The Complete Home
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Title: The Complete Home
Editor: Clara E. Laughlin
Contributor: Sarah Cory Rippey
Oliver R. Williamson
Release date: September 4, 2005 [eBook #16650]
Most recently updated: December 12, 2020
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16650
Credits: Produced by Al Haines
*** START OF THE 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 demand
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