the size and aspect mentioned, is on© which 
ought to be more familiar to us than it is. 
Those who experience it know how intense a 
feeling of relief is thus caused. With respect to 
common dining rooms, it may be que&tioned 
whether a southern aspect is not desirable in { 
such a position. There is less of that direct j 
Bun light which in this climate, and at most I 
periods of the year, is so disagreeable. In houses ! 
where a separate breakfast room is admissible j 
there is no objection to its facing the west. You ! 
get the glow of the morning sun on the view ! 
before your windows, and feel the agreeable ' 
benefit of reflected light yourself. All who 
appreciate gazing upon the mid-day landscape | 
from the green cover of some spreading and 
shady tree will fully understand the feeling here 
appealed to. The source of enjoyment in both : 
cases springs from the like cause. With respect 
to drawing rooms as they seem mostly built and 
fitted up for exhibition, and when used, are so 
principally in the evening, their aspect is not of 
bo much importance. The great point with 
them is to keep every kind of smell emanating 
f rom culinary and eating operations out of reach. 
A northerly aspect is not objectionable, since a 
room facing in that direction would get half 
shade for some period before sunset. But what- 
ever may be the value of aspect, no arrange- 
ment can be considered perfect when any one 
ro m perforce becomes a vestibule to another, 
i do not, except in the case of bedrooms, dispute 
the value of so placing apartments that they 
can be thrown into one commodious and ! 
spacious series, but the annoyance that may be || 
frequent from the only entrance into a bedroom I 
being through a common living room must be j 
obvious to every housekeeper. The decencies as 
well as the courtesies of life enforce retirement 
for every sleeping room, and this should never 
be neglected. 
As regards the kitchen, it seems that a great 
deal of positive wretchedness is sometimes 
caused by its defective arrangement. In some 
houses it is so placed as to distribute its odorous 
vapour by means of its connection with the en- 
trance hall throughout every room, a contribu- 
tion in the case of the chimney smoking, more 
powerful than pleasant. It is always a hot i 
room, and often what is termed a close, i.e., ] 
badly ventilated one ; and frequently no atten- 
tion whatever is paid to the provision of drain- 
age — as essential to a good kitchen as to any 
other convenience of a dwelling house. Scanty 
shelving or none at all contribute to the destruc- 
tion of crockery and the household peace. 
Those primitive camp ovens exercise the pri- 
vilege of covering the hearth, and a great deal 
more besides, with dirt and dust ; and not the i 
least disservice rendered by a dirty kitchen, is j 
that dirty servants attend in its company as 
naturally as smoke upon fire. 
The shape of a kitchen should be rectangular, 
and the chimney if possible should project ex- 
ternally, and not break into the leading lines 
of the room. If this be done no super- 
fluous heating surface is presented within the 
the room, and the housewife's abhorence, the 
holes and corners caused by re-entering angles 
are dispensed with. In these days, when the 
advertising sheets of every home journal claims 
attention for multiplied varieties of cooking 
stoves, it is very poor economy in every way 
not to furnish a kitchen fireplace with one. A 
good stove saves time, fuel, dirt, and temper — 
all articles of great importance to a servant, 
and indirectly to the household in which she is. 
Then a well-arranged dresser is of almost equal 
value ; the pots and pans do not spread over 
the floor, but find their appropriate black 
board ; the drawers and the shelves keep the 
crockery and glass in ordinary use out of harms 
way and readily accessible. A few good sized 
hocks on the walls are also of use, but the sink 
so handy and so nice when well kept in an 
English kitchen, would here stand great chance 
of being an abomination. It must be so unless 
plentifully supplied with pure water. I think 
that in the kitchen of Mr. Robert Cribb, at 
Dunmore, the pump is within it, that pump 
having plenty of water frum the well over 
which it stands. In such a case a housemaid’s 
sink might be desirable, not otherwise. 
A kitchen should not be small if it is to 
serve its proper purpose in our domestic 
arrangements ; space is economy in cooking 
and servants’ work, especially in these days of 
crinolines, when without “ ample verge and 
room enough,” every sweep of those multitudi- 
nous folds threatens plates and dishes with dire 
destruction, and fire-irons with downfall and 
horrid clang. It should have special attention 
paid to its ventilation ; and for that purpose a 
range of louvre board apertures closing at will 
at a height not greater than seven feet from the 
floor is desirable. A necessary assistant to 
these would be an Arnott’s. valve in an air flue 
attached to the chimney stack. Then . the 
whole apartment should be isolated as much as 
possible, although, a kitchen with no covered: 
approach must be productive of annoyance, 
especially in rainy weather. As to the flooring, 
tiie less of wood about it the better, unless stone 
cannot be procured; then stout hardwood 
planking is better than soft badly burned 
brick. A ceiling is not indispensable ; on the 
contrary it may be found desirable to leave a 
kitchen open to the roof. 
There are minor appendages such as a 
scullery, or place for washing dirty vessels, and 
a laundry. A very simple structure will serve 
the purpose of either, but the latter seems an 
essential accessory to any house. Where 
washing is done in a kitchen, there is a contro- 
versy us long as it lasts between tile diverse 
necessities of the house in which both suffer ; 
and the steam from washing tubs does not 
furnish a Batisfactory condiment to cither roast 
