American Womans Home | Page 9

is chiefly applicable to the wants and habits of those living either
in the country or in such suburban vicinities as give space of ground for
healthful outdoor occupation in the family service, although the general
principles of house-building and house-keeping are of necessity
universal in their application--as true in the busy confines of the city as
in the freer and purer quietude of the country. So far as circumstances
can be made to yield the opportunity, it will be assumed that the family
state demands some outdoor labor for all. The cultivation of flowers to
ornament the table and house, of fruits and vegetables for food, of silk
and cotton for clothing, and the care of horse, cow, and dairy, can be so
divided that each and all of the family, some part of the day, can take
exercise in the pure air, under the magnetic and healthful rays of the
sun. Every head of a family should seek a soil and climate which will
afford such opportunities. Railroads, enabling men toiling in cities to
rear families in the country, are on this account a special blessing. So,
also, is the opening of the South to free labor, where, in the pure and
mild climate of the uplands, open-air labor can proceed most of the
year, and women and children labor out of doors as well as within.
In the following drawings are presented modes of economizing time,
labor, and expense by the close packing of conveniences. By such
methods, small and economical houses can be made to secure most of
the comforts and many of the refinements of large and expensive ones.
The cottage at the head of this chapter is projected on a plan which can
be adapted to a warm or cold climate with little change. By adding
another story, it would serve a large family.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
Fig. 1 shows the ground-plan of the first floor. On the inside it is
forty-three feet long and twenty-five wide, excluding conservatories
and front and back projections. Its inside height from floor to ceiling is
ten feet. The piazzas each side of the front projection have
sliding-windows to the floor, and can, by glazed sashes, be made
green-houses in winter. In a warm climate, piazzas can be made at the

back side also.
In the description and arrangement, the leading aim is to show how
time, labor, and expense are saved, not only in the building but in
furniture and its arrangement. With this aim, the ground-floor and its
furniture will first be shown, then the second story and its furniture, and
then the basement and its conveniences. The conservatories are
appendages not necessary to housekeeping, but useful in many ways
pointed out more at large in other chapters.
[Illustration: Fig. 2]
The entry has arched recesses behind the front doors, (Fig. 2,) furnished
with hooks for over-clothes in both--a box for over-shoes in one, and a
stand for umbrellas in the other. The roof of the recess is for statuettes,
busts, or flowers. The stairs turn twice with broad steps, making a
recess at the lower landing, whore a table is set with a vase of flowers,
(Fig. 3.) On one side of the recess is a closet, arched to correspond with
the arch over the stairs. A bracket over the first broad stair, with
flowers or statuettes, is visible from the entrance, and pictures can be
hung as in the illustration.
The large room on the left can be made to serve the purpose of several
rooms by means of a movable screen. By shifting this rolling screen
from one part of the room to another, two apartments are always
available, of any desired size within the limits of the large room. One
side of the screen fronts what may be used as the parlor or sitting-room;
the other side is arranged for bedroom conveniences. Of this, Fig. 4
shows the front side;--covered first with strong canvas, stretched and
nailed on. Over this is pasted panel-paper, and the upper part is made to
resemble an ornamental cornice by fresco-paper. Pictures can be hung
in the panels, or be pasted on and varnished with white varnish. To
prevent the absorption of the varnish, a wash of gum isinglass
(fish-glue) must be applied twice.
[Illustration: Fig. 4. CLOSET, RECESS, STAIR LANDING.]
[Illustration: Fig 5.]
Fig. 5 shows the back or inside of the movable screen toward the part
of the room used as the bedroom. On one side, and at the top and
bottom, it has shelves with _shelf-boxes_, which are cheaper and better
than drawers, and much preferred by those using them. Handles are cut
in the front and back side, as seen in Fig. 6. Half an inch space must be

between the box and the shelf