help a little here and there about the house, but as a rule she has
+nothing to do with the general work.
+
+
+
+SERVANT'S COMPANY
+
+The vexed question of the "lady help's gentleman company" usually has
+to be faced by the housekeeper.  Since yours is your maid's only home
+it is better to allow her to receive her friends there than for her to
+seek them elsewhere, taking it for granted, of course, that any girl
+whom you would be willing to have in your family would have no
+objectionable friends.  And besides, she is somebody's daughter, you
+know.  It is to be hoped that the time will come when every maid can be
+provided with a sitting room of her own, but until then her friends
+will have to be received in your kitchen.  Let her feel that they are
+welcome out of working hours.  A servant of the right kind will
+appreciate and not abuse this privilege.
+
+And so on--and so on!  After all is said and done one can only give a
+few hints and suggestions on the servant question, with the wistful
+hope that they may help some one to "start right," for maids may come
+and maids may go, but the problem goes marching on.  The only way to do
+when it overtakes one is to grapple with it womanfully, for it _will_
+happen, even in the best regulated families.
+
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Home, by Various
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