July, 1912 
ally in natural finish, but there is a patented 
process of white coating them. The low set 
flushing-tank is a comparatively recent inno- 
vation that is especially useful where head- 
room is low, as under stairs and roofs, and 
it is easier to clean and repair, but there is 
no objection to the old form of high tank 
where it is economy. 
To many people, especially to men, a 
shower is more useful than a tub and with 
the advancement of hygiene the modern 
American is becoming such an amphibious 
creature that it is not uncommon to find one 
in even a very modest house. For quick 
daily baths it surpasses a tub because of the 
ease and rapidity with which the immersion may be changed 
in temperature. For economy showers are sometimes placed 
over the bathtubs with a ring from which is suspended a 
curtain of cotton duck or silk-lined rubber. A more gen- 
erous scheme is a framework of polished tube placed on a 
receptor about three or three and one half feet square. This 
form may have a needle bath spray of lateral streams and 
is also surrounded by a curtain. Porcelain enclosures are 
also made to be set into the construction like a niche. It is 
a common fault to have showers too small. If the shower 
is introduced at all it should have a large square stall with 
water-proof walls and be ample in proportion. 
Before descending to the kitchen we will briefly mention 
the housemaid’s sink and the waste sink. The former is 
intended only for getting water for cleaning and drinking 
and is placed near the bedrooms. The functions of a waste 
sink can generally be performed by a water-closet, but it 
is sometimes an advisable adjunct of a large house.  Porce- 
lain is the best material for this fixture and the best ones 
have a flushing rim and are provided with a flush-tank like 
a water-closet. They are generally put in little alcoves or 
closets where perhaps brooms and mops are also kept, but 
must have light and air and always kept scrupulously clean. 
It is rumored that after 
paganism was overthrown 
the Roman household altar 
transmigrated to the modern 
porcelain kitchen sink. There 
might be a certain sadness 
about this were it not that 
it inspires, perchance, the op- 
portunity of more sanctity in 
the care of this household 
utility than it was wont to | 
receive. What with banging 
of pots and kettles and 
greasy aspersions the poor 
old sink of some years ago 
had a hard lot in life. But 
of all its competitors the 
porcelain pottery sink with a 
raised back is most worthy 
to appease the lares and 
penates of modern life. 
Enameled iron is apt to 
yield sooner to hard usage 
and when the enamel begins 
to scale the sanitary value of 
a fixture is _ destroyed. 
Cheaper sinks are made of 
galvanized, painted or plain 
iron, but are inferior. Soap- 
stone absorbs grease and 
becomes black. Of necessity, 
depending upon either the 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
The small square tub 
A well arranged shower 
255 
kitchen space or the extent of its use, sinks 
vary in size. In connection with sinks, 
plumbing houses provide ash drain-boards 
nicely fitted with brass connections and 
hinged to fold against the wall, but in small 
houses the drain-boards will generally be 
made by the carpenter. 
Serving-pantries contain sinks for wash- 
ing the table service. These are generally 
made of tin and planished copper, of which 
the yielding surface reduces the hazards to 
china. They have oval or flat bottoms; 
the latter are better, and expensive sinks 
have two compartments, one for flushing 
and one for rinsing. They are sometimes 
set in marble slabs, but wood is safer and marble or tile may 
be used in the splash-backs. Very fine sinks are made of 
German silver or white metal with even the drain-boards 
and splash-backs of the same material. 
Many housewives remember the day when the round, 
wooden tub played the principle wash-day role in even com- 
fortable homes. It was a picturesque receptacle. Simple 
Simon might well figure over it in his fruitless quest, and 
to-day it is generally associated with scenes of rusticity or 
frugality. Modern plumbed tubs are made of porcelain- 
lined pottery and iron or of cement, soapstone and slate. 
The last three pipes are very serviceable but much inferior 
to the glazed white ones, for they have joints or are absor- 
bent and become odorous and are dark in color. The 
rolled-rim pottery sinks are best; they are set on a metal 
framework supported by bronzed iron or porcelain legs. 
No plain iron should be in the laundry, for it exposes the 
clothes to rust stains. Wooden rims are sometimes set on 
sinks, but it is better to avoid them and have adjustable 
wringer-boards. In small houses it is common to install two 
sinks, but three generally serve better and sometimes four 
are employed. It is not good practice to cover sinks and use 
them for tables; they should be left open to the air. Wash- 
ing operations in a kitchen 
may conflict with cooking 
processes, creating confusion 
and unpleasant odors and 
clouds of steam; hence it is 
better to have an ample light’ 
in some part of the basement 
where the tubs can be placed. 
In a large house there may 
be a special laundry on the 
main floor. 
Connected with the fit- 
tings of fixtures there is 
much detail of which the 
writer can here only suggest. 
These fittings and fixtures 
are ordinarily of brass, but 
in finest work may be phos- 
phor bronze, steam metal or 
gun metal. Brass is usually 
plated with nickel or silver, 
but unless it is well done will 
soon wear off. Silver metal 
or white metal is a new alloy 
that can be handsomely 
polished and cannot lose its 
finish. Faucets, though vary- 
ing much in detail, are in 
mechanical principle divided 
into ground-key and com- 
pression types, of which the 
latter is longer lived, is 
MER 
