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THANKSGIVING MENUS AND RECIPES
AMERICAN COOKERY
FORMERLY
THE BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE
OF.CULINARY.SCIENCE AND DOMESTIC.ECONOMICS
NOVEMBER, 1921
VOL. XXVI No. 4
[Illustration]
[Illustration: _Painted by Edw. V. Brewer for Cream of Wheat Co._
_Copyright by Cream of Wheat Co._
HIS BODYGUARD]
Do You Realize That
Success in Baking
Depends Upon The Leavener?
In reality, if the baking powder is not PURE and PERFECT in its
leavening qualities, food will be spoiled in spite of skill and care.
RUMFORD
THE WHOLESOME BAKING POWDER
leavens just right. RUMFORD makes the dough of a fine, even texture. It
brings out in the biscuits, muffins, cakes or dumplings the natural,
delicious flavor of the ingredients.
RUMFORD contains the phosphate necessary to the building of the bodily
tissues, so essential to children.
[Illustration]
Many helpful
suggestions
are contained
in Janet McKenzie
Hill's
famous book
"The Rumford
Way of
Cookery and
Household
Economy"--
sent free.
RUMFORD
COMPANY
Dept. 19
Providence, R. I.
[Illustration]
Buy Advertised Goods--Do not accept substitutes
AMERICAN COOKERY
=Vol. XXVI= =NOVEMBER, 1921= =No. 4=
=CONTENTS FOR NOVEMBER= PAGE
WINDOWS AND THEIR FITMENTS. Ill.
Mary Ann Wheelwright 251
THE TINY HOUSE. Ill. Ruth Merton 255
YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO, JIMMIE Eva J. DeMarsh 258
SOMEBODY'S CAT Ida R. Fargo 260
HOMING-IT IN AN APARTMENT Ernest L. Thurston 263
TO EXPRESS PERSONALITY Dana Girrioer 265
EDITORIALS 270
SEASONABLE-AND-TESTED RECIPES (Illustrated with
halftone engravings of prepared dishes)
Janet M. Hill and Mary D. Chambers 273
MENUS FOR WEEK IN NOVEMBER 282
MENUS FOR THANKSGIVING DINNERS 283
CONCERNING BREAKFASTS Alice E. Whitaker 284
SOME RECIPES FOR PREPARING POULTRY Kurt Heppe 286
POLLY'S THANKSGIVING PARTY Ella Shannon Bowles 290
HOME IDEAS AND ECONOMIES:--Vegetable Tarts and
Pies--New Ways of Using Milk--Old New England
Sweetmeats 292
QUERIES AND ANSWERS 295
THE SILVER LINING 310
=$1.50 A YEAR= =Published Ten Times a Year= =15c A Copy=
Foreign postage 40c additional
Entered at Boston post-office as second-class matter
Copyright 1921, by
=THE BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE CO.=
=Pope Bldg., 221 Columbus Ave., Boston 17, Mass.=
Please Renew on Receipt of Colored Blank Enclosed for that Purpose
* * * * *
[Illustration: _"When it rains--it pours"_]
_Discover it for yourself_
To read about the virtues of Morton Salt isn't half so pleasant as
finding them out for yourself.
It certainly gives you a sense of security and content to find that
Morton's won't stick or cake in the package when you want it; that it
pours in any weather--always ready; always convenient.
You'll like its distinct bracing flavor too. Better keep a couple of
packages always handy.
MORTON SALT COMPANY, CHICAGO
_"The Salt of the Earth"_
[Illustration]
* * * * *
Buy advertised Goods--Do not accept substitutes
=INDEX FOR NOVEMBER=
PAGE
Concerning Breakfasts 284
Editorials 270
Home Ideas and Economies 292
Homing-It in an Apartment 263
Menus 282, 283
Polly's Thanksgiving Party 290
Silver Lining, The 310
Some Recipes for Preparing Poultry 286
Somebody's Cat 260
Tiny House, The 255
To Express Personality 265
Windows and Their Fitments 251
You're not Supposed to, Jimmie 258
=SEASONABLE-AND-TESTED RECIPES=
Beef, Rib Roast of, with Yorkshire Pudding. Ill. 277
Boudin Blanc 281
Bread, Stirred Brown 280
Brother Jonathan 275
Cake, Pyramid Birthday 280
Cake, Thanksgiving Corn. Ill. 277
Chicken, Guinea. Ill. 276
Cookies, Pilgrim. Ill. 279
Cucumbers and Tomatoes, Sauteed 281
Cutlets, Marinated 276
Fanchonettes, Pumpkin. Ill. 279
Frappe, Sweet Cider. Ill. 278
Fruit, Supreme 299
Garnish for Roast Turkey 274
Jelly, Apple Mint, for Roast Lamb 276
Pancakes, Swedish, with Aigre-Doux Sauce 280
Parsnips, Dry Deviled 278
Pie, Fig-and-Cranberry 278
Potage Parmentier 273
Pudding, King's, with Apple Sauce 278
Pudding, Thanksgiving 277
Pudding, Yorkshire 277
Punch, Coffee Fruit 278
Puree, Oyster-and-Onion 274
Salad, New England. Ill. 275
Salmon a la Creole 275
Sauce, Aigre-Doux 280
Sausages, Potato-and-Peanut 273
Steak, Skirt, with Raisin Sauce 281
Stuffing for Roast Turkey 274
Succotash, Plymouth. Ill. 275
Tart, Cranberry, with Cranberry Filling. Ill. 279
Turkey, Roast. Ill. 274
=QUERIES AND ANSWERS=
Cake Baking, Temperature for 298
Chicken, To Roast 295
Corn and Potatoes, To boil 295
Fish, To broil 298
Gingerbread, Soft 298
Ice Cream, Classes of 300
Icing, Caramel 295
Pie, Deep-Dish Apple 298
Pies, Lemon, Why Watery 296
Pimientoes, Canned 300
Pineapple, Spiced 295
Potatoes, Crisp Fried 296
Sauce, Cream 298
Sauce, Tartare 296
Table Service, Instructions on 296
* * * * *
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COOKERY. We have an attractive proposition to make those who will
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[Illustration]
=THE BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL COOK BOOK=
=By FANNIE MERRITT FARMER=
In addition to its fund of general information, this latest edition
contains 2,117 recipes, all of which have been tested at Miss Farmer's
Boston Cooking School, together with additional chapters on the
Cold-Pack Method of Canning, on the Drying of Fruits and Vegetables, and
on Food Values.
This volume also contains the correct proportions of food, tables of
measurements and weights, time-tables for cooking, menus, hints to young
housekeepers.
=_"Good Housekeeping" Magazine says:_=
"'The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book' is one of the volumes to which
good housewives pin their faith on account of its accuracy, its economy,
its clear, concise teachings, and its vast number of new recipes."
=656 Pages= =122 Illustrations= =$2.50 net=
* * * * *
=TABLE SERVICE= =_By Lucy G. Allen_=
A clear, concise and yet comprehensive exposition of the waitress'
duties. Detailed directions on the duties of the waitress, including
care of dining room, and of the dishes, silver and brass, the removal of
stains, directions for laying the table, etc. =Fully illustrated. $1.75
net=
=COOKING FOR TWO= =_By Janet McKenzie Hill_=
"'Cooking for Two' is exactly what it purports to be--a handbook for
young housekeepers. The bride who reads this book need have no fear of
making mistakes, either in ordering or cooking food supplies."--_Woman's
Home Companion._
=With 150 illustrations. $2.25 net=
=JUST PUBLISHED=
=FISH COOKERY= =_By Evelene Spencer and John N. Cobb_=
This new volume offers six hundred recipes for the preparation of fish,
shellfish, and other aquatic animals, and there are recipes for fish
broiled, baked, fried and boiled; for fish stews and chowders, purees
and broths and soup stocks; for fish pickled and spiced, preserved and
potted, made into fricassees, curries, chiopinos, fritters and
croquettes; served in pies, in salads, scalloped, and in made-over
dishes. In fact, every thinkable way of serving fish is herein
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=For Sale at all Booksellers or of the Publishers=
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=Books on Household Economics=
THE BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE COMPANY presents the following as a
list of representative works on household economies. Any of the books
will be sent postpaid upon receipt of price.
Special rates made to schools, clubs and persons wishing a number of
books. Write for quotation on the list of books you wish. We carry a
very large stock of these books. One order to us saves effort and
express charges. Prices subject to change without notice.
=A Guide to Laundry Work.= Chambers. $1.00
=Allen, The, Treatment of Diabetes.= Hill and Eckman 1.75
=American Cook Book.= Mrs. J. M. Hill 1.50
=American Meat Cutting Charts.= Beef, veal, pork,
lamb--4 charts, mounted on cloth and rollers 10.00
=American Salad Book.= M. DeLoup 1.50
=Around the World Cook Book.= Barroll 2.50
=Art and Economy in Home Decorations.= Priestman 1.50
=Art of Home Candy-Making (with thermometer, dipping
wire, etc.)= 3.75
=Art of Right Living.= Richards .50
=Bacteria, Yeasts and Molds in the Home.= H. W. Conn 1.48
=Bee Brand Manual of Cookery= .75
=Better Meals for Less Money.= Greene 1.35
=Blue Grass Cook Book.= Fox 2.00
=Book of Entrees.= Mrs Janet M. Hill 2.00
=Boston Cook Book.= Mary J. Lincoln 2.25
=Boston Cooking-School Cook Book.= Fannie M. Farmer 2.50
=Bread and Bread-Making.= Mrs. Rorer .75
=Breakfasts, Luncheons and Dinners.= Chambers 1.25
=Bright Ideas for Entertaining.= Linscott .90
=Business, The, of the Household.= Taber 2.50
=Cakes, Icings and Fillings.= Mrs. Rorer 1.00
=Cakes, Pastry and Dessert Dishes.= Janet M. Hill 2.00
=Candies and Bonbons.= Neil 1.50
=Candy Cook Book.= Alice Bradley 1.75
=Canning and Preserving.= Mrs. Rorer 1.00
=Canning, Preserving and Jelly Making.= Hill 1.75
=Canning, Preserving and Pickling.= Marion H. Neil 1.50
=Care and Feeding of Children.= L. E. Holt, M.D. 1.25
=Catering for Special Occasions.= Farmer 1.50
=Century Cook Book.= Mary Ronald 3.00
=Chafing-Dish Possibilities.= Farmer 1.50
=Chemistry in Daily Life.= Lassar-Cohn 2.25
=Chemistry of Cookery.= W. Mattieu Williams 2.25
=Chemistry of Cooking and Cleaning.= Richards and
Elliot 1.00
=Chemistry of Familiar Things.= Sadtler 2.00
=Chemistry of Food and Nutrition.= Sherman 2.10
=Cleaning and Renovating.= E. G. Osman 1.20
=Clothing for Women.= L. I. Baldt 2.50
=Cook Book for Nurses.= Sarah C. Hill .90
=Cooking for Two.= Mrs. Janet M. Hill 2.25
=Cost of Cleanness.= Richards 1.00
=Cost of Food.= Richards 1.00
=Cost of Living.= Richards 1.00
=Cost of Shelter.= Richards 1.00
=Course in Household Arts.= Duff 1.30
=Dainties.= Mrs. Rorer 1.00
=Diet for the Sick.= Mrs. Rorer 2.00
=Diet in Relation to Age and Activity.= Thompson 1.00
=Dishes and Beverages of the Old South.=
McCulloch-Williams 1.50
=Domestic Art in Women's Education.= Cooley 1.50
=Domestic Science in Elementary Schools.= Wilson 1.20
=Domestic Service.= Lucy M. Salmon 2.25
=Dust and Its Dangers.= Pruden 1.25
=Easy Entertaining.= Benton 1.50
=Economical Cookery.= Marion Harris Neil 2.00
=Elementary Home Economics.= Matthews 1.40
=Elements of the Theory and Practice of Cookery.=
Williams and Fisher 1.40
=Encyclopaedia of Foods and Beverages.= 10.00
=Equipment for Teaching Domestic Science.= Kinne .80
=Etiquette of New York Today.= Learned 1.60
=Etiquette of Today.= Ordway 1.25
=European and American Cuisine.= Lemcke 4.00
=Every Day Menu Book.= Mrs. Rorer 1.50
=Every Woman's Canning Book.= Hughes .90
=Expert Waitress.= A. F. Springsteed 1.35
=Feeding the Family.= Rose 2.40
=Fireless Cook Book.= 1.75
=First Principles of Nursing.= Anne R. Manning 1.25
=Fish Cookery.= Spencer and Cobb 2.00
=Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent.=
Fannie M. Farmer 2.50
=Food and Feeding.= Sir Henry Thompson 2.00
=Food and Flavor.= Finck 3.00
=Foods and Household Management.= Kinne and Cooley 1.40
=Food and Nutrition.= Bevier and Ushir 1.00
=Food Products.= Sherman 2.40
=Food and Sanitation.= Forester and Wigley 1.40
=Food and the Principles of Dietetics.= Hutchinson 4.25
=Food for the Worker.= Stern and Spitz. 1.00
=Food for the Invalid and the Convalescent.= Gibbs .75
=Food Materials and Their Adulterations.= Richards 1.00
=Food Study.= Wellman 1.10
=Food Values.= Locke 2.00
=Foods and Their Adulterations.= Wiley 6.00
=Franco-American Cookery Book.= Deliee 5.00
=French Home Cooking.= Low 1.50
=Fuels of the Household.= Marian White .75
=Furnishing a Modest Home.= Daniels 1.25
=Furnishing the Home of Good Taste.= Throop 4.50
=Garments for Girls.= Schmit 1.50
=Golden Rule Cook Book (600 Recipes for Meatless
Dishes).= Sharpe 2.50
=Handbook of Home Economics.= Flagg 0.90
=Handbook of Hospitality for Town and Country.=
Florence H. Hall 1.75
=Handbook of Invalid Cooking.= Mary A. Boland 2.50
=Handbook on Sanitation.= G. M. Price, M.D. 1.50
=Healthful Farm House, The.= Dodd .60
=Home and Community Hygiene.= Broadhurst 2.50
=Home Candy Making.= Mrs. Rorer .75
=Home Economics.= Maria Parloa 2.00
=Home Economics Movement.= .75
=Home Furnishing.= Hunter 2.50
=Home Nursing.= Harrison 1.50
=Home Problems from a New Standpoint= 1.00
=Home Science Cook Book.= Anna Barrows and Mary J.
Lincoln 1.25
=Hot Weather Dishes.= Mrs. Rorer .75
=House Furnishing and Decoration.= McClure and
Eberlein 2.50
=House Sanitation.= Talbot .80
=Housewifery.= Balderston 2.50
=Household Bacteriology.= Buchanan 2.75
=Household Economics.= Helen Campbell 1.75
=Household Engineering.= Christine Frederick 2.00
=Household Physics.= Alfred M. Butler 1.50
=Household Textiles.= Gibbs 1.40
=Housekeeper's Handy Book.= Baxter 2.00
=How to Cook in Casserole Dishes.= Neil 1.50
=How to Cook for the Sick and Convalescent.=
H. V. S. Sachse 2.00
=How to Feed Children.= Hogan 1.25
=How to Use a Chafing Dish.= Mrs. Rorer .75
=Human Foods.= Snyder 2.00
=Ice Cream, Water Ices, etc.= Rorer 1.00
=I Go a Marketing.= Sowle 1.75
=Institution Recipes.= Emma Smedley 3.00
=Interior Decorations.= Parsons 5.00
=International Cook Book.= Filippini 2.50
=Key to Simple Cookery.= Mrs. Rorer 1.25
=King's, Caroline, Cook Book= 2.00
=Kitchen Companion.= Parloa 2.50
=Kitchenette Cookery.= Anna M. East 1.25
=Laboratory Handbook of Dietetics.= Rose 1.50
=Lessons in Cooking Through Preparation of Meals.= 2.00
=Lessons in Elementary Cooking.= Mary C. Jones 1.25
=Like Mother Used to Make.= Herrick 1.35
=Luncheons.= Mary Ronald 2.00
A cook's picture book; 200 illustrations
=Made-over Dishes.= Mrs. Rorer .75
=Many Ways for Cooking Eggs.= Mrs. Rorer .75
=Marketing and Housework Manual.= S. Agnes Donham 2.00
=Mrs. Allen's Cook Book.= Ida C. Bailey Allen 2.00
=More Recipes for Fifty.= Smith 2.00
=My Best 250 Recipes.= Mrs. Rorer 1.00
=New Book of Cookery=. A. Farmer 2.50
=New Hostess of Today.= Larned 1.75
=New Salads.= Mrs. Rorer 1.00
=Nursing, Its Principles and Practice.= Isabels and
Robb 2.00
=Nutrition of a Household.= Brewster 2.00
=Nutrition of Man.= Chittenden 4.50
=Philadelphia Cook Book.= Mrs. Rorer 1.50
=Planning and Furnishing the House.= Quinn 1.35
=Practical Cooking and Dinner Giving.= Mrs. Mary F.
Henderson 1.75
=Practical Cooking and Serving.= Mrs. Janet M. Hill 3.00
=Practical Dietetics.= Gilman Thompson 8.00
=Practical Dietetics with Reference to Diet in
Disease.= Patte 2.25
=Practical Food Economy.= Alice Gitchell Kirk 1.35
=Practical Homemaking.= Kittredge 1.00
=Practical Points in Nursing.= Emily A. M. Stoney 2.00
=Principles of Chemistry Applied to the Household.=
Rowley and Farrell 1.50
=Principles of Food Preparation.= Mary D. Chambers 1.25
=Principles of Human Nutrition.= Jordan 2.00
=Recipes and Menus for Fifty.= Frances Lowe Smith 2.00
=Rorer's (Mrs.) New Cook Book.= 2.50
=Salads, Sandwiches, and Chafing Dish Dainties.=
Mrs. Janet M. Hill 2.00
=Sandwiches.= Mrs. Rorer .75
=Sanitation in Daily Life.= Richards .60
=School Feeding.= Bryant 1.75
=Selection and Preparation of Food.= Brevier and
Meter .75
=Shelter and Clothing.= Kinne and Cooley 1.40
=Source, Chemistry and Use of Food Products.= Bailey 2.00
=Spending the Family Income.= Donham 1.75
=Story of Germ Life.= H. W. Conn 1.00
=Successful Canning.= Powell 2.50
=Sunday Night Suppers.= Herrick 1.35
=Table Service.= Allen 1.75
=Textiles.= Woolman and McGowan 2.60
=The Chinese Cook Book.= Shin Wong Chan 1.50
=The House in Good Taste.= Elsie de Wolfe 4.00
=The Housekeeper's Apple Book.= L. G. Mackay 1.25
=The New Housekeeping.= Christine Frederick 1.90
=The Party Book.= Fales and Northend 3.00
=The St. Francis Cook Book.= 5.00
=The Story of Textiles= 5.00
=The Up-to-Date Waitress.= Mrs. Janet M. Hill 1.75
=The Woman Who Spends.= Bertha J. Richardson 1.00
=Till the Doctor Comes and How to Help Him.= 1.00
=True Food Values.= Birge 1.25
=Vegetable Cookery and Meat Substitutes.= Mrs. Rorer 1.50
=Women and Economics.= Charlotte Perkins Stetson 1.50
Address All Orders:
=THE BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE CO., Boston, Mass.=
[Illustration: In Kitchen and Bathroom
Old Dutch makes linoleum; tile; tubs and utensils bright like new. For
general cleaning, it lightens your work; is efficient and economical]
[Illustration: FRUIT SUPREME]
=Fruit Supreme=
Select choice, fresh fruit of all varieties obtainable. Slice, using
care to remove all skins, stones, seeds, membranes, etc.; for example,
each section of orange must be freed from the thin membranous skin in
which it grows. Chill the prepared fruit, arrange in fruit cocktail
glasses with maraschino syrup. A maraschino cherry is placed on the very
top of each service.
[Illustration: WOODEN SHUTTERS, ORNAMENTED, ARE SUITABLE FOR REMODELLED
HOUSES]
American Cookery
VOL. XXVI NOVEMBER NO. 4
Windows and Their Fitments
By Mary Ann Wheelwright
Through the glamour of the Colonial we are forced to acknowledge the
classic charm shown in late seventeenth and early eighteenth century
window designs. Developed, as they were, by American carpenters who were
stimulated by remembrance of their early impressions of English
architecture received in the mother land, there is no precise or
spiritless copy of English details; rather there is expressed a vitality
that has been brought out by earnest effort to reproduce the spirit
desired. Undoubtedly the lasting success of early American craftsmanship
has been due to the perfect treatment of proportions, as related one to
the other. That these are not imitations is proved by an occasional
clumsiness which would be impossible, if they were exact copies of their
more highly refined English prototypes.
The grasp of the builder's mind is vividly revealed in the construction
of these windows, for while blunders are often made, yet successes are
much more frequent. They are evolved from remembered motives that have
been unified and balanced, that they might accord with the exterior and
be knitted successfully into the interior trim. Some of these windows
still grace seventeenth century houses, and are found not only on old
southern plantations, but all through New England, more especially along
the sea coast. True products are they of Colonial craftsmanship, brought
into existence by skilled artisans, who have performed their work so
perfectly that today they are found unimpaired, striking a dominant note
in accord with the architectural feeling of the period.
There is no question but that windows such as these lend character to
any house, provided, of course, that they coincide with the period.
Doubtless the designing of modified Colonial houses is responsible, in
part, for the present-day revival of interest, not solely in windows of
the Colonial period, but also in that which immediately preceded and
followed it.
[Illustration: GROUP WINDOWS ON STAIRWAY]
The first ornamental windows were of the casement type, copied from
English cottage homes. Like those, they opened outward, and were
designed with small panes, either diamond or square shaped. As they were
in use long before glass was manufactured in this country, the Colonists
were forced to import them direct from England. Many were sent ready to
be inserted, with panes already leaded in place. Proof of this is
afforded by examples still in existence. These often show strange
patches or cutting. The arrangement of casements varies from single
windows to groups of two or three, and they were occasionally
supplemented by fixed transoms. Surely no phase of window architecture
stands out more conspicuously in the evolution of our early designs than
the casement with its tiny panes, ornamented with handwrought iron
strap-hinges which either flared into arrow heads, rounded into knobs,
or lengthened into points. That they were very popular is shown from the
fact that they withstood the changes of fashion for over a century, not
being abolished until about the year 1700.
Little drapery is needed in casement windows where they are divided by
mullions. The English draw curtain is admirable for this purpose. It can
be made of casement cloth with narrow side curtains and valance of
bright material. A charming combination was worked out in a summer
cottage. The glass curtains were of black and white voile with tiny
figures introduced. This was trimmed with a narrow black and white
fringe, while the overdrapery had a black background patterned with old
rose.
[Illustration: GROUPED WINDOWS WITH SQUARE PANES, LACE GLASS CURTAINS
AND CRETONNE OVER CURTAINS]
In the field of architectural progress, more especially during the last
few years, there have arisen vast possibilities for the development of
odd windows. These, if properly placed, showing correct grouping, are
artistic, not only from the outside, but from the inside as well. The
artistic woman, realizing the value of color, will fill a bright china
bowl with glowing blossoms and place it in the center of a wide window
sill, where the sun, playing across them, will carry their cheerful
color throughout the room. She also trains vines to meander over the
window pane, working out a delicate tracery that is most effective,
suspending baskets of ferns from the upper casement, that she may break
the length of her Colonial window. Thus through many artifices she
causes her simple room to bloom and blossom like a rose.
[Illustration: FOR FRENCH DOORS, USE MUSLIN WITH SILK-LINED OVERHANG]
The progress made in window architecture is more apparent as we study
the early types. Then small attention was paid to details, the windows
placed with little thought of artistic grouping. Their only object to
light the room, often they stood like soldiers on parade, in a straight
row, lining the front of the house.
Out of the past has come a vast array of period windows, each one of
which is of interest. They display an unmistakable relationship to one
another, for while we acknowledge that they differ in detail and
ornamentation, yet do they invariably show in their conception some
underlying unity. There is no more fascinating study than to take each
one separately and carefully analyze its every detail, for thus only can
we recognize and appreciate the links which connect them with the early
American types.
We happen upon them not only in the modified Colonial structures, but in
houses in every period of architecture. It may be only a fragment,
possibly a choice bit of carving; or it may be a window composed in the
old-fashioned manner of from nine to thirty panes, introduced in
Colonial days for the sake of avoiding the glass tax levied upon them if
over a certain size. A charming example of a reproduction of one of
these thirty-paned windows may be seen in a rough plaster house built in
Salem, after the great fire. The suggestion was taken from an old
historic house in a fine state of preservation in Boxford, Mass.
The first American homes derived their plans and their finish from
medieval English tradition. They were forced to utilize such materials
as they were able to obtain, and step by step they bettered the
construction and ornamentation of their homes. As increasing means and
added material allowed, they planned and executed more elaborately, not
only in size and finish, but in the adding of window casings, caps, and
shutters.
The acme of Colonial architecture was reached with the development of
the large square houses with exquisitely designed entrances and
porticos. These often showed recessed and arched windows, also those of
the Palladian type. At the Lindens, Danvers, Mass., a memory-haunted
mansion, may be seen one of the finest examples of these recessed
windows. This famous dwelling, the work of an English architect, who
built it in about 1770, is linked with American history through its use
by General Gage as his headquarters during the Revolution.
The recessed windows that are found here reveal delicate mouldings in
the classic bead and filet design, and are surmounted by an elaborate
moulded cornice, which lends great dignity to the room. This is
supported by delicate pilasters and balanced by the swelling base shown
below the window seats. Such a window as this is no mere incident, or
cut in the wall; on the contrary, it is structural treatment of
woodwork. Another feature of pronounced interest may be noted on the
stair landing, where a charming Palladian window overlooks the
old-fashioned box-bordered garden that has been laid out at the rear.
We have dwelt, perhaps, too much on the old Colonial types, neglecting
those of the present day, but it has been through a feeling that with an
intimate knowledge of their designs we shall be better able to
appreciate the products of our own age, whose creators drew their
inspiration from the past. A modern treatment of windows appears in our
illustration.
[Illustration: 75 BEACON STREET, BOSTON]
[Illustration: THATCHED-STYLE COTTAGE FOR AMERICAN SUBURBS]
The Tiny House
By Ruth Merton
(_Concluded from October_)
If, some fine day, all housewives awoke to the fact that most of the
trouble in the world originates in the kitchen, there would shortly be a
little more interest in kitchen problems and not so much distaste for
and neglect of this important part of the house.
Of course, women will cry out that we have never in our lives been so
intent on just that one subject, kitchens, as we are today.
I admit that there is a good deal of talk going on which might lead one
to believe that vacuum cleaners and electric-washing machines, etc., are
to bring about the millennium for housekeepers; and there is also a good
work going forward to make of housework a real profession.
But, until in the average home there comes the feeling that the
kitchen--the room itself--is just as much an expression of the family
life and aims and ideals as the living room or any other room, we shall
be only beating about the bush in our endeavor to find a remedy for some
of our perplexing troubles.
Nowadays, women who are doing much work out in the big world--the
so-called "enfranchised" women--are many of them proving that they find
housework no detriment to their careers and some even admit that they
enjoy it.
But so far most of them have standardized their work and systematized
it, with the mere idea of doing what they have to do "efficiently" and
well, with the least expenditure of time and energy. And they have more
than succeeded in proving the "drudgery" plea unfounded.
Now, however, we need something more. We need to make housework
attractive; in other words, to put charm in the kitchen.
There is one very simple way of doing this, that is to make kitchens
good to look at, and inviting as a place to stay and work.
For the professional, scientifically inclined houseworker, the most
beautiful kitchen may be the white porcelain one, with cold, snowy
cleanliness suggesting sterilized utensils and carefully measured food
calories.
But to the woman whose cooking and dishwashing are just more or less
pleasant incidents in a pleasant round of home and social duties, the
kitchen must suggest another kind of beauty--not necessarily a beauty
which harbors germs, nor makes the work less conveniently done, but a
beauty of kindly associations with furniture and arrangements.
Who could grow fond of a white-tiled floor or a porcelain sink as they
exist in so many modern kitchens! And as for the bulgy and top-heavy
cook stoves, badly proportioned refrigerators, and kitchen
cabinets--well, we should have to like cooking _very_ well indeed before
we could feel any pleasure in the mere presence of these necessary but
unnecessarily ugly accompaniments to our work.
We have come to think of cleanliness as not only next to godliness, but
as something which takes the place of beauty--_is_ beauty.
This attitude is laziness on our part, for we need sacrifice nothing to
utility and convenience, yet may still contrive our kitchen furniture so
that it, also, pleases the senses. With a little conscientious
reflection on the subject we may make kitchens which have all the charm
of the old, combined with all the convenience of the new; and woman will
have found a place to reconcile her old and new selves, the housewife
and the suffragist, the mother-by-the-fireside and the participator in
public affairs. The family will have found a new-old place of
reunion--the kitchen!
Granted then that our tiny house has a kitchen-with-charm, and an "other
room," the rest of the available space may be divided into the requisite
number of bed and living rooms, according to the needs of the family.
[Illustration: KITCHEN FOR THATCHED-STYLE COTTAGE]
There is only one other very important thing to look out for; that is
the matter of closets. There is no rule for the number of closets which
will make the tiny house livable, but I should say, the more the
merrier. If there is ever question of sacrificing a small room and
gaining a large closet, by all means do it, for absolute neatness is the
saving grace of small quarters, and storage places are essential, if one
does not wish to live in a vortex of yesterday's and tomorrow's affairs
with no room to concentrate on the present.
[Illustration: FIRST-FLOOR PLAN OF THATCHED COTTAGE]
Inside and outside the tiny house must conform to one law--elimination
of non-essentials; and the person who has a clear idea of his individual
needs and has also the strength of will to limit his needs to his
circumstances, will find in his tiny house a satisfaction more than
compensating for any sacrifices he may have made.
No one doubts that it _is_ a sacrifice to give up a lesser pleasure even
to gain the "summum bonum" and that it _does_ take will power to keep
oneself from weakly saying in the face of temptation, "Oh, well! what
does it matter! My little house would perhaps be better without that,
but I have grown accustomed to it, let it stay!"
Such weakness is fatal in a tiny house.
But how much more fatal in a tiny garden!
Oh! the waste lands which lie beneath the sun trying to call themselves
gardens! Oh! the pitiful little plots, unfenced, unused, entirely
misunderstood by people who stick houses in the middle of them and call
them "gardens"!
No amount of good grass seed, or expensive planting, or well-cared-for
flowers and lawns will ever make the average suburban lot anything but a
"lot," and most of them might as well, or _better_, be rough,
uncultivated fields for all the relation they bear to the houses upon
them or the use they were intended for.
It is to be supposed that when a man gives up the comforts of town
apartments and hies him to the country, it is the garden, the outdoors,
which lures him.
Why is it, then, that he seems to take particular pains to arrange his
garden so that it is about as much his own as Central Park is?
It might give the average man a great deal of pleasure to be able to say
to all the passersby on the Mall, "This little bit of the Park belongs
to me! I cut that grass, I weed those flower beds in the evening when I
come home from the office; and every Saturday afternoon I take the hose
and thoroughly soak that bit of lawn there, you may see me at it any
week in the summer."
But then, we are not dealing with the fictitious average man, and we
firmly believe that many "commuters" wonder deep down in their hearts
why it is they get from their gardens so little of the pleasure they
anticipated when they came to live out of the city.
Any one who has traveled abroad, has admired and perhaps coveted the
gardens of England, France, and Italy. Their charm is undeniable, and
thought to be too elusive for reproduction on American soil without the
aid of landscape gardeners and a fair-sized fortune.
Just why we, as a nation, are beset by the idea of reproducing instead
of originating beautiful gardens is a question apart from this
discussion. But as soon as we try to develop, to their fullest extent,
the advantages of our climate, and soil, in combination with our daily
life as a people, we shall produce gardens which will equal, without
necessarily resembling, those of other countries.
In every case we must, however, follow the same procedure which every
successful garden is built upon, whether it be in Mesopotamia or in Long
Island City. That is, we must study the place, the people, and the
circumstances.
The most general fault in American gardens is their lack of privacy.
No one claims that the high walls of Italy and France or the
impenetrable hedges of England would invariably suit the climate here.
But there are many ways to obtain seclusion without in any way depriving
us of much-needed air in summer and sun in winter. One way is by placing
the house rationally upon its lot. Our custom has been to invariably
build so that we had a "front yard," "back yard," and two side yards,
all equally important, equally uninteresting, unbeautiful and useless.
Of course, we have the porch which in a way takes the place of the
outdoor living room, always so attractive in foreign gardens. And
recently some laudable efforts are being made to incorporate the porch
into the house, where it belongs, as a real American institution,
instead of leaving it disconsolately clinging to the outside and bearing
no resemblance to the house either in shape or detail.
But after all, a porch is a porch, and a garden is a garden, and one
does not take the place of the other.
Especially is this true of the tiny property.
If you have only ten feet of ground to spare outside your tiny house,
plan it so that every foot contributes to your joy at being in the
country. Arrange it so that on a warm summer evening when the porch
seems a bit close and dark, you wander out into your garden and sit
beneath the stars in quiet as profound as on the Desert of Sahara. And
in the winter, let your garden provide a warm corner out of the wind,
where on a bright Sunday morning you may sit and blink in the sun.
Once you have got the desire for a room outdoors, a real garden, which
is neither flower beds, nor lawns, nor hedges, nor trees, but a place
for your comfort, with all these things contributing to its beauty, you
will know as by divine inspiration where to put each flower and bush and
path. Your planting will be no longer a problem for landscape
architects, but a pleasant occupation for yourself and family.
So then will your successful tiny house stand forth in its real garden,
an object of pride to the community and a tribute to one man who has
refused to be the impossible average, and has dared to build and plant
for his own needs.
May he live forever and ever happy in his tiny house!
[Illustration: FIRST-FLOOR PAN OF THATCHED COTTAGE]
"You're Not Supposed To, Jimmie"
By Eva J. DeMarsh
"Huh!" exclaimed Jennie, "there comes Aunt Rachel! Wonder what she wants
now? Last time it was--no, it wasn't--that was the time when Jimmie
Upson and his wife were here. How scandalized Aunt Rachel looked! Said
I'd ruin my husband, and a lot of such tommyrot. As though Jimmie and I
couldn't afford a spread now and then! I didn't, and I won't, tell Aunt
Rachel that it was a special party and a special occasion. Of course, I
know Jimmie isn't a millionaire, but--it's none of Aunt Rachel's
business, so there!" she finished defiantly.
Aunt Rachel plodded blissfully up the walk. "Jennie'll be glad to see
me, I know," she mused. "She's high-headed, but she knows a good thing
when she sees it, and I help her a lot."
Jennie received her aunt with cordiality, but not effusiveness. To be
discourteous was something she could not be. Besides, she liked Aunt
Rachel and pitied her idiosyncrasies. "Why can't she be as nice when she
goes to people's houses as she is when she is at home?" she mused. "I
love to go there, and everything is just perfect, but the minute she
steps outside the door--well, we all know Aunt Rachel! And she doesn't
go home early either. Jimmie'll be furious. She always calls him 'James'
and asks after his health and--and everything. I do so want him to like
her, but I'm afraid he never will. I do wish I could get her interested
in something. I have it!" she exclaimed triumphantly. "The very thing!"
Aunt Rachel looked up in surprise. "What's the matter, Jennie?" she
inquired.
"Oh, nothing much, Auntie! I was just thinking aloud."
"Don't!" said Aunt Rachel. "It's a bad habit, Jennie--though I do do it
myself, sometimes."
"Sometimes!" Jennie turned away to hide her smile. Why, Aunt Rachel made
a business of talking aloud!
As luck would have it, the dinner went off to Aunt Rachel's
satisfaction. It was good, but conservative.
"Jennie is learning," thought the old lady to herself. "After I've been
here a few times more, she'll get along all right."
Aunt Rachel hadn't noticed that every idea Jennie has used was,
strictly, either Jennie's own or her mother's.
"How long does your aunt expect to stay?" asked Jimmie, casually, while
Jennie was clearing the table. Aunt Rachel was in the kitchen. She
prided herself on never being "a burden on any one." Doubtless, some of
her friends would have preferred that she be. Most of us have a skeleton
we do not wish to keep on exhibition.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe a week or two," said Jennie, mischievously.
"She hasn't told me yet."
"Oh!" replied Jimmie, in a disappointed voice. "Business down town"?
"Dinner at the Club"? No, he couldn't keep that up indefinitely.
Besides, what did a man want of a home, if he wasn't going to live in
it? Covertly, Jennie watched him. She knew every expression of his face.
It amused her, but she was sorry, too. "Jimmie wants awfully to
flunk--and dassent," was her mental comment.
"Anything on for this evening, Jimmie?" inquired Jennie, sweetly, too
sweetly, Jimmie thought. He had heard those dulcet tones before.
"Yes--no!" stammered Jimmie. How he wished he had! However, as Jennie
said no more, he dismissed the subject from his mind. She probably
didn't really mean anything, anyway.
When James Atherton reached home that evening, he found the house
lighted from top to bottom. Beautifully dressed women were everywhere,
and in their midst--Aunt Rachel, at her best!
"Ladies," she exclaimed, and Jimmie paused to listen, "I am
honored--more so than you can guess--at the distinction conferred upon
me. This afternoon you have seen fit to make me one of your leaders in a
most important movement for civic betterment--an honor never before
accorded a woman in this city--and I need not assure you that you shall
not regret your choice. As a member of the Civic Betterment Committee of
Loudon, I shall do my duty." ("I bet she will!" commented Jimmie, _sotto
voce_.) "Again I thank you!" went on Aunt Rachel. "There's a work for
you and for me now to do, and--" she paused impressively, "we will do
it." ("I'll bet on you every time, Auntie," commented Jimmie to
himself.)
"Jimmie Atherton, what in the world are you doing?" whispered an
exasperated voice. "Hurry, Jimmie, hurry--do!" urged Jennie. "Dinner is
almost ready to serve, and you haven't even made the first move to
dress. Hurry, Jimmie, please!" And Jimmie did. He fairly sprinted into
his clothes, appearing presently fully clad and good to look upon.
"Bet you a nickel Jennie couldn't have done that," he reflected,
complacently. "Women never can get a move on them, where clothes are
concerned."
That was the best evening Aunt Rachel had ever spent. She was the center
of attraction; she had found a mission--not a desultory one, but one
far-reaching in scope, so it seemed to her; and like a war-horse, she
was after the charge.
Jennie's plans went through without a hitch. Aunt Rachel became, not
only a member of the Committee on Civic Betterment, but, as well, its
head and, in due season, mayor of the little city itself. Under her
active management, Loudon became noted as a model city of its size, one
good to look upon and good to live in. Crime fled, or scurried to cover,
and Aunt Rachel blossomed like a rose. One day when Jimmie came home
something seemed to please him greatly.
"What do you think, Jennie," he said, "Aunt Rachel is going to be
married! Yes, she is! I've got it on the best of authority--the groom
himself."
"Who?" gasped Jennie. "Why, Jimmie, she just HATES men! She's always
said they were only a necessary evil."
"Yes, I know," smiled Jimmie, "that's what she used to say, but she'd
never met Jacob Crowder then."
"Jacob Crowder!" exclaimed Jennie. "Why, Jimmie, he's as rich as
Croesus, and he's always hated women as much as Aunt Rachel has hated
men!"
"Yes," said Jimmie, "but that was before he met Aunt Rachel. He has been
her righthand man for some time now, and they've seemed to hit it off
pretty well. Guess they'll get along all right in double harness."
"When the girls and I steered Aunt Rachel into politics," said Jennie,
"little we thought where it would all end. I'm glad, glad, though! Aunt
Rachel is really splendid, but I've always thought she was suffering
from something. Now I know what--it's ingrowing ambition. She will have
all she can do now to take care of her own home and we won't see her so
often."
"Oh, ho! So that's it?" smiled Jimmie. "Well, you girls, as has happened
to many another would-be plotter before now, have found things have
gotten rather out of your hands, haven't you?"
Jennie shrugged her shoulders.
"We can have the wedding here, can't we, Jimmie?" she asked, somewhat
wistfully.
Jimmie wondered if she had heard him. Perhaps--and then again, perhaps
not.
"I don't see where we come in on it," he remarked. "It's a church
affair, you know."
"Oh!" said Jennie. "But there'll be a reception, of course, and if
she'll let us have it here, I'll have every one of us girls she has
helped so much in the past."
Jimmie stared. "Consistency--" he muttered.
"What's that you said, Jimmie? Are you ill?" inquired Jennie, anxiously.
"No!" replied Jimmie, "it's you women! I can't understand you at all!"
"You're not supposed to, Jimmie, dear," answered Jennie sweetly.
Somebody's Cat
By Ida R. Fargo
I never thought I should come to like cats. But I have. Perhaps it is
because, as my Aunt Amanda used to say, we change every seven years,
sort of start over again, as it were; and find we have new thoughts,
different ideas, unexpected tastes, strange attractions, and shifting
doubts. Or, it may be, we merely come to a new milestone from which,
looking back, we are able to regard our own personality from a hitherto
unknown angle. We discover ourselves anew, and delight in the
experiment.
Or, it may all be, as my husband stolidly affirms, just the logical
result of meeting Sir Christopher Columbus, a carnivorous quadruped of
the family _Felidae_, much domesticated, in this case, white with
markings as black and shiny as a crow's wing, so named because he
voyaged about our village, not in search of a new world, but in search
of a new home. He came to us. It is flattering to be chosen. He stayed.
But who could resist Sir Christopher?
My husband and my Aunt Amanda may both be right. I strongly suspect they
are. I also strongly suspect that Sir Christopher himself has much to do
with my change of mental attitude: He is well-mannered, good to look
upon, quite adorable, independent and patient. (Indeed, if people were
half as patient as my cat this would be a different world to live in.)
More: He has taught me many things, he talks without making too much
noise; in fact, I have read whole sermons in his soft purrings. And I
verily believe that many people might learn much from the family cat,
except for the fact that we humans are such poor translators. We know
only our own language. More's the pity.
Had I known Sir Christopher as a kitten, doubtless he might have added
still more to my education. But I did not. He was quite full grown when
I first laid my eyes upon him. He was sitting in the sun, on top of a
rail fence, blinking at me consideringly. The fence skirted a little
trail that led from my back yard down to Calapooia Creek. It seemed
trying to push back a fringe of scrubby underbrush which ran down a
hillside; a fringe which was, in truth, but a feeler from the great
forest of Douglas fir which one saw marching, file upon file, row upon
row, back and back to the snows of the high Cascades.
And the white of Sir Christopher's vest and snowy gauntlets was just as
gleamingly clean as the icy frosting over the hills. Sir Christopher,
even a cat, believed firmly in sartorial pulchritude. I admired him for
that, even from the first glance; and, afterward, I put me up three new
mirrors: I did not mean to be outdone by my cat, I intended to look tidy
every minute, and there is nothing like mirrors to tell the truth.
Credit for the initial impulse, however, belongs to Christopher C.
But that first morning, I merely glanced at him, sitting so comfortably
on the top rail of the fence, blinking in the sun.
"Somebody's cat," said I, and went on down to the creek to see if
Curlylocks had tumbled in.
Coming back, the cat was still there. Doubtless he had taken a nap
between times. But he might have been carved of stone, so still he lay,
till my youngest, tugging at my hand, coaxed:
"Kitty--kitty--kitty. Muvver, see my 'ittle kitty?"
And I declare, if Sir Christopher (my husband and ten-year-old Ted named
him that very evening) didn't look at me and wink. Then he jumped down
and followed, very dignified, very discreet.
I attempted to shoo him back. But he wouldn't shoo. He merely stopped
and seemed to consider matters. Or serenely remained far enough off to
"play safe."
Meanwhile, my youngest continued to reiterate: "Kitty--kitty--kitty!
_My_ 'ittle kitty!"
"No, Curlylocks," said I, "it isn't your little kitty. It is somebody's
cat."
Which merely shows that I knew not whereof I spoke. Sir Christopher
proceeded to teach me.
Of course, at first I thought his stay with us was merely a temporary
matter; like some folk, he had decided to go on a visit and stay over
night. But when Sir Christopher continued to tarry, I enquired, I looked
about, I advertised--and I assured the children that some one,
somewhere, must surely be mourning the loss of a precious pet; some one,
sometime, would come to claim him.
But no one came.
Days slid away, weeks slipped into months, winter walked our way, and
spring, and summer again. Sir Christopher C. had deliberately adopted
us, for he made no move toward finding another abiding place. He was no
longer Somebody's cat, he was our cat; for, indeed, is not possession
nine points of the law?
Then one day when heat shimmered over the valley, when the dandelions
had seeded and the thistles had bloomed, when the corn stood heavy and
the cricket tuned his evening fiddle, when spots in the lawn turned
brown, where the sprinkler missed, when the baby waked and fretted, and
swearing, sweating men turned to the west and wondered what had held up
the sea breeze--Sir Christopher missed his supper. He vanished as
completely as if he had been kidnapped by the Air Patrol. Three weeks
went by and we gave him up for lost, although the children still prowled
about looking over strange premises, peeping through back gates,
trailing down unaccustomed lanes and along Calapooia Creek, for "We
_might_ find him," they insisted. Truly, "Hope springs eternal."
"Perhaps, he has gone back where he came from," said Daddy. "Perhaps, he
has grown tired of us."
But My Man's voice was a little too matter-of-factly gruff--indeed, he
had grown very fond of Sir Christopher--and as for the children, they
would accept no such explanation.
It was Curlylocks who found Sir Christopher--or did Sir Chris find
Curlylocks? Anyway, they came walking through the gate, my youngest
declaiming, "Kitty--kitty--kitty! _My_ 'ittle kitty!"
And since that time, every summer, Sir Christopher takes a vacation. He
comes back so sleek and proud and happy that he can hardly contain
himself. He rubs against each of us in turn, purring the most satisfied
purr--if we could but fully understand the dialect he speaks!--as if he
would impart to us something truly important.