The Prophet’s Chamber 
A NOVEL IDEA FOR FURNISHING THE SPARE ROOM—A SIMPLE BUT 
DISTINCTIVE ROOM THAT WELCOMES THE PASSING GUEST 
time. The accom¬ 
modations would 
be too limited, and 
possibly the loca¬ 
tion of the room 
not sufficiently con¬ 
venient for a n y- 
thing like perma¬ 
nent occupancy. 
The furnishings 
too, are of the 
simplest character, 
hardly differing 
from those enum¬ 
erated in the quaint 
and ancient description. A bed, a table, a stool, a candlestick, 
such were the simple items. There was enough to meet <the re¬ 
quirements of necessity, and the very simplicity of the place 
would not be lacking in certain elements of taste; but there was 
nothing superfluous, nothing for display or empty show. It was 
a temporary abode rather for wisdom than for fashion, though 
one might imagine its occupant sleeping peacefully within its 
quiet enclosure. Its very atmosphere seems to breathe peace. 
The conditions of life probably do not vary so much as we are 
apt to fancy in the different epochs of time. The women who 
lived 900 B. C. had problems similar to those confronted in this 
year of grace; and we are solving them well or ill as they solved 
them well or ill. Every housekeeper now has her occasions in 
the round of the year when informal hospitality is to be extended 
to some good friend of the house. It cannot matter that the so- 
called spare room is occupied, there must be some cozy corner 
that will show a welcome even if it show little else. And prob¬ 
ably in almost every house there is some out-of-the-way room 
which a resourceful woman can adapt to the purposes here out¬ 
lined. It may be off in the third story, former abode of trunks 
and boxes. If these can be disposed of elsewhere, the room may 
be converted into a Prophet’s Chamber. Or it may be some hall 
room so small that one hesitates to put into it anything much 
larger than a cradle or a sewing machine. Yet if it seems ex¬ 
pedient, even such a cubbyhole can be transformed with the ex¬ 
ercise of a little taste, though the quarters be close. One point 
that should be observed is that wherever the location of the room, 
however limited its dimensions, and however simple its furnish¬ 
ings, it is associated with a certain respect which appears in this 
designation as a Prophet’s Chamber. Its occupant need not feel 
in any way slighted, but quite the reverse. In that room he is, as 
it were, admitted in a special way into the intimacy of the house¬ 
hold. 
The room of the New England hostess was small, as befitted 
its character. It was furnished as the description indicated. A 
low cot bed by the window invited rest. The ancient slat-back 
chair, a cherished heirloom was drawn up comfortably near the 
bed. On the broad sill a bowl of blossoms bespoke thoughtful 
expectation. The floor was bare save for a home-made braided 
rug. The mahogany table in the corner had two drawers, which 
supplied in a measure the lack of a bureau. In one drawer were 
tucked away a few accessories such as pin cushion, hand glass, 
(Continued on page 186) 
A low cot by the window invited rest. The 
ancient slat-back chair, a cherished heir¬ 
loom, was drawn up comfortably near the 
bed 
by Lydia LeBaron Walker 
Photographs by the Author 
T HE accommodations of a house are not necessarily in pro¬ 
portion to its size; and there is a kind of economy which 
consists not so much in curtailing as in expanding the facilities 
one possesses. These reflections were suggested by a very simple 
room in a New England home, which the clever little hostess 
picturesquely termed “The Prophet's Chamber. The idea em¬ 
bodied in that characteristic bedroom is at once so pretty and so 
practical that it may prove interesting to many other housewives, 
wherever they may be. 
Before entering into any details of the nature and furnishings 
of this interesting chamber it will be appropriate to lead up by 
referring to the genesis of the idea in its modern application. 
From these words the reader will probably jump at the conclusion 
that the thought is not new, and this inference will be both right 
and wrong. That is to say, the accommodation is so old as to be 
new. It is too old even to be a revival. It is simply a hint taken 
after the lapse of ages from what was hardly more than a casual 
suggestion made by a hospitable woman of Old 1 estament times 
when she was anticipating that a certain prophet would pass that 
way. To refresh our memories we may recall that the good wom¬ 
an said to her husband: “Let us make a little chamber, I pray 
thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, 
and a stool, and a candlestick; and it shall be, when he cometh to 
us, that he shall turn in thither.” Without feeling competent to 
indulge in any learned commentary on the curious words “on the 
wall" as they occur in the text, we may satisfy ourselves with ob¬ 
serving that this prophet’s chamber was, at least, in some out-of- 
the-way place. It was not one of the familiar and accustomed 
rooms, utilized in the ordinary round of domestic life. It was an 
odd room, a sort of extra that was always to be ready for the 
passing guest. And this pretty piece of thoughtfulness is wafted 
to us after all these centuries like the odor of flowers that have 
long since faded. 
The central 
thought of such a 
roo m now would 
not be essentially 
different from that 
which inspired the 
old room referred 
to in the book of 
Kings. It is for the 
passer by, the 
chance guest, the 
visitor for a night, 
who needs hardly 
more than a restful 
chamber into which 
he may retire and 
feel at home before 
he starts again 
upon his way. The 
chamber is not one 
where a visitor 
would be installed 
who was going to 
remain for any 
great length of 
There is little beside the bed, table, stool 
and candlestick of the biblical description, 
but there is a subtle charm about the 
Prophet’s Chamber 
