308 Our Farming. 



these ways, when things did not go right. I have sat and shivered 

 by the hour, time and again, politely saying I was quite com- 

 fortable, when the furnace fire had got down and it took hours to 

 get the house comfortable again. You must remember, I have 

 been around a good deal, winters, and I always come home think- 

 ing there is no plan any pleasanter than ours. With us it is 

 always warm near the stove, and one can see the glowing coals, 

 which helps. If too warm there he can get a temperature to 

 suit in some part of the house. The anthracite coal fire is a 

 luxury. The room is always warm at any hour of the night. 

 There is no smoke and practically no dirt. 



Now as to lighting, we have a powerful lamp hanging over 

 the extension table in dining room, said to be eighty candle power, 

 and good lamps hanging in each of the other two rooms, and 

 then several brass hand lamps to run around with. Thus these 

 rooms can be made about as bright by night as by day. But now 

 we must go back to the working part of the house. Study over 

 this plan of kitchen and see if you can improve on it. At first 

 you may say it is not large enough (i2x 14 outside). Well, it 

 was built for a work room, not to eat in or sit in. Will it help 

 any to have a large room, and just so much further to travel from 

 stove to table, or to pump or pantry? Our idea is just room 

 enough and no more. Then kindly notice the verandas on each 

 side with a door and window opening onto them. A perfect kitchen 

 in hot weather would be simply a tent that protected from sun and 

 rain, while allowing a free circulation of air. I mean perfect for 

 the health of the inmates, not, perhaps, for the whiteness of their 

 complexion. See how near this comes to this ideal, in connec- 

 tion with the verandas. Our folks wash on the west porch, under 

 the vines, cool and shady in the morning. There is a current of 

 air through our kitchen, if any is stirring, and the heat is not 

 carried into the body of the house much. But now look at the 

 chance for doing work with the fewest steps. T is the table, a 

 long one ; O S, the oil stove ; S, the cook stove ; S P, the sink and 

 pump ; C, a closet for ironware and other things. Just back of 

 the oil stove is the pantry, with cupboards enclosing all dishes, 

 etc. Right across from the pantry door we go down cellar. The 

 wood shed (W S) is right back of stove, and no wood box is 

 needed ; just open the door and get wood and put right in the 

 stove. In fact, the wood shed is little more than a large wood 

 box ; but it holds enough to run the cook stove through the 

 winter. We cook on the oil range in hot weather, which makes 

 us need less wood. Please notice how close together are the table 

 in the kitchen where work is done, the cupboards in pantry and 

 the table in dining room. How could they be more handy, and 

 still they are entirely separate. Shut the dining room door and 

 you have all the working part of the house together and close 

 together and apart by itself, except when the table is to be set. 



