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The Country Gentleman s Magazine 



add, it can alone be secured. If one part 

 of the axiom of household economy is to 

 be perpetually dinned into the ears of 

 the cottage housewives, " everything ih its 

 proper place," let not the other part be 

 forgotten, " a place for everything." We 

 have often seen the hands of astonishment 

 uplifted at the dirty habits, personal and 

 household, of village cottagers, in forgetful- 

 ness that no water was provided near their 

 dwellings by which cleanliness could be 

 secured. It is somewhat difficult to wash 

 without water, and no less so to be " tidy in 

 a house where no means of securing tidiness 

 are obtainable." Closets and pantries should 

 be given with an unsparing hand, and these 

 in positions " handy" to the mistrqss, so that 

 no time shall be lost in going out of a room 

 for articles which are principally required in 

 it. Thus a closet or cupboard should be pro- 

 vided in or near the living-room, in which 

 the crockery in daily use can be stored. 

 Where pantries cannot be properly formed 

 in spaces, two cupboards can always be made 

 in the living-room, one at each side of the 

 fire-place, in the recesses formed by the pro- 

 jecting jambs. A scullery or wash-up place 

 should invariably be provided to every cottage. 

 This is one of its most important appliances. 

 For when it is provided, a greater degree of 

 tidiness and cleanliness can be secured than 

 where it does not exist. Moreover, washing 

 can be carried on within it, leaving the 

 living-room free from the annoyances at- 

 tendent upon "washing-day" — -annoyances 

 which too often operate in a prejudicial way, 

 causing the male inhabitants to flee to the 

 public-house. Another point should be at- 

 tended to, namely, giving an exterior porch, 

 or an interior lobby, through which entrance 

 can be obtained to the living-room. This 

 arrangement prevents currents of air passing 

 into the room, rendering it warmer in winter. 

 Independent entrances should be provided, if 

 possible, to all rooms, more especially to bed- 

 rooms. Passing through one bedroom to gain 

 admission to another is an arrangement which 

 should be avoided. It may be admissible 

 where the children's room is immediately off 



the parent's, but where the two rooms are for 

 adults bedrooms should be made of as 

 large dimensions as possible. The plan 

 often pursued of cramming beds into any 

 small closet or recess cannot be too strongly 

 condemned. On this point, the following 

 remarks of Dr Kilgour, in his lecture " On 

 the Ordinary Agents of Life," are well worthy 

 of consideration : — " We are beginning to re- 

 cover from the absurd plan of cramming our 

 beds into small closets in order that they 

 might be out of sight, and out of the way. 

 Architects, a few years ago, seemed to think 

 that the public rooms could not be too large, 

 nor the bedrooms too small, provided only a 

 dressing closet was attached. A third part 

 of the twenty-four hours Ave spend motionless, 

 and exhaling the rankest and most fetid paif 

 of our cutaneous and pulmonary secretion, in 

 a small and confined bedroom, in order that 

 we may shiver and starve in a large room 

 during the rest of the day that we remain in 

 the house. How often has the physician to 

 regret the confined bedroom in which his 

 patient is placed ! Often it is impossible to 

 ventilate it by raising the window without 

 risking the full draught of cold air on his 

 patient. I have more than once seen the 

 convalescent from fever cut off by pneumonia 

 from being exposed to the currents of cold 

 air from a window raised a little to refresh 

 him, or to ventilate the room. Alcove beds 

 are improper, from retaining the foul air ; the 

 bed should stand in the middle of the room, 

 and not in a corner, yet so as not to be in 

 the draught from door to window or chim- 

 ney." Another feature in the accommodation 

 required in a cottage, is the store place re- 

 cpiired for provisions, and nothing so com- 

 pletely comes up to the standard of excellence 

 required in a store place as the dry cellars so 

 commonly met with in Lancashire and the 

 north of England. These are there con- 

 sidered essential even to houses of the most 

 ordinary description. They keep meat in a 

 good state of preservation for a much longer 

 time than can be done in pantries or meat- 

 safes placed on the level of the ground floor. 

 Indeed, wherever these advantages have been 



