BUILDING. 25 



it up for daily use. Nothing is so dreary and uninviting 

 as the ordinary little hall or " entry" that is found in 

 half the houses of quite well-to-do people. It is usually 

 dark, narrow, bare, and possessed of stale odors, that sug- 

 gest damp umbrellas and yesterday's dinner. There 

 seems among very many to be nothing expected of this 

 part of the house but gloom and cold oil-cloth, and may be 

 a row of pegs for stray hats. Instead of such cheerless 

 entrances we ought to have halls that say at once to the 

 in-comer, " Welcome!'' that enfold him in an atmos- 

 phere of quiet, comforting, sheltering hospitality. Such 

 an atmosphere is possible in even a 6 by 8 room. If, how- 

 ever, there are chambers in the house plan, it is good 

 economy to have a hall large enough to include the stair- 

 case and leave ample space for necessary hall furniture 

 with, in winter, a stove which will warm up all the upper 

 rooms of a moderately-sized house, and pay for itself 

 and the fuel it consumes over and over again in the in- 

 creased good health and comfort of the family. 



A hall should be pleasantly but not glaringly lighted ; 

 and it is a great saving of carpets and the house-mother's 

 feelings to have the floor made of alternate strips of dark 

 and light wood, if the somewhat expensive process can 

 be afforded. 



BATH-EOOMS. 



Bath-rooms, or good conveniences for bathing, ought to 

 be found in every farm-house ; and yet it is an unpleasant 

 fact that they are often entirely lacking, and that a daily 

 or semi-weekly "all over" bath is something undreamed 

 of by many so-called civilized people who pride them- 

 selves upon their neat habits. This really religious duty 

 of keeping the whole body clean does not occur to them, 

 and the neglect of it is one of the numerous ways in 

 which busy hard-working people abuse themselves. 



Every villa, pretty country cottage, and first-class 

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