Nature's Intention in Marriage—The Woman's Crime in Marrying for Support—Her Blunder in Marrying an Inefficient Man for Love—The Proper Union—Mutual Aid of Husband and Wife—Manipulating a Husband—By Deceit—By Tact—Confidence Between Man and Wife.
"Her very soul is in home, and in the discharge of all those quiet virtues of which home is the centre. Her husband will be to her the object of all her care, solicitude and affection. She will see nothing but by him, and through him. If he is a man of sense and virtue, she will sympathize in his sorrows, divert his fatigue, and share his pleasures. If she becomes the property of a churlish or negligent husband, she will suit his taste also, for she will not long survive his unkindness."—SIR WALTER SCOTT—Waverley.
Marriage is the crown of woman's life, a dignity that is all the more honorable because it is of general expectation and realization. There is a presumption that the unmarried woman has missed the central and significant reason for her existence, the perpetuation and nurture of the race, and that the burden is upon her for compensating society by other services for this lost opportunity. Marriage for a woman means attainment first and fulfilment after, the reward given in advance of labor, and therefore entailing a special moral obligation that it be justified in its fruits. Nature gives the future mother peace of mind, rest from doubt as to career and from responsibility as to breadwinning, in order that she may tranquilly devote herself to her special function as the maker of the home.
The fact that in the normal home the wife is relieved from the necessity of earning the living of the home sometimes has the effect of making her careless about expenditure. The thoughtless wife, and here thoughtless means selfish, assumes that the problem of providing is "up to" the husband and takes no care to aid him in its solution. If the suggestion of her being a burden to him ever does cross her mind, she is ready to excuse herself by consolatory sayings such as "Two can live cheaper than one," the truth of which, though universal when every wife was a producer of such things as clothing that are now bought is now the case only in agricultural homes, and even there has lost a great deal of its force. Men do not marry now, as they once did, for economic reasons, but rather in spite of them, for the higher rewards of love and companionship of wife and children, and this the wife should recognize by giving her husband the things for which he has made his economic sacrifice. In the old days a man who did not marry paid for his liberty by loss of physical comfort and wealth. Thus Hesiod, one of the earliest Greek poets, in his Farmer's Almanac called "Works and Days," coupled the marrying of a wife with the purchase of a yoke of oxen and a plow as the first things needful in beginning to farm, and this in despite of the fact that he was a woman-hater.
Now it is the woman who is tempted to marry for economic reasons, to be certain of material support while she exercises herself in those household avocations and social pleasures which constitute the main activities of women. This is a legitimate consideration only when the interest of the man is also taken into account. Marriage to a man whom she does not love is a crime for any woman; giving falsely the offerings of love for material things is harlotry even though legitimated by vows and ceremonies.
On the other hand, marriage for love to a man who cannot support her is a sad mistake for a woman who is not able or willing to take the place of breadwinner, for such a union defeats its own purpose. Therefore, in kindness to the man as well as to herself, such a woman should satisfy herself that he can support her, not necessarily in "the style to which she has been accustomed," but in the style necessary for her to perform the duties of homemaker and mother. Those marriages are the happiest where a wife can also enter into sympathy with her husband's business ambitions in particular and ideals of life in general. Here she is peculiarly his helpmate. He can hire a housekeeper, but not a companion of his bosom.
A girl properly reared will naturally be drawn to a man complementary to her in character—not "opposite," as is so often said. Opposition implies antagonism, which would be the ruin of home life. The term complementary implies similarity in the main elements of character with adaptable differences. Good qualities, such as strength and delicacy, may complement each other, but not evil and good qualities, such as brutality and tenderness. As Scott says in the quotation at the head of this chapter, a tender wife may suit the taste of a churlish husband, but only by not long surviving his unkindness. While such opposition may not result in actual death, it certainly leads to the demise of all that makes life worth living.
A woman should not expect to find a perfect husband. Indeed, her chief usefulness to him will be in her strengthening his weak points, and cultivating his right inclinations until they are confirmed habits. Yet in this work she should realize the imperfections in herself, and respond to the similar aid he gives her by his example and suggestions. Mutual aid is the great bond of marriage, as it is of all human relations.
Women, from their weaker condition, have from ages past been trained to gain their desires from men by indirection. In the worst form, this appears as deceit; in the best, as tact. Laying aside the moral aspect, deceit is always unwise in a wife, since, in time, it defeats its own end. Many a woman thinks that she is deceiving her husband, since she wins her points, when he thoroughly recognizes her machinations, and accedes to them without contest simply for peace in the household, acquiring a feeling of moral superiority to her which, though it may be tolerant, is nevertheless contemptuous. But when she employs loving tact, especially in the improvement of her husband's habits and traits, even though he realizes it, he is at heart grateful for it, and proud of his wife's superiority in these points.
In those matters where the characters of husband and wife are strong enough to permit frankness, this should always be employed. In all the grave problems of life there should be perfect confidence between the pair who have taken the solemn vows of wedlock. Any third party that enjoys a superior confidence with one of them, whether relative or friend, even the pastor or family physician, is the man invoked against in the marriage charge, who "puts them asunder." Where unhappily the husband is irreligious and the wife is forced to seek confidential help and consolation of her spiritual adviser, she should strictly limit these to religious matters, else she will grow apart from her husband. George Moore, in his collection of stories entitled, "The Untilled Field," presents the propensity of women in Ireland to run to the priest for guidance on every question, as the chief cause of their domestic tragedies. In America the family physician is as apt as the pastor to be made the recipient of such confidences, with evil results where he is not wise enough to advise that the husband is the proper person to whom the wife should go.
Elements in Choice of a Home—The City Apartment—Furniture for a Temporary Home—Couches—Rugs—Bookcases—The Suburban and Country House—Economic Considerations—Buying an Old House—Building a New One—Supervising the Building—The Woman's Wishes.
Of love, of joy, of peace and plenty: where,Supporting and supported, polished friendsAnd dear relations mingle into bliss.JAMES THOMSON—The Seasons
When husband and wife are truly mated, they form a co-partnership in the building of the home. In this work the man, occupied with his business, must leave a large part of the direction, even in material things, to the woman. And these material things are of primary consideration, as they are apt to be in every problem of life. The happiness of home is immediately and always dependent on the kind of a house used for dwelling and its equipment for utility and comfort.
The first thing to be considered is the location of the home. The choice of a good neighborhood, from both social and sanitary viewpoints, is essential. Good neighbors are almost as necessary as good air and good drainage. Even before the children have come, it is a limitation on the function of a home for husband and wife to be forced to seek social life entirely outside the neighborhood. If charity (that is, loving, helpful associations) begins at home, it certainly does not stop at the threshold, or leap therefrom over those nearest us. The best citizens are those who take a human interest in the people of their street, or ward, or village, for influence in civic reform is dependent on neighborliness.
Children are good citizens in this respect by nature. Limited to association with children of the neighborhood, they form an affection for their playmates, which may lead to good or evil results, as these playmates are moral or vicious in their tendencies. Therefore, at the formative period of character children should be guarded from the debasing influences of improper companions, as well as such institutions as saloons and low dance-halls which are generally found to be the local causes of bad neighbors.
Of course, a neighborhood should be selected where there are good public schools, churches, and allied institutions for education and culture. It is always a loss to a child in this democratic country to be educated in a private school, and yet, especially in cities, careful parents are often compelled to resort to private instruction for their girls and boys because of the lack of refining influences in the public schools. This is why it is often better for families, when the father works in the city, to live in the suburbs, where, as a rule, the best public schools are to be found.
But it may not be feasible to live out of the city, especially in the first years of married life, and therefore the home life must begin in an apartment. The same sanitary considerations that obtain in choice of a neighborhood are essential in the choice of a flat. Good air, light, space, proper plumbing, and general cleanness are to be sought. Owing to the general demand for these advantages, and a limited supply of them which is due to economic conditions prevailing in our cities, they unfortunately require money, therefore, the flat-seeker is compelled to do the best he can with that part of his income which he may safely appropriate for rent. As a rule, this amount is not more than one-fourth of income.
When an apartment house has been properly built, and the walls are settled and the plastering dry, it generally comes up to the standard of comfort and health. Here the latest improvements in plumbing will be apt to be found, and there will be no danger of vermin. Then, too, a concession is more apt to be made by the landlord, who is anxious to secure tenants, by remission of a month's or a fortnight's rent, to be taken out after the first month. The landlord of such a house is also readier than the owner of an old one to make decorations, and even alterations, to suit the taste of the tenant.
The walls in the kitchen should be painted rather than papered, and other parts of the flat designed primarily for utility. Since light is the great desideratum, the paint, as a rule, should be light in color, though soft and tinted in tone for restfulness to the eye. Where wallpaper is used, it should have the same characteristics. Fanciful designs should be avoided. Indeed, plain paper forms the best base for artistic color schemes in the decoration of rooms, the variety in which is best obtained by the choice of furniture and pictures and other wall ornaments.
When there is a prospect that living in apartments will be only a temporary arrangement, the furniture should be chosen with a view to its adaptability for a house. Thus folding-beds should be avoided, and other articles that gain space by complexity, however ingenious. Simplicity is the quality to be desired. Thus if the exigency of space requires that a living room by day be converted into a sleeping room, a couch should be bought for it, instead of a folding bed. It will then serve the purpose of a sofa as well as a bed. If it is a box couch, further economy will be gained by its use as a place to store the bedclothes. But the simplest of all arrangements is a divan bed, formed of springs and mattress alone, and supported on legs nailed to the corners of the spring-frame. Over it a cover should be thrown during the day, and the pillows in use, if there is not room for them elsewhere, should be slipped into covers harmonious in color with the couch drapery. Such a reclining and sleeping couch may also be used in bedrooms, although an iron or brass bedstead gives an appearance of neatness and personal privacy that is desirable in such chambers.
Where there is lack of closet space and lockers, trunks can be utilized in a flat for storing things. Steamer trunks that can be placed beneath the beds and couches are therefore the best kind to buy. They can also be readily converted into window seats by making pads of cotton batting to fit the tops, and placing over them covers and pillow cushions harmonious with the decoration of the room. Long flat "wardrobe trunks" are sold, which contain at one end rods for hanging clothes, so that, when stood up on the other end against the wall they serve as wardrobes. They always look, however, like makeshifts, and so are more useful in travelling than in the home.
Rugs are more desirable than carpets in a city apartment, since they can be more readily cleaned, and, in case of moving to another flat or a house in the suburbs, will be more adaptable to the new situation.
Bookcases in a temporary home should be of the unit system, where each shelf is a separate box enabling the books to be moved without repacking, and permitting rearrangement to suit the new situation, or the acquisition of new books. Where, however, the lower part of wall space is desired to give room for articles of furniture such as couches, shelves can be built, beginning at four and one-half or five feet above the floor. Mr. Edwin Markham, the poet, whose home overflows with books, has greatly economized space by building for them a broad lower shelf, about eighteen inches wide, and, three inches above this, another shelf twelve inches wide, and, three inches above this, a third six inches wide. When these are filled with books the titles of all are exposed, and, by taking out the volume or two immediately in front, a volume on one of the back shelves is readily obtained. Thus, by walking about his room, Mr. Markham can look with level eyes for the book he wants, and procure it without recourse to a chair or stepladder. This plan of banking books also lends itself to a decorative arrangement of them.
Except in matters such as these, where economy is imperative, the furnishing of a city apartment does not differ essentially from that of a house, and the reader is therefore referred to the discussion of this in the following pages.
The suburban, village, or country home differs from the city apartment, or even city house, in that it has been built without the primary consideration of space. It is separated from other houses, even though by the narrowest space of green lawn, that gives a house the individuality and independence without which it is hard for it to gather the associations of home. Even when a detached house is found in a city, its architecture is generally hampered by its adaptation to its narrow grounds. It rarely has that rounded development of character which is as desirable in a home as in a person.
In selecting a rented home in the suburbs, the cost of the husband's transportation to and from the city should be added to the rent to keep this within the proper ratio to income, just as the difference in price of provisions should be considered in that portion allotted to food. Provisions, even country produce, are often dearer in suburban communities than in the city, and less saving can be made by close marketing, because the farmers and gardeners find it more profitable to send their produce to the center of greatest demand, and therefore of readiest sale, even though it costs more for transportation than to the smaller markets near by. So suburban grocers and provision men are wont to buy in the city markets, and add the cost of transportation back from the city, and an additional profit for the transaction, to the price to the consumer.
Owing to the close competition for householders among real-estate men, it is now almost as easy to purchase a suburban home as it is to rent one, and it is therefore advisable to do this. The interest on purchase, and the fixed charges of taxes, insurance, water rent, etc., should be counted as rent, but a higher percentage of income may be safely allotted to these than to rent proper, since the purchase is also an investment. As a rule, the increase of land value near a growing city will considerably exceed the diminution in the value of the improvements. Indeed, owing to the constant advance of cost of building material in recent years, there is often enhancement rather than depreciation in the house value.
For these economic reasons it is advisable to buy an old house when its cost is less than the cost of constructing a new one of the same desirability. The home-seeker, however, should curb his propensity to make extensive alterations, for, one leading to another, he will find at the end (if he ever reaches it) that he has virtually built a new house at a cost greater than he could afford.
On the other hand, he should avoid those houses built on speculation to sell. In these a showy appearance is gained at the expense of durability of construction, and the purchaser will find that he must pay in plumbing, coal bills, and general repairs an amount he had not calculated upon as interest on the home, for, unless he rebuilds the house at ruinous expense, these will be annual charges.
The most satisfactory way, and the one leading to great enjoyment in satisfying the "nest-building" instinct which possesses newly mated people no less than birds, is for the owners themselves to plan and superintend the building of the home. There is an infinite variety of architectural plans spread before the homeseeker in books and magazines. An examination of these will be of great value to him in clarifying his hazy ideas, but he should not settle upon any one of them without expert opinion. He should employ a local architect, or at least a builder with practical architectural ideas, to examine every feature of the plan selected as nearest the homeseeker's ideal, and revise it according to local conditions, cost and availability of material, etc. Money is always well spent that relieves one of responsibility, enabling him to say thereafter, "Well, I did every thing I could to have the thing done properly."
The woman's wish should be paramount in planning the building. The home is her workshop, and she should have every convenience she requires to do her work properly. Things that appear of minor importance to a man, the architect and builder no less than her husband, are to her most vital. What pockets are to a man or business woman in clothes, closets and shelves are to a woman in her house, and yet she usually has to fight for them with the architect as the business woman does for pockets with her dressmaker. Unless she has worked out the practicability of her ideas, however, she will be at a great disadvantage with the experts, and therefore it is wise for her to make herself as familiar as possible with the main principles of building and the special details of the improvements she desires, especially as this knowledge will be of great use in seeing that the work is done as ordered. Where she has not acquired this knowledge, and the husband is either incompetent or not free to undertake this supervision, it is well to employ a contractor, arranging for thorough, satisfactory work, and holding him strictly to the contract.
The prime requisite in a house is that it be adapted for home life, be a comfortable place in which to sleep, cook, eat, rest and read, talk and laugh, and play and pray; in a word, in which to do all the work that enables these necessities and pleasures to be obtained. Next to the comfort of the family comes that of the outside world. It is desirable, though not essential, that the home contain facilities for entertaining.
Essential Parts of a House—Double Use of Rooms—Utility of Piazzas—Landscape Gardening—Water-supply—Water-power—Illumination—Dangers from Gas—How to Read a Gas-meter—How to Test Kerosene—Care of Lamps—Use of Candles—Making the Best of the Old House.
The parts that are desirable in a well-ordered house may be enumerated as follows: Cellar, the kitchen, the storehouse, the pantry, the laundry, the dining-room, the living or sitting-room, the lavatory, the parlor, the hall, the library, the nursery, the sewing-room, the bedrooms, including guest chamber, the attic, the piazzas.
Where economy of space must be practiced, storehouse and pantry may be combined, and nursery and sewing-room; and one of the family bedrooms may be devoted to the use of the occasional guest. The hall may be thrown into the parlor. The parlor may be properly converted into a library and music room, although when the father is of retiring literary tastes, he should have a "den" of his own, where he may read and smoke in peace.
The parlor is too often wasted space in a house. As the "best room," and very often the largest room, it is reserved for reception of guests, weddings, and funerals, and at other times shut up in gloomy grandeur from the family, except, perhaps, as the place of banishment for a naughty child. Except when used as a library and music room, it should be one of the smallest in the house, and may, indeed, be entirely dispensed with. The family living-room is not an improper place in which to receive a guest, especially one whom it is desired should "feel at home."
Of the rooms for the family, the nursery is the best to dispense with, the very young children being kept under the mother's oversight in her sewing-room, or the attic, or a loft in an out-building being fitted up for the elder ones as a play-room. In the case of the loft, it is well to equip it as a simple gymnasium.
It is mistaken economy to use the living-room as a dining-room, since this interferes with the orderly work of the house, no less than with the comfort of the family. It may with propriety, however, be made also the sewing-room, and, in general, the mother's managerial office. Here she should keep her desk and her household account-books, and meet the tradesmen and other business callers. It is also more suited than the parlor for use as a family reading-room and working library. Disorder that betokens use, such as magazines on the center-table, or of papers on the desk, is here not inappropriate. Indeed, it gives a homelike appearance even to the social guest.
China and glassware and silver arranged in proper array in wall closets, cabinets, and sideboards are the most appropriate decorations of the dining-room. It is not at all necessary that there should be pictures on the wall of game, fruit and flowers, or "still life" studies of vegetables and kitchen utensils. Indeed, these have become so expected that a change is quite a relief to a guest, who would welcome even the death's head that was the invariable ornament of the Egyptian feasts. Any pictures which are lively and cheerful in suggestion are suitable. Those that have a story to tell or a lesson to point are never out of place in a room frequented by children.
For convenience the table-linen should be kept in drawers or lockers built beneath the shelves containing the china. A butler's pantry is not an essential when such arrangements as these are made.
The kitchen, pantry, storeroom, and laundry form, as it were, the "factory" of the house, with the range as the central "engine." Accordingly they should be planned with respect to each other to save steps. Fortunately this means also saving expense in construction. Architects have been most ingenious as well as practical in perfecting these arrangements, and the housebuilder, therefore, needs no advice from us.
It cannot be too much emphasized, however, that the cellar is, from the standpoints of sanitation and comfort, the most important part of the house. There should be no attempt to save expense by limiting its proper size, materials for walls, windows for ventilation, drainage, etc., for money so saved will inevitably be paid out many times over in coal bills, doctor's fees, and, perhaps, undertaker's bills. A dry cellar must be secured at all costs, for the air from it permeates the whole house. Where this is damp, it leads not alone to disease among the inmates, but to the disintegration of the house itself, through what is called "dry rot," but is paradoxically the result of dampness. Edgar Allan Poe, in his weird story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," has given a mystical interpretation of the dissolution of an old homestead which really has a scientific explanation that might be found in the cellar.
The proper floor of a cellar is a layer of broken stones in which tile drains are laid, having outlets into a common drain, and over which a layer of concrete is placed, The walls, of plastered stone, brick, or concrete, should rise above the ground far enough to permit small windows, and prevent the admission of surface water from rain or snow. These windows should open from within, upward, and there should be hooks on the ceiling to keep them open for ventilation.
Where a house is heated by a furnace, the style of this should be selected with great care, special regard being had to the economy of fuel. The systems of steam-heating, hot-water heating, or hot-air heating have each their merits, depending on the location of the house and the climate of the region. The cellar can also be used as a storeroom for those things not affected by the heat of the furnace, such as perishable food requiring an ice-box or a cool place, vegetables, especially those with a penetrating odor; apples, canned fruit and goods, etc., should be kept here, and barrels of commodities, such as vinegar, that are bought in large quantities. Shelves should be built on the walls and hooks hung on the rafters to increase the facilities for storage. Articles hung upon the hooks should be tied in paper bags. It is well to have the cellar ceiled, to keep out the dust of the house and reduce the risk of fire. Here, of course, is the natural place for the coal-bin, and, when there are no out-buildings, the man's workshop. The laundry may also be placed in the cellar, and, in stormy weather, the clothes hung there to dry. In the country the cellar is a good place in which to build an ice-vault.
The kitchen should, of course, be airy and sunny. The sink should be placed near a south window, if possible, to prevent freezing of pipes. An iron sink is more cleanly than a wooden one, and cheaper than porcelain and copper. It should have a platform with room for two dishpans, and a drying shelf, raised at one end to permit drainage. Where economy of space is essential, this shelf may be removable, permitting the use for other things of the table beneath.
Two other tables are necessary in a proper kitchen equipment, one covered with zinc for a work-table, set near the range, and the other a plain table set near the dining-room, for the prepared dishes. There should be three lights, lamps in brackets, gas-jets, or electric bulbs, near the sink, range and food-table respectively. The refrigerator should be put outside the kitchen, in some such place as a sheltered part of the back piazza. Commodities such as tea and coffee, not requiring ice, should be kept in covered jars, preferably earthen, on a dresser or shelf, where the bread-box may also stand. There should be a kitchen closet for the flour-barrel and sugar-box, which should be covered for further protection from dust, flies, dampness, etc., and for the canned goods in immediate requisition.
The stove or range should be selected with reference on the one hand to the amount of cooking to be done for the family, and on the other to the saving of fuel. Where there is a water supply, of course there should be a boiler connected with the range. This should be large enough to assure a sufficient supply of hot water for the house. There should be a shelf near the range for such articles as the pepper-box and salt-box which are in constant use in cooking, and hooks should be near at hand for hanging up the poker, lid-lifter, and a coarse towel for use in taking pans from the oven. Other shelves and hooks, of course, should be put in for the various utensils necessary in the kitchen.
The floor of the kitchen should be covered with a good quality of linoleum. A perforated rubber mat may be placed at the sink, although this is not necessary. In fact, it is a better plan for the woman in the kitchen, as indeed elsewhere, to get rubber heels for her shoes. The Arabs have a proverb that to him who is shod it is as if the whole world were covered with leather, and rubber heels similarly cause every floor in the house, whether bare or carpeted, to be equally easy to the feet of the busy housewife.
The laundry should be supplied with two tubs, an ironing-table, an ironing-board, and a stove for the boiler and the irons. The ironing-board should be supported upon two "horses" of the height of the table. The table should be supplied with an iron-rest.
In a well-planned house there should be separate bedrooms for every inmate except the very small children. It is quite an economy in the care of the house that each child, at as early an age as possible, should have its own room and be taught to take care of it. Since the room is designed primarily for sleeping, care should be taken that the bed be placed in such a position that the light falls from behind the sleeper's head. The dresser should be so placed that the light falls on the face of the occupant of the room when he is looking into the mirror. Even at the expense of space in the bedroom proper, there should be a large closet in every sleeping-room. The deeper the closet the better, for, by using rods attached to the back of the closet and projecting through its width, whereon clothes-hangers may be strung, far more room will be obtained for clothes than where hooks and nails are employed. By the use of these clothes-hangers, too, suits and dresses may be kept in much better order. The top of the closet may be occupied by one broad, high shelf, whereon hats and bonnets may be kept in their proper receptacles. Shoes should be kept in a drawer at the bottom of the closet, rather than thrown on the floor beneath the dresser. It is a mistake to substitute a curtain for the door of the closet, since it is of the first importance to keep the clothing free from dust.
Shelves are better than closets for the keeping of the bed linen. It is a handy thing to have a separate linen closet in the house, but this is not essential. The sewing-room of the mother is a suitable place for keeping the linen. Shelves are preferable to closets for this purpose. There should also be a medicine closet or locker in the mother's room which will be handy in case of sudden illness among the children.
In view of the importance of sanitation, more thought than is ordinarily allotted to it should be given to the lavatory. Where there is room to spare, it is best to have the bath separate from the toilet, in order to prevent inconvenience in use. There should be a basin and toilet upon the ground floor, and a bathroom and toilet upon the sleeping floor. The walls of the lavatory should be tiled, or, if this is too expensive, they should be covered with water-proof paper. All toilet arrangements should be systematically kept clean, and the necessary supplies at all times provided.
Piazzas may be made to add no less to the utility than to the beauty and comfort of the house. A lower back piazza, covered with vines, is the ideal place in summer for eating and such heating labors as ironing. When thoroughly secured from intrusion, an upper balcony furnishes the best of sleeping quarters for one wise and brave enough to scout the superstition of the bad effects of night air. Many persons of delicate health, even consumptives, have been restored to vigorous strength by sleeping in such a place, not only in summer but throughout the winter, save in beating storms.
Closely conjoined with forethought for utility in the planning of a house is forethought for beauty. It is well to have an artistic imagination in visualizing, as it were, the "hominess" of the house as it will appear after its rawness has been mellowed by time, and its forms have been endeared by association. This imagination is specially essential in the planting of trees, arrangement of flower gardens, the choice of the kind of enclosure, whether hedge or fence, and, in general, all that is known under the name of landscape gardening.
The housekeeper's work is greatly dependent upon the kind of water supply available for the house. In cities and towns the kind of supply is fixed for her, but in the country she is afforded her freedom of choice. She has a choice of water from wells or springs, which is more or less "hard," that is, impregnated with lime, and water collected from rain or melting snow. For household purposes rainwater is the more desirable, and, when properly filtered and kept in clean cisterns protected from the larvae of mosquitoes and other disease-bearing insects, it is also the best for drinking purposes. To one accustomed to drinking hard water from a well or spring, rain water is a little unpalatable, but after he is accustomed to its use he will prefer it. It is always wise to secure an analysis of the drinking water of the house, since water reputed pure because of its clearness and coldness is as apt as any other to be contaminated. Where soft water is not available for household use, hard water may be softened by the addition to it of pearline or soda, or by boiling, in the latter case the lime in it being precipitated to the bottom of the kettle or boiler.
When well water is used for drinking some knowledge of the geology of the home grounds is essential. Thus, because the top of a well is on higher ground than the cess-pool is no reason for assuming that the contents of the latter may not seep into the water, for the inclination of the strata of the rocks may be in a contrary direction to that of the surface of the ground.
When filters and strainers are used they should be carefully cleaned at regular intervals, since if they are permitted to accumulate impurities they become a source of contamination instead of its remedy. Every once in a while the housekeeper should take off the strainers from the faucets and boil them.
There are many excellent systems for obtaining water power for the house in the country, each of which has its special advantages. The pumping of water to a tank at the top of the house by a windmill is that most commonly used. This is the cheapest method, but the most unsightly. Small kerosene or hot-air engines may be employed for the power at very slight cost, and will prove useful for other purposes, such as sawing wood or even operating the sewing-machines. Owing to the many inventions for isolated lighting plants by acetylene and other kinds of gas, dwellers in the country have virtually as free a choice of illumination as the people in towns and cities.
Great caution is necessary in the use of any form of illuminating gas, since all produce asphyxiation. Accordingly, all gas fixtures of the house should be regularly inspected to see that there is no escape of the subtile, destructive fluid. The odor of escaping gas which is so unpleasant is really a blessing, in that it informs the householder of his danger. A cock that turns completely around and, after extinguishing the light, permits the escape of the gas, is more dangerous than a poisonous serpent. Yet there may be nothing radically wrong with this fixture, and the use of the screwdriver may make it as good as new. Gas should never be turned low when there is a draught in the room, nor allowed to burn near hanging draperies. Care should always be taken in turning out a gas-stove or a drop-light to do so at the fixture and not at the burner. This is not alone safer, but it keeps the rubber tube from acquiring a disagreeable odor from the gas that has been left in it.
Great economy in the consumption of gas may be secured by the use of Welsbach and other incandescent burners. Where these are not employed, care should be taken to select the most economical kind of gas tips, and to see that when these become impaired by use they are replaced.
In the large cities there is constant complaint of defective gas-meters, so much so that inspectors have been appointed to correct this abuse. It has been found, however, that many complaints have been unfounded because the housewives were not able properly to read the meter. Directions how to do this will therefore be found useful. A gas-meter has three dials marking tip to 100,000 feet, 10,000 feet, and 1,000 feet respectively. The figures on the second dial are arranged in opposite order from those on the first and third dials, and this often leads to an error in reckoning. However, there should be no trouble in setting down the figures indicated by the pointer on each dial. We first set down the figure indicated upon the first dial in the units place of a period of three places, then that indicated upon the second dial in the tens place, and then that indicated upon the third dial in the hundreds place. To these we add two ciphers, to obtain the number of feet of gas that has been burned since the meter was set at zero on the three dials. From this number we subtract the total of feet burned at the time when the preceding gas bill was rendered. This is generally called on the bill "present state of meter." The result of the subtraction will be the amount of gas that has been burned since the last bill was rendered. For example:
95,300, amount indicated on dial.82,700, amount marked "present state of meter" on preceding gas bill.———12,600, amount of gas for which current bill is rendered.
Equal care must be exercised when kerosene is used for illumination, since, while it is not so dangerous directly to life, it is the chief source of the destruction of property. Accordingly the nature of kerosene and the way it illuminates is a profitable subject of study if we would prevent destructive fires. Really, we do not burn the oil, but the gas that arises from the oil when liberated by the burning wick and becomes incandescent when fed by the oxygen of the air. While kerosene requires a high temperature for combustion, it is closely related to other products of coal oil, such as naphtha and gasoline, which become inflammable at a low heat and are therefore very dangerous. Since the cheap grades of kerosene approach these products in quality, care should be taken to see that it is of high "proof" in order to prevent explosions. The proof required of kerosene differs in various States; that in some is as low as 100 degrees Fahrenheit, that is, the temperature at which the oil will give off vapors that will ignite. This is too low a proof, for such a degree of temperature is quite common in the household. It is safe only to use that kerosene which is at least 140 degrees proof, for then, even though the oil is spilled, there is little danger that it will ignite except in the immediate presence of flame. There is no danger at all in soaking wood with this kind of oil in a stove or grate wherein the fire has gone out.
To test kerosene, put a thermometer into a cup partially filled with cold water, and add boiling water until the mercury stands at 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Then take out the thermometer and pour two teaspoonfuls of kerosene into the cup and pass over it the flame of a candle. If the oil ignites, it is unsafe.
In order to prevent the flame from running down into the lamp and causing an explosion, the wick should be soft, filling the burner completely. The highest efficiency in the form of illumination is obtained by round burners, especially those in lamps which admit air to the inside of the wick and so induce the largest possible amount of combustion. Such a lamp produces quite a high degree of heat, and will answer the purpose of an oil-stove in a small room.
Contrary to the popular idea, wicks should be carefully trimmed with scissors rather than with a match or other instrument. In extinguishing a lamp one should first turn down the wick and blow across the chimney, never down the chimney.
Owing to the fact that the wick is constantly bringing up oil by capillary attraction, whether it is lighted or unlighted, lamps in which the wicks have not been cared are kept continually greasy. In fact, a lamp that is greasy or that gives out a bad odor is one that has not been properly cared. With due attention, lamps are as clean and handy a means of illumination as any other form.
Candles, that are now used chiefly for decorative purposes, may still be practically employed for carrying light about the house. The danger from a falling candle carried by a child up to bed is not nearly so great as that which may result from either spilt oil from a broken lamp or the cutting glass of its chimney.
To those who live in an old house, all the foregoing advice should prove a source of helpfulness in making the best of the old home, rather than of dissatisfaction with its seeming shortcomings. There are many simple, inexpensive ways of making it conform to the model house. Expense need only be incurred in sanitary improvement, such as the better drainage of the cellar, enabling it to be utilized for purposes which now crowd the "work-rooms" of the home, and the alterations of the windows to permit better lighting and ventilation. Very often a room can be made to exchange purposes by a simple transference of furniture, thus saving the housekeeper steps. A woodhouse can be converted into a summer kitchen, and the old one, during this season, used as a dining-room, though it may be found even pleasanter to eat out of doors under an arbor or on a wide piazza. A porch may be partitioned off into a laundry, and the attic ceiled and partitioned for use as a bedroom. Very often an old boxed-off stairway, built in the days when it was thought unseemly to show a connection with the upper bedrooms, can be relieved of its door and walls, to the increase of space in the lower room, and of the beauty of its appearance. Indeed, as a rule, there are too many doors in an old house. Some of these can be altered into open arched entrances, making one large commodious room out of two little inconvenient ones. Unused out-buildings can be turned into playrooms for the children, and even sleeping quarters. All these are changes that make for the beauty no less than the utility of home, as proved by the fact that many artists, especially those who have studied abroad where old country houses are more or less of this unconventional character, go into the country and alter in this fashion old and even abandoned houses into houses admired for their charming individuality. Illustrations of such "hermitages" frequently appear in the magazines, and may be studied for suggestions. Sometimes the alteration is of the exterior only. The repainting in a proper color, or the simple creosote staining of a weather-beaten house, with the addition of a rustic porch or the breaking of a corner bedroom into a balcony, will sometimes so transform an old house that it looks as if it were a new creation.