OUR HOMES. 



1 



Ot It HOITIES. 



r.Y A. I. HOOT. 

 TNTUODITCTOUY. 



This will look a little bit eccentric, dear 

 friends, I fear, and lor fear you may thinlc I 

 .im setting out of my proper domain, or that I 

 am going to trespass on your good nature 

 with some of my new notions, I shall make 

 haste to assure you that this and the next leaf 

 are not really a part of GiiE.VNiNGs ; they are 

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

 thing, and very likely will not be worth any- 

 thing, at any rate you are to be judge and 

 jury. May I ask yon, 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 

 unfortunate, in having little to spare of either. 

 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 powders de- 

 veloped by stern necessity 2 Now perhaps I 

 can get started l^est by telling what I intend 

 trying to do in a sort of 



TREFACE. 



During Mi'. Langstroth's visit last spring, 

 we had as you know, many very long talks ; 

 and he was in the habit of pretty 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 having their 

 hives arranged hexagonally, in the form of the 

 cells of the 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 

 began to count our hives by the hundred, every 

 unnecessary motion was a decided expense, 

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

 hone}/, was money and that it was as good 

 economy to endeavor to save the one, as the 

 other. To illustrate, I sjjoke of the way in 

 which many homes were arranged, how the 

 patient house-keeper was often obliged to go 

 several rods in one direction for fuel, and per- 

 haps nearly as tar in another for water, very 

 likely lifting both up inconvenient steps, hav- 

 ing unhandy cellars, pantries, etc., etc., and 

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

 "ought we not to be very careful, that we who 

 have taken upon oui'seJvcs the responsibility 



of teachers, .set a good example before our pu- 

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

 tioned above, in the arrangement of our Apia- 

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

 peat exactly his reply ; it was to the efl'ect, 

 that he who should revolutionize the kitchens, 

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

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

 en, simplify and classify woman's work, would 

 be more of a benefiictor to our nation than — 

 than — well, really, I cannot remember what he 

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

 claring that your humble servant was ecjual 

 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 paper — lots of 

 good will 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 he has. Do you 

 remeoiVjer our text of last month in I'egard to 

 what is said about being faithful with the few 

 talents that God has given us V 



CHAPTER I. 



"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."' 



F I should ask you if you knew of homes 



1 



that were not pleasant, you would doubt- 

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

 should 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 errors in^ way that 

 will enable us to avoid falling into the same, 

 or similar ones. Is your home a happy 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 arc; 

 surrounded, yet I feel that there is a broad 

 field fur earnest work, in almost every house- 

 hold. Now before I go farther, I really feel 

 that I must go over at length, in fact at con- 

 siderable length, a subject that may be consid- 

 ered impertinent or perhaps intrusive, by some 

 of our readers. If we were going to build a 

 honey house we should first need a good found- 

 ation, and as many barrels of honey are very 

 heavy, we should need an extremely gooil 

 foundation. It is just so with our homes ; a 

 nice pump right in the kitchen close by the 

 stove, would lie a iiretty "heavy" expense, and 

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

 fortunate as to' secure attention,— might make 

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

 right refusal to entertain any proposal result- 

 ing in any such extravagance, whereas my 

 real purpose is to consider how the expenses 

 of this model home may be lessened, and not 

 increased. The iirincipal idea is to get every 

 member of the household to helii, 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 short every bit of 

 animated nature about the premises. I am not 



