only means of producing a homey effect. Their chief merit lies in the
fact that they are effective, inexpensive, and easily changed. No
matter how pleasing the tone, plain calcimined walls will probably
pall after a while, but by that time the home owner will know whether
paper or paint is the better treatment. With an old house, either is
historically correct. The earliest were, of course, primitive affairs
with walls of rough plaster or feather-board paneling in natural wood
color. By the 18th century, paint was already being used for
decorating both. Here the wall treatment was not limited to a plain
color but was varied by stencil designs. A geometric pattern was
usual. Then came wall papers of geometric or scenic design.
Thus, it is for the householder to decide just what manner of
decoration he wishes to live with. For instance, a paneled room may be
finished in the natural wood or painted. The latter was customary in
colonial days as life became easier and money more plentiful.
Personally we consider painted paneling, trim, and other woodwork
pleasanter and less monotonous to live with day in and day out but
that is a matter of individual taste. In the last analysis it is not
what his neighbor likes, it is what the home owner himself wants to
live with that really matters.
In choosing wall paper, one is limited by the type and size of room to
be so decorated. You may have a weakness for the old French scenic
papers depicting, in large squares, historic or sporting events. These
are most effective in the large central halls of the more formal
country home but produce a distinctly odd appearance in the tiny,
low-ceilinged rooms of the story-and-a-half farmhouse. Here small
patterns and designs that tend to make the rooms look larger must
rule.
Over-fussy curtains and draperies at the windows should also be
avoided. We well remember an otherwise charming little place where the
use of color and type of furnishings was most skillful. One
experienced a curious sense of gloom and stuffiness, though, even at
midday. A glance at the windows explained it. They were of the 18th
century farmhouse type and into their 42 by 28 inch dimensions had
been crowded the modern roller shade, fussy ruffled dimity curtains
and heavily lined chintz draperies surmounted by a six-inch valance!
With all these, the aperture left for light and air was limited
indeed.
An able interior decorator could have controlled the over-zealous
drapery buyer or she could have found out for herself by a little
independent study of proper window treatment for a house of that type.
In other words, whatever the kind of house, remember that windows are
intended to let in light and air. Both constitute excellent reasons
for living in the country. Proper curtains and draperies lend a
softening and pleasing effect but, as in a stage setting, they are
only props and must not be allowed to dominate the scene.
Further, in furnishing or decorating any house it is an excellent idea
to try and visualize the type of furnishings two or three generations
living there would normally have accumulated. We have already alluded
at some length to the farm cottage type because, like the common
people, they are more numerous. But in the old country neighborhoods
there was nearly always the man of affairs who knew how to make money
and was prone to build a house "as handsome as his purse could
afford." He was the squire of his vicinity and his house surpassed all
others in size and ornamental detail. If you have acquired such a
house, its furnishings must be in accord. Handsome antiques and
ambitious reproductions go well in such a setting. Or it may be that
your fancy runs to an ultra modern structure with interior decorations
and furnishings in keeping. Your house is then its own ancestor and
only time will determine whether such a scheme wears well.
Whatever you choose, take the furnishings best suited, arrange them as
pleases you, and proceed to live with them. If you like the general
effect and are one of those people who like things to stay put,
probably one can enter your living room fifteen years hence and find
the wing chair from the Maritime Provinces still standing in the
northeast corner with a small tavern table on the right; the hooked
rug with geometric center still in front of the fireplace; the
Sheraton table with mirror over it at its accustomed place between the
two south windows; and so forth.
On the other hand, if you are of the restless type, instead of
throwing everything out and beginning over again, you will have
periodic attacks of rearranging, realigning certain accessories,
adding something new, or discarding some item bought in an emergency
for something more in keeping with your changing ideas or manner of
living. We confess that this is one of our pleasantest pastimes. It
takes very little to start us off. An old Pennsylvania Dutch cupboard,
stripped down to the original blue and inducted into an apple-green
dining room, obviously calls for a fine orgy with paint and whitewash;
a gilded Sheraton mirror or another oil painting involves general
commotion and often complete rearrangement of the living room. All
this is very painful for those who don't like change; but, for us, it
helps to answer the question so often propounded by innocent city
visitors, "What do you do with yourselves in such a quiet spot?"
THE FACTORY PART OF THE HOUSE
[Illustration]
_CHAPTER XII_
THE FACTORY PART OF THE HOUSE
The Early American kitchen was the most important room in the house.
Here the family spent most of its waking hours. Here the food was
cooked, served, and eaten; the spinning and weaving done; the candles
for lighting the house poured into molds. It was the warmest room in
winter and around its hearth the family gathered both for work and
recreation.
Cheerful and pleasant it undoubtedly was, but there was little idea of
making work easy or saving steps. Today we may furnish our living
rooms in the 18th century manner, put 17th century dressers in our
dining rooms, and hang Betty lamps and other quaint devices around the
fireplace; but when it comes to the kitchen, we step forward into the
20th century and are well content. We have heard of enthusiasts who
occasionally cook an entire meal in a fireplace and insist that it is
far superior to any done by modern methods; but even these devotees of
old ways pale at the thought of three meals a day, three hundred and
sixty-five days in the year, so prepared.
Today's kitchen, stripped of accessories and talking points, is
essentially a laboratory where semi-prepared food stuffs are processed
for consumption. The automobile industry has demonstrated to the
nation what remarkable things can be done by having labor conditions
and proper tools on a logical train of production. With no waste of
human effort, no running back and forth, work starts at one end of the
assembly chain, and off the other, in about two hours, comes a new
car. In the same way, a properly planned kitchen eliminates waste
steps and, with plenty of light and air, becomes a pleasant place to
work.
In this domestic laboratory, one expects, of course, to find a cook
stove of some sort, a sink, a refrigerator, a kitchen cabinet or
compounding bench, a table, and plenty of storage space. With the
assembly idea in mind, have these so planned that the work of cooking
three meals a day progresses logically from the service or delivery
entrance to the doorway of the dining room. Be sure, too, that added
working space is available in the event of dinner parties or larger
forms of entertainment. The saving on tempers, fine china, and glass
will be well worth it. In other words, have this most important
working room compact but not too small.
As an example we cite another of our own errors in judgment. Having
been brought up in a house with a large old-fashioned kitchen where
the luckless cook walked miles in performing her culinary duties, we
went to the other extreme. The room originally designed for the
kitchen with its large old fireplace and sunny southern exposure was
immediately chosen for the dining room. Directly back of it was the
old pantry which, without benefit of architectural advice, we decided
to fit up as a kitchen. It was a good idea except for the fact that
the room was really too small, especially for the type of hospitality
that rules in the country. To be sure, by moving a partition a little
and by remodeling a small lean-to that adjoined it, sufficient storage
and working space was added to make conditions tolerable; but it is at
best a makeshift and the answer is, eventually, a properly designed
service wing, architecturally in keeping with the 18th century but
mechanically modern. Even under these makeshift conditions, however,
the assembly idea has been followed and this somewhat mitigates the
drawback of contracted space.
The most important tool in a kitchen is obviously the cooking range.
Here the country dweller has a choice of bottled gas, electricity, or
oil as fuels. What he decides to use may depend on personal
preference, availability, or cost of installing and operating. Where
service is dependable and a reasonable cooking rate prevails, there
is no better method of cooking than by electricity. Clean, odorless
and easily regulated, its advantages are obvious. But no electric
light and power company can afford to run its cables underground in
the country. The service lines are on poles and extend over a large
area. Nature has no regard for the convenience of either the company
or its patrons. A thunderbolt may knock out a transformer, or a tree
may be blown down and carry nearby electric lines with it. Repair men
are continually on the job with a well-run company and work speedily
and faithfully but they cannot be everywhere at once. Service may be
interrupted for ten minutes or for several hours. In such emergencies,
it is well to have a stop gap, such as an inexpensive two-burner oil
stove. It may not be used more than twice a year but it is there when
needed.
The devotees of the tank gas method of cooking are many. It works the
same as gas from city mains except that your supply is piped in from
an individual tank which is installed outside the house and
replenished monthly by the company supplying such fuel. The initial
cost plus installation and operation about equals that of electricity
but no cataclysm of nature will cause it to fail.
Cheapest of all is the kerosene oil stove. These range all the way
from the modest two-burner table stove to the pretentious six-burner
type with insulated oven and porcelain finish. Gasoline burning ranges
are also to be had on this order. The initial cost of even the most
elaborate oil or gasoline stove is considerably less than for one
designed for either electricity or bottled gas and the expense of
operation is also less. But they have certain disadvantages. With the
best of management there is a slight odor. If out of adjustment they
smoke or go out and they are unpleasant to clean. Further, although we
struggled with one for seven years, we never found any satisfactory
means of broiling meat with oil as a fuel.
No family relishes the idea of having porterhouse or sirloin steaks
taken right out of their lives, so some other device is necessary,
such as a charcoal broiler or the old-fashioned, long-handled broiler
held over the fireplace coals or, in winter, those of the furnace. One
may argue brightly that meat cooked by these primitive methods has a
superior flavor, but it is definitely veering away from the assembly
idea and most certainly does not make for harmony in the kitchen. If a
charcoal broiler is employed, somehow it never reaches the proper
state of incandescence at the right time. If the fireplace is the
scene of operation, it is invariably a roaring inferno at the time the
steak should be cooked. One waits for the desired bed of coals, of
course, while ominous head shakings and rumblings from the kitchen
proclaim that the rest of the dinner is done, is dried up, is ruined.
Twenty years ago coal or wood burning stoves were usual in country
homes. They were disagreeable to tend and in summer made an
uncomfortably hot kitchen. But that same heat was most acceptable in
winter weather. For a kitchen not too well heated by the main house
system, there are ranges that combine coal and electricity. Thus, in
winter they serve the double purpose of a cooking tool and heat
producing unit and also help reduce the electric light bill at the
season of the year when it tends to be heaviest.
[Illustration: ENTIRELY NEW, BUT WITH ALL THE CHARM OF AN OLD HOUSE
_Robertson Ward, architect_. _Photo by Samuel H. Gottscho_]
Where electricity is available, the problem of refrigeration is
simple. Of course, the initial cost of a good electric refrigerator
may easily be more than double that of the ordinary icebox, but the
cost of operation is very small and food losses are materially cut
down. The old method of refrigeration calls for only a moderate outlay
for a box, but delivering ice three or four times a week to the
average country home involves heavy overhead for the local ice dealer
and he must therefore charge accordingly. If one must depend on ice,
however, there is an improved box now on the market so constructed
that it needs to be filled but once a week. It operates on much the
same principle as the mechanical box as far as keeping an even
temperature is concerned.
With the various storage cupboards, closets, and cabinets that make up
the furnishings of this culinary assembly plant, there are sundry
built-in units, widely pictured, written about, and advertised. What
type you will have is a matter of personal taste. The main thing is to
be sure they are well built and conveniently located. The kitchen sink
may also be of any type you prefer but let there be light where it is
hung. A window directly over it will make for cleaner dishes as well
as less breakage. Another ounce of prevention for the latter is
considered by many to be the sink lined with monel metal. It is fairly
soft and yielding so that a cup or plate is not readily shattered if
accidentally dropped in it. With porcelain sinks, one may use a
rubber mat designed for the purpose or one can be careful.
If the service wing plans do not include a laundry, a set tub with
cover forming one of the drain boards is practical for the occasional
small pieces washed at home. Along with the sink may be installed an
electric dishwasher, depending, of course, on whether the family
considers its benefits equal to the expense involved. If mother is to
do the work, it may be warranted; but where her efforts are limited to
one or two sketchy meals on Thursdays and Sunday evenings, one might
well interview the person who is monitor of the service wing the bulk
of the time. Dishwashers, cake mixers, complicated fruit juice
extractors, and similar gadgets are all excellent but they are not
essential. Many servants do not even want them.
A few years ago we tried to introduce an orange squeezer designed to
hang on the wall and operate somewhat on the principle of a pencil
sharpener. We showed it to our houseman who regarded it glumly. "I'll
try to use it if you insist," he finally said, "but I can work faster
with that glass one from the ten cent store." These little playthings
are all right but you can seldom get the help to use them. A kitchen
should be well equipped with standard implements and cooking utensils,
but before putting in expensive labor-saving devices one should be
sure that they really save work and that the proposed operator will
appreciate them enough to make their purchase advisable.
The essentials of a kitchen are plenty of light and air; enough space
for working under all conditions; well arranged and adequate
equipment; pleasing, easily cleaned wall surfaces and floor; and
plenty of hot water. There are several methods of obtaining an
adequate supply of the latter. It is automatically taken care of where
the house is heated by an oil burning system. With a coal burning
steam or hot water plant, there is now a cylinder that can be attached
to the boiler below the water level. In it there is a coil of copper
pipe through which circulates the domestic hot water supply. This
works admirably. There is always a sufficient supply but it is never
so overheated as to scald the heedless person who plunges a hand under
a boiling stream of water.
During the warm months, however, a supplementary means of heating
water must be at hand. Electric water heating, again, involves the
least supervision and is to be recommended if one can get a low enough
rate. The initial expense is a sizable item, though; and if operated
at the usual rate per kilowatt hour, the monthly charge can easily be
double that of other fuels. But many companies make a special rate for
such devices and under such circumstances the operating costs compare
favorably with those of coal and oil.
Another excellent device is the little coal stove built especially for
the purpose. It requires only a small amount of fuel daily but, of
course, must be faithfully tended. This type of stove may also be
adapted for burning range oil. Here the drudgery of shoveling in coal
and taking out ashes is replaced by that of daily filling the
two-gallon oil tank that feeds it, periodic cleaning of wicks and
burners, and consistent adjusting of burner and draft to meet changing
weather conditions.
There are also the kerosene oil heaters having a copper coil through
which the water circulates in heating. These may or may not be
equipped with an automatic attachment. They likewise require daily
filling and occasional cleaning of both wick and copper coil. They are
easier to adjust than the other variety but the action of the blue
flame on the copper coil causes a slight disintegration which over a
long period of time may cause a leak. When that happens no mending is
possible, not even of a temporary nature. The family goes without hot
water until a new coil is put in or a complete new heater substituted.
Obsolescence is a term high in favor with American industry; and only
too often when one goes seeking a new part for a machine with a decade
of good service to its credit, one is met with, "Oh, we don't make
that model any more. We might be able to locate a stray coil but it
would take about two or three weeks." The disgusted home owner
naturally goes out and buys another kind of heater, one without a
copper coil.
Whether or not a laundry is part of the service wing depends, of
course, on how much of that type of work is to be done at home. There
are two points of view here. Some households prefer to scoop the
family linen into a bag, make a list, and hand it over to a commercial
laundry. Others find a dependable laundress nearby or provide
facilities for doing the work at home. The clear air of the country
and easy drying conditions influence many towards the latter course.
Like the kitchen, the room set aside for this purpose should have good
light and air as well as easily cleaned wall and floor surfaces. There
should be at least two tubs as well as a washing machine and a small
ironing machine. There should also be space provided for indoor drying
of clothes since, even in the country, a week of stormy weather is not
unheard of. Some kind of a stove is also necessary for any needed
boiling of clothes, making starch, or the like.
Servants' quarters should be cheerful, light, airy in summer and
comfortably warm in winter. They may be part of the service wing; they
may be on a separate floor of the main section of the house; or, if
the garage is part of the house, located over that. For best results
they should not be in too close proximity to the rest of the family.
In the country, servants are more confined to the scene of their
labors than in the city. Consequently they need and like a certain
amount of privacy as well as a place to relax and see their friends.
In addition to bedrooms and bath, a sitting room of some kind is most
practical. It need not be large or expensively furnished. A few
comfortable chairs, a table or two, possibly a desk and a good reading
lamp will suffice. A small radio also adds to the general contentment.
In summer if the service wing boasts a screened porch so much the
better. If not, some shady nook or arbor nearby where they may rest or
read during their spare time may mark the difference between sullen
service, frequent change of personnel, and the perfect servant who
remains year after year.
PETS AND LIVESTOCK
[Illustration]
_CHAPTER XIII_
PETS AND LIVESTOCK
Few country households are content with a bowl of goldfish. Something
a little more responsive is demanded where the peace and quiet of
nature press so close. A cat to drowse on the hearth or catch an
occasional mouse; a dog to accompany one on walks and greet the head
of the house ecstatically each evening; these, of course, are the most
obvious and popular pets. Both can be and are kept in city apartments
and suburban homes but their natural habitat is the open country.
Whether one or both become part of your household is, of course, a
matter of personal inclination. There are those who have an intense
aversion for cats. There are fanatical bird lovers who argue that
because they once knew a cat which killed a bird, the entire feline
family should be wiped out. However, from the number of sleek
specimens seen dozing on porch or terrace through the countryside, it
is safe to assume that the average household harbors at least one cat.
There is no room here for a treatise on why people keep cats. Besides,
we do not know. We only know that cats were always about the place
when we were young and that some sixteen years ago we rescued a half
starved Maltese kitten from a city pavement and kept her until she
died of old age about a year ago. She had beautiful green eyes and a
very short temper. She also upset several preconceived theories. One
is that a cat is attached to a place rather than people and that it is
difficult if not impossible to take it along when moving to an old
place. Our cat was approaching middle age when we acquired our country
home. Yet after a few inquiring meows and a minute inspection of the
new place, she settled down contentedly. Further, during the years
that followed, she made at least two trips a year to the city for
sojourns of varying lengths. Inquiry among other cat owners has
revealed that this is not at all extraordinary. In fact, this type of
animal can become just as attached to its owner as the more flattering
and responsive dog.
Nor do all cats kill birds. The average house cat is too indolent to
hunt anything. Our own imperfect but individualistic animal was a
mighty hunter of field mice but showed little or no interest in the
birds flying about above her. They have built their nests for years in
arbor and summer house unmolested. But a real killer of birds is hard
to dissuade. One can of course remove the bird from its jaws and
administer a sound whipping but it is by no means certain that
anything much is accomplished by so doing. One cannot argue with a
cat. He is the one animal man has not been able to subdue. Possibly
therein lies his fascination. Also, barring a few bad habits, he is
little trouble and is a distinct ornament.
The dog can be a faithful companion or the worst pest on earth. Which
he is, depends on his environment and training. He may be had in many
breeds and sizes from the most expensive and delicate specimens down
to the mongrel with a League of Nations ancestry. Incidentally, the
most benign and intelligent of dogs is often some middle-aged hound of
doubtful lineage who can tell your blue ribbon winner how to get about
in the canine circles of the countryside.
Pick the breed you prefer but have it in scale with your place. You
may have had a secret longing for a St. Bernard or a Great Dane but if
you have settled your family in a little saltbox house, it is going to
be a little crowded when something only slightly smaller than a
Shetland pony starts padding restlessly up and down stairs or flings
his weary length down in the middle of the living room rug where you
must walk around or over him to turn on the radio or answer the
telephone.