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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



April, 19 13 



One of the bedrooms fitted with quaint pieces of old-time furniture 



making deep alcoves in both rooms which are filled up 

 respectively with china cupboards and bookcases. 



By day the dining-room is flooded with light from a 

 range of windows taking up the whole west side of the 

 room. At night, a translucent urn enclosing electric bulbs 

 and suspended over the dining-table diffuses a pleasant 

 radiance — a much better arrangement than having strong 

 lights shine shine directly in your eyes and make you blink 

 like an owl. One cannot pass on without mentioning two 

 objects visible in the dining-room illustration — one a silver 

 tankard, of the time of Charles II, that stands on the 

 mantel shelf and has a whistle in the handle to summon 

 more spirituous comfort when wanted, the other a long- 

 handled pumpkin pie ladle shaped from a single piece of 

 cherry. It was used with the old Dutch ovens. When the 

 bottom crust of the pies was nearly baked, the filling, 

 plentifully bolstered up with "Oh-be-joyful," which would 

 have evaporated if left too long in the heat, was ladled in. 



At the north side of the dining-room is the butler's 

 pantry with ample cupboard and dish-washing facilities and 

 beyond is the kitchen, a large, cheery room with broad 

 windows before one of which is a big sink, an admirable 

 placing for properly preparing and washing vegetables. 

 The range is equipped with a wide hood to carry off steam 

 and all cooking smells. Still beyond is the kitchen pantry 

 or storeroom while to the west of the kitchen is a well 

 equipped laundry. The lower regions are commodious, 

 bright and airy as the cellar windows are made with semi- 

 circular wells outside, a device that obviates the necessity 

 of perching the house on awkwardly high foundations. 



Going up to the second floor we find the bedrooms just 

 as attractive as the rooms downstairs. They are not over- 

 loaded with furniture — no bedroom should ever have more 

 in it than is absolutely essential — but everything counts for 



a definite purpose. It is only by adhering to the principle 

 of exclusion that we can attain a pleasing union of simplicity 

 and elegance. One of the bedrooms given among the illus- 

 trations cannot fail of admiration both from those who 

 approve of restraint and those who love old furniture. 

 The plain four-poster, the painted rush-bottomed chairs, the 

 curly maple and mahogany Sheraton chest of drawers with 

 the mirror above, all are just as they should be and go to 

 make a delightful interior. Simple and appropriate wall- 

 paper in all the rooms adds materially to the general 

 felicitous tone. One interesting feature is that all the 

 chamber doors have knockers, each of different pattern, so 

 that they give a note of individuality and invite a return to 

 the old English custom of naming each room. Besides the 

 four bedrooms and two baths on the second floor for the 

 family, the domestics are comfortably provided for with 

 three comfortable bedrooms and a bath on the second floor 

 of the wing which can be entirely shut off from the rest of 

 the house by a door in the passage leading thither. 



The third floor south of the stairway is given over to 

 one large room — a very inviting room with its deep window 

 seats in the dormer recesses. Instead of making two rooms 

 with the floor area extending as far as possible towards the 

 eaves, a better plan was followed — though perhaps more 

 prodigal of space in cubic feet — of having but one room 

 with walls set far enough in to let one walk wherever he 

 pleases without danger of bumping his head against the 

 slant of the ceiling. 



Save the space devoted to a linen closet of generous 

 dimensions, all the rest of the third floor is an unceiled 

 attic with dormer windows in the distant corners — a de- 

 lightful place wherein to go a-rummaging on a rainy day. 

 Such a spot might fitly be termed the heart of the house's sub- 

 consciousness where it keeps its memories ready for revival. 



