OUR HOMES. 



1 



OITIl HOITIES. 



15Y A. I. HOOT 



INTUODIK'TOUY. 



This will look ;i little bit oci-oiitric, dear 

 IVionds, I (oar, and Ibr tVar you may think 1 

 am .i^cttinic out of my proper domain, or tliat I 

 am i,'oin«; to trespass on your ^ood nature 

 witii some of my new notions, I shall make 

 liaste to assure you that this and the next leaf 

 are uot really a part of GleanixNgs; they are 

 thrown in as it were — do not cost you any- 

 thing, and very likely Avill not be worth any- 

 thing, at any rate you are to be judge and 

 jury. May I ask you, in any event to please 

 be lenient? The work will cost me considera- 

 ble time as well as money, and — now really I 

 don't know whether to say I am fortunate or 

 iinlbrtunate, in having little to spare of either, j 

 Do you not sometimes think it a misfortune 

 for a person to have been born wealthy? 

 Have not the great majority of our really use- 

 ful people of either sex, had their powers de- 

 veloped by stern necessity? Now perhaps I 

 can get started best by telling what I intend 

 trying to do in a sort of 



PREFACE. 



During M,-. Langstroth's visit last spring, 

 we had as you know, many very long talks ; 

 and he was in the habit of prc^tty severely 

 criticising some of my work about the Apiary, 

 perhaps to draw out my reasons, etc., and at 

 one time he asked me if I thought the bees 

 would gather any more honey for liaving their 

 hives arranged hexagonally, in the form of the 

 cells of tlie honey combs, etc. Of course I re- 

 plied that I did not, and then I tried to ex- 

 plain how I had studied to arrange it all to 

 save the time of the apiarist, that when we 

 l)egan to count our hives by the hundred, avary 

 nnnecessary motion was a decided expense, 

 tiiid that in the present age, time, as well as 

 /"^/<e//, was money and that it was as good 

 economy to endeavor to save the one, as the 

 other. To illustrate, I spoke of the way in 

 which many homes were 'arranged, how the 

 patient house-keeper was often obliged to go I 

 several rods in one direction for fuel, and per- ! 

 haps nearly as far in another for water, very ! 

 likely liftins: both up in(;onvenient steps, hav- ' 

 ing unhandy cellars, jiantries, etc., etc.. and 

 so on without end. "Now," said I to Mr. I.., 

 '•ought we not to be very cardul, that we who ;' 

 have taken upon oiirse,iv(«^- Ihe rts]>onsibility 



of teachers, set a good example before our pu- 

 pils, and try not to fall into the errors men- 

 tioned aljove, in the arrangement of our Ai)ia- 

 ries, honey houses, etc..?"— I wish I conld re- 

 peat exactly his reply; it was to the elleer. 

 that he who should revolutionize the kitcheii'<. 

 pantries, cellars, woodpiles, wells, etc., etc. of 

 our land, and in short make it a study toshor'- 

 cn, simplify and classify woman's work, wouM 

 be more of a benefactor to our nation than - 

 than— well, really, I cannot remember what hi 

 did say, but at all events he wound up by de- 

 claring that your humble servant was equal 

 to, at least making an attempt in that direct- 

 ion. The result is, that here he sits— with a 

 Type-writer and lots of blank ])aper— lots of 

 good Avill toward you all, health and energy, 

 but with far too little general knowledge of 

 humanity, and perhaps a lack of discretion in 

 properly directing what little h(! has. Do you 

 remember our text of last month in regard to 

 what is said about being faithful with the few 

 talents that God has given us ? 



CHAPTER I. 



"Be it ever so humble, there-s no place like liome." 



WF I should ask you if you knew of homes 

 Ji, that were not pleasant, you would doubt- 

 less say you did, that you knew of many, and 

 .-:hould I further ask why they were so, you 

 would perhaps proceed to detail very volubly 

 just how so and so do not do as they should 

 This may be all very well, if in detailing the 

 circumstances we see their ei-rors in away that 

 will enable us to avoid falling into the 'same 

 or similar ones. Is your home a hai)py one? 

 Is it so pleasant that you prefer to spend an 

 evening there to any other place ? Of course 

 I do not know to whom I am talking, nor of 

 the varied circumstances by which you are 

 surrounded, yet 1 feel that 'there is a broad 

 field for earnest work, in almost every house- 

 hold. Now before I go larther, I really feel 

 that I must go over at length, in fact a't con- 

 siderable length, a subject that mav be consid- 

 ered impertinent or perhaps intrusive, by some 

 of our readers. If we were going to build a 

 honey house; wc should first need a good found- 

 ation, and as many barrels of honey are very 

 heavy, we should need an extremely r/oud 

 foundation. It is just so with our homes ; a 

 nice pump right in the kitchen close by the 

 stove, would be a pretty "heavy" expense, and 

 to advise everybody to get one,— if I were so 

 fortunate as to secure attention,- might nnxke 

 a domestic "jar," or at least result in a down- 

 right refusal to entertain anv proposal result- 

 ing in any such extravagance, whereas my 

 real purpose is to consider how the expenses 

 of this model home may l)e lessened, and not 

 increased. The principal idea is to <,'et every 

 member of the household to help, to enlist 

 their hearty co-operation, not only the children 

 — clear down to the baby, but in a certain way 

 the cat and dog also, and in sln^rt every bit of 

 aninuited nature about the ])remi<es. I "am not 



