three] growing the HOUSE 



dry, although it should not be so damp as to be 

 liable to mildew. 



The ordinary kitchen is a disgraced adjunct, 

 where is caged that terrible and temporary foreigner 

 which we call help. It ought to be the brightest, 

 and, in some sense, the homefulest room in the 

 whole house. Here is the center of a lot of thinking 

 and of household art. Here are to be discovered 

 and invented those marvelous concoctions which 

 create good temper as well as good digestion. A 

 mean kitchen will have a blighting influence on 

 every room in the house. I put in, therefore, a 

 strong plea for a reformed kitchen. Permanent 

 seats, which are also lockers, ought to be arranged 

 for it, together with a plenty of cupboards. Every 

 kitchen, besides an adjacent pantry, should have as 

 adjuncts a vestibule and a storeroom. Both of 

 these should be neatly finished — not places for 

 litter and carelessness. The storeroom should be 

 large enough to contain barrels and boxes of food, 

 and whatever else would crowd a pantry. I take 

 it for granted that every rational country household 

 buys by wholesale what it cannot grow, and so saves 

 in the cost, while securing fresh goods. Where 

 wholesale purchasing is impossible for an indi- 



[43] 



