498 



Reading-Course for Farmers. 



If the reception room is to be included as a part of the phm it should 

 be at the front near the main entrance. It is naturally the most formal 

 room in the house, the room where casual callers are received when one 

 may not care to introduce them into the informalities of the family living 

 room ; but it must also be a room for family use as well, and not the 

 cold and forbidding " best room " of our Puritan ancestors. 



The living room should need no description further than the name ; 

 but there is room for no end of thought in the design of it. First of all, 

 it should have the best view of any room in the house ; then it should 

 have good broad windows with plenty of sunlight and yet shouhl not be 

 too fully exposed to the uncomfortable glare of the hot summer sun ; 

 it should have wall space for books and furniture ; it ought to have a 

 generous open fireplace with a plain simple mantel ; in fact it ought to be 

 the one place above all others where every member of the family may feel 



Fig. 308. — TJi: simplsst form of house, but of good propor- 

 tions. In such a house the floor plan is also elementary. 



at home and thoroughly comfortable. It should be in location and interest 

 the central room of the house and ought to open broadly into either the 

 dining room or the parlor, or, if feasible, into both. 



The dining room, though its primary function is implied in its name, 

 should be something more than a mere " eating box." It should be 

 expressive of good cheer and thus conducive to pleasant thought and good 

 digestion. It should have plenty of the early morning sunlight, which 

 at all times of the year is welcome; and because the late afternoon sun in 

 summer is likely to be hot and oppressive, this room of comfort should 

 be sheltered from the low western sun. A south-east corner is the ideal 

 place to get morning sun and afternoon shade, and such an exposure will 

 give an abundance of light and warmth for the few green or flowering 

 plants that the good housewife likes to have in the room. 



