FUR:NTSHI:N-G. 65 



I wish such articles could find their way into every 

 farm-house in the land, in place of the showy and useless 

 rubbish that is O often toiled and struggled for at the 

 expense of health and household happiness. A parlor 

 appropriately furnished is always desirable ; but a kitchen 

 supplied with some modern conveniences and labor- 

 saving implements, and so cheerfully arranged that to do 

 work in it is a delight rather than drudgery, is of infinite 

 more value, if a choice must fall between the two. 



The room should bo of good size, with windows on 

 opposite sides, as they thus give a peculiarly cheerful 

 light. It is a charming idea to have the windows set in 

 after the manner alluded to in the Chapter on Building. 

 They afford a generous view, and with sills about ton 

 inches wide for flower-pots, and a cornice across the top 

 for a little drapery, they are very delightful. The ceil- 

 ing and walls should be whitened or calcimined in some 

 cheerful tint, and the wood-work oiled and varnished. 

 For the floor if it is even, and of a decent quality of 

 lumber nothing is better than two or three coats of oil, 

 put on one after the other as fast as absorbed. Such a 

 floor needs no scrubbing, a weekly mopping with plenty 

 of warmish water, being sufficient to keep it clean. Com- 

 fortable little rugs should be placed before the sink. and 

 the ironing table ; and if this room must do duty as a 

 dining-room, there should be, in winter, a large square 

 of carpeting under the dining-table. A neat screen, 

 made by tacking chintz or furniture calico upon a light 

 wooden frame, about five feet high and six feet wide, might 

 be placed between the table and the cook-stove, not only 

 to temper the heat, but to shut off the not always attrac- 

 tive view of saucepans, spiders, and kettles used in the 

 dinner-getting. 



The sink should be capacious, lined with zinc, provided 

 with drain-pipe, and flanked by pumps connecting with 

 cistern and well. Underneath may be a cupboard for pots 



