INTERNAL ARRANGEMENT OF TOWN-HOUSES. 831 



from the front area, so as to pi'ovide for constant circulation and change 

 of air ; this can be done at a very trifling cost, as the shaft may be 

 formed of, say, glazed drain-pipes eighteen inches diameter, covered 

 at each end with large open gratings made to lift up, so that the shaft 

 may occasionally be cleared out. 



In every basement a comfortable room for servants should be pro- 

 vided ; some small sitting-room, fitted up with book-shelves and cup- 

 boards, and if possible facing the street, so that the workers of the 

 house may have some sort of spare room in which they may be at rest 

 from their ordinary duties ; for if you want good servants you must 

 treat them as ordinary beings like yourselves ; and it is hardly fair to 

 leave them for all hours in the heated and not always pleasant atmos- 

 phere of the working-rooms. 



I can not too strongly insist upon the necessity of making those 

 about us as comfortable as possible ; for I am quite sure that, if we 

 provide comfort and health for them, they will be much more capable 

 of doing their daily work fairly and acting well by us. Remember 

 always that a large proportion of their lives is spent absolutely under- 

 ground, and that it is essential that they should have at least one room 

 which shall be cheerful, well ventilated, and as pleasant as we can make 

 it. Put yourselves in their places, and do as you would be done by, 

 and, so far as my experience teaches me, I am morally certain that the 

 master or mistress who provides well-lighted apartments for them to 

 live and sleep in, will be more certain of keeping good servants, and 

 of obtaining good work from them ; if they are to be mewed up in 

 ill-ventilated, uncomfortable, and unhealthy chambers for the greater 

 part of their daily lives, you can hardly expect their work to be prop- 

 erly done ; the atmosphere in which they live will enervate them, 

 and make them comparatively useless. 



The kitchen department should, as far as is consistent with proper 

 and quick service, be shut off from the staircase of the basement, as 

 this naturally acts as a funnel up which all smells ascend, so that, 

 when the door at the top, which opens into the hall, is open, they 

 escape and permeate the whole house ; a swing-door can generally be 

 arranged at the bottom of these stairs, provided with one of those 

 patent American valve sj^rings which close the door at once without 

 allowing it to bang. 



In every house, if possible, a small coal and luggage lift should be 

 provided ; in a new house, where there is a back staircase, it may run 

 up in the well-hole ; and in any old house it may often be arranged 

 outside the back wall, with openings on to the various staircase land- 

 ings. 



If attention be paid to these smaller details in house-planning, I 

 believe that in many cases the cost of a servant may be saved, for 

 every one knows the daily labor in winter-time of carrying up heavy 

 scuttles of coals and wood, and the great addition to the work of the 



