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 ] 
