Cupboards, Cabinets, Corner Closets 
for the Display of China 
By LILLIAN HARROD 
I T is hard to realize how much room goes to 
waste in every house that has not been most 
carefully planned. It we try, we can find 
here, there, and everywhere, odd niches for china 
cupboards or for books. When we compare the two, 
it really seems as if the modern houses contain far 
more nooks of this kind than did the old-style 
Colonial mansions, whose severely simple rectangular 
parallelograms allowed for just four rooms and a 
hall upon each floor. There were no alcoves, and 
there were no jogs. Save that fireplaces were made 
necessary by tbe climate, and staircases had to he 
used in order to reach the upper floors, our grand¬ 
mothers would have lived in an absolutely closetless 
condition! 
To be sure a jog was sometimes inserted, to permit 
of a buffet. This was usually placed in a corner. 
The shell-pattern was most desirable, but is rarely 
seen except in old houses. This buffet was a cup¬ 
board, or set of shelves, generally used for the display 
of glass, china, and silver-plate. Old-time books, 
such as the Bihle'and the almanac, occasionally 
found their way to the lowermost shelf, or some¬ 
times even a work-basket might creep in there 
unmolested. The buffet was always painted white, 
and there seems never to have been more than one 
in a home, although I really do not think that any¬ 
thing in the statute books of that period actually 
forbade a person to have more. The old blue laws 
were very meddlesome in matters concerning per¬ 
sonal liberty, but they did not aspire to allot a 
stated number of buffets and cubby-holes to each 
house. 
Sometimes the open shelves were superseded by 
A QUAINT CABINET OF RARE CHINA 
204 
