The home: where it should be and what to put in it.

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V/HERE IT SHOULD BE AND WHAT TO PUT IN IT.

BY

ir\ I

NEW YORK: J, G. P. PUTNAM & SONS,

FOTJKTH AVENUE AND TWENTY-THIRD STREET.

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1872, by

In the Office of the Librariun of Congress, at Washington.

Lange, Little & Hillman,

108 TO 114 WoosTEK St., N. Y.

Preface

( Which it may he well to read,)

This book has been prepared more especially for those about to commence house-keeping, but will, we hope, be found not without interest and value to those of more experience.

The first portion of it, relating to the selection or building of a house, is more general in its treatment of the subject than the portions relating to the furnishing and interior arrangements. We have endeavored to write only of what housekeepers should do for themselves. In a book of this size we could not undertake to give plans of houses and architectural directions. These belong to works on building. But as the careful selection of a house, or the intelligent supervision of its construction, should be the duty of those intending to establish for themselves a satisfactory home, we have treated of these subjects.

But, when the house is ready for occupancy, the real work of the housekeepers commence. They, themselves,

VUl PBEFACE.

must furnish their home, and, to a very great extent, must depend upon their own judgment and good sense. To aid in this work, we have given very particular and expHcit directions in regard to house -furnishing, which is mainly the purpose of this volume.

We have also devoted considerable space to various departments of domestic economy, having in view the needs not only of those of small means, but of persons of good incomes, to whom it is an object to make an economical and advantageous disposition of their money.

And, in treating of the furnishing and general arrangements of a house, we have endeavored to consider not only the ordinary subjects of convenience, expense, etc., but those of beauty, and artistic effect. And with these economy is perfectly compatible, for to make a home tasteful and attractive money is often not so necessary as study and observation, and a little earnestness in regard to the desired end.

For information in various parts of this volume we are indebted to Messrs. Kelty & Co., Edward D. Bassford, Degraaf & Taylor, Lord & Taylor, and Ball, Black & Co., of New York, and James H. Orne, Son & Co., of Philadelphia.

Part I. The Location Of The Home

A COUNTRY HOME.

Under this title we will consider the homes of country people, not the country residences of persons doing business in the city. These will be treated under another head.

There is, perhaps, less opportunity of selection in regard to the location of a country house than in any other instance ; for we are very apt, when we buy, or rent a farm, large or small, to give the chief consideration to the land, and to be satisfied, or to endeavor to be satisfied with the house we find upon it. This is often our only course, but it also happens, frequently enough, that a country house is to be built, and the locality of this we will consider.

If there has been a house on the farm, the new edifice is generally erected on, or near, the location on which the old one stood, for there are all the conveniences and outside belongings of the dwelling. If, then, these conveniences are to be considered of the first importance there is nothing more to be said about the location. But we do not subscribe to the doctrine of the domination of convenience which governs so many country builders. We would place the requisites for a good location of a country home in the following order : healthfulness, comfort, convenience. Therefore, in the first place, the house should be on a portion of the land where good drainage is ^Dossible ; it should be well shaded, but not too much so ; and its situation should be as convenient as possible in respect to water, access to farm buildings, the road, and the fields.

This matter of a healthful location is too often entirely neglected in building country houses. A low, damp locality is attractive because it is better sheltered from the winds of winter ; water is more readily obtained ; the kitchen garden may be of better soil ; and, if there is danger of chills and fever, and of rheumatism, these are dangers to which country people have been so long familiar that they have become tired of being prudent. But we might as well live as long and as happily as we can, and, if there is a choice of location, let us build on that which is most healthful, unless circumstances compel us, as they unfortunately sometimes will, to do otherwise.

There is nothing which conduces so much to the comfort of a country house as the shade and protection afforded by trees, and yet bare houses are as common on a farm as bare feet. Very often the first thing done after the site for the house is selected is to cut down all the trees thereon. Absolute barbarity is often displayed in such cases, when grand trees of years of magnificent growth are sacrificed to the mere convenience of a carpenter or mason. There are few thine's about which we

LOCATION OF THE HOME. 11

should hesitate so long as the felling of a fine tree near the future homestead.

To be sure, roots and branches are often great hindrances to cellar-digging, and house-building, and it is so easy to set out young trees ! This is true, but it is not always easy to live until those trees have grown to their full size and use. It is well for a place to be pleasant for our children, but it is better to have it pleasant also for ourselves. So, if possible, have trees about j^our house, or go a little out of your way to find a place where there are trees ; oaks, maples, etc., for shade, and cedars and other evergreens for protection against the blasts of winter.

In regard to the convenience of a situation it is not necessary to say much. The country builder is always ready enough to consider this branch of the subject. But it is better to depend for water on a hydraulic ram or a pipe from a distant spring than to sacrifice comfort and health to a well at the back door. And we earnestly advise the country builder to consider that he is a man as well as a farmer — that the health and happiness of his family are worth as much at least as the possible profit from placing the barn on the side of a convenient rise in the ground, and the house wherever it may be most convenient to the stables and the pig pen.

We will be glad to see the- day when the barn becomes the auxiliary of the dwelling ; when the family is considered first, and the cattle afterward.

To many parts of our country these remarks do not apply. The homestead there is on the finest situation on the farm, and the necessary buildings cluster around as they are needed. But in many localities the magnificent barns and the poor, make-shift dwellings make us long for a change in that rural sentiment which sets the comfort and well-be human owners.

fort and well-being of a horse or a cow over that of their

A SUBUKBAN HOME.

This is a general term to designate the dwellings of those who do business in the city, but who live outside of the business limits.

In the first place, as in the former instance, we ought to think of health. Around many cities, great care is necessary to avoid what are called the chill and fever districts. Ill-drained locations ; sites. near or on newmade ground, or fiUed-in marshes ; must be avoided if you wish to remain on distant terms with that unpleasant acquaintance — the fever and ague. It will not do to depend on inquiries of property holders, or even of the residents of the neighborhood. No matter where you niay go you will find that people who have lands to sell are nearly always very favorably impressed with the superior healthfulness of their property. Close and careful investigation will alone disclose the truth. And it is possible to discover it without living on the spot to find out by actual experiment whether you will be sick or not. The investigation may be troublesome, but it will repay all the money or time you spend upon it.

Then, if you intend to buy or build your house the value of land ought to be considered ; not only the price at the time but the possible rise and decrease in such price. There are building sites in and around New York which to-day are not worth the money that was paid for them several years ago, and there are, as every one knows, lots that have doubled and trebled in value in the same time. The improving tendencies of

LOCATION OF THE HOME. 13

a neighborhood, and the probabihty of increased accessibihty to the business centres, will be considered by every man of ordinary judgment, but it is so easy to be misled m these regards that great prudence, united to a spn-it of investigation, is always needed. The representations of agents and owners are almost always apt to show an unnaturally bright side of the picture. It must be toned down by good, hard common sense before you can look at it properly.

Taxes, and probable assessments for improvements opening streets, etc., always exercise a very powerful mfluence upon the value of a lot to a man in moderate circumstances. To the rich, the fact that he is obliged to help pay for the opening of a street through the property need matter little, for the expense is likely to be repaid to him two or three fold in the course of time, but it is widely different in the case of a man in moderate circumstances. The hundred dollars which lie IS required to pay to-day may be worth far more to him than the three or four hundred dollars of increased value that may accrue upon his land in consequence of that expenditure may be worth to him in a few years. The expenses which tell the heaviest upon a young man's prosperity are very often those which beset him at the commencement of his business career ; and this fact should be kept in view when seductive pictures of prospective advantages are held before him It is well to provide for the future, but, if possible, let it be without too great a sacrifice of the present. To be truly prosperous one ought to be 'proportionately prosperous all the time.

Thus much m regard to privations and embarrassments consequent upon drains upon the dimes of to-day in hopes of additions to the dollars to-morrow.

It is generally true, however, that the greater number of those who live in small suburban houses rent their dwellings, and for these, if they secure a tolerably long lease of the premises, it is not necessary to consider the probable rise and fall of the value of the property. If the house be taken from year to year an unexpected increase in rent may make itself unpleasantly felt by the tenant without the possibility of any compensating advantage to him, and a prudent man will therefore endeavor to secure a lease upon a property in which he desires to establish a home. In such cases he not only makes, with some certainty, his calculations as to his expenses for a few years, but he will feel much more strongly encouraged to make improvements in house and grounds. Too many tenants endure privations and inconveniences, little and great, because they think it is hardly worth while to spend money or labor in improvements which, after all, may only be for the benefit of the next tenant. But, with a lease, one may plant with some certainty that he shall reap, and not another.

Apart from the question of the value of the property, as many things must be taken into consideration in regard to the rented house as one that is purchased. In both cases the house is to be lived in, and the tenant would like to be as happy in his home as if he were its owner. Consequently questions of location, convenience, access, etc., should be considered by the tenant as well as the house-owner.

As a rule, rents in the suburbs are not high in proportion to the prices necessary to pay for portions of

LOCATION OF THE HOME. 15

houses in the cities. The price of rents depends somewhat, although not as much as circumstances would seem to demand, upon the means of access from the city to the suburb. In many cases rents are quite as cheap when one can travel to and fro in a commodious steamboat, or in the steam cars, as on those long and wearisome lines of horse cars, which now run out of almost all our large cities.

It is probable that in a few years most of these cities will have improved methods of transit to and from the suburbs and outlying country, but, until then, we would urge those who care for comfort, health, and a tranquil mind, to avoid the necessity of connecting their homes and their business by means of the horse cars. Especially in the summer they may be considered as the seed beds of much of the disease of the cities. The extra money paid on the railroad or steamboat will often be much less than the doctor's bills which have their foundation in the packed boxes on wheels that ply up and down the length and breadth of our great cities.

Not only, then, should the time needed to reach your home be considered, but the means of reaching it should be carefully pondered, before making up your mind in regard to its location.

The same remark would apply to the selection of apartments were it not that these are almost always within the city limits, where horse cars are the only means of reaching them. The evil, therefore, must be borne in these instances, if the distance is too great for the reserved power of one's legs.

Part II, The House For The Home. Things To Be Considered

The man who is enabled to build himself a house ought to be in this regard a happy man, but it does not always happen that he is such. If he fail to avail himself of his opportunities, and finds it out, the sense of the " might have been " will be very depressing. He is in far more unhappy case than the man who takes up his abode in a house all ready to his hand, and who contents himself, of necessity, with things as he finds them.

Therefore, let us think a little before we build, and, as far as possible, govern circumstances rather than submit to them. We have great privileges. Let us not allow them to slip away.

It is not the intent of this volume to give directions for putting up a house, or to inform any one of the best methods of making windows or doors, or the most desirable plans for roofs and stairways. The way to have a good house is to get good men to build it — men who understand their business, whether the building is to be of logs or brown-stone. But we may be permitted to tell the buUders what we want, and it is then theii* duty to give it to us.

THE HOUSE FOR THE HOME. 17

And here we will remark that one of the best advisers in regard to the planning of a house is a man's wife — the woman who is to be the mistress of the establishment. She it is who will make the greatest use of the closets, the stairs, the rooms, the cellars, the garrets, the kitchen, the entries, and the pantries ; and she it is who should have the most potent voice in theu' arrangement. If a mistake is made in regard to these things, the wife will be the greatest sufferer. Give her a chance then to prevent mistakes. Her knowledge of what is needed in house-building to make housekeeping perfect will be of great advantage in drawing out the plan.

Nearly every one has an idea of what kind of house he would like ; but there is a fashion in houses, and, when a builder comes to build, it will often be found that this fashion interferes very much with the comfort and convenience of the person who is to pay for the house and live in it. Take a stand then, and have your house as you want it, no matter how the rest of the buildings in the block or neighborhood may be constructed. If you prefer to sacrifice comfort to appearance and uniformity that is your own affair ; but if you want to have a house that will be convenient and sensible, let your builder know that you intend to have it. This may necessitate a struggle, but a good house is worth struggling for.

To begin then, insist, when you are consulting about your plans, (and these remarks will apply to all houses, whether they cost but a thousand or two, or tens of thousands,) upon plenty of light and ventilation. It is on these fields that your principal battles will be fought. The builder will not object to hght and air in the abstract ; but, if narrow windows are the style, he will want to put them in ; if open fire-places are not included in his private plans, he will want to leave them out ; and, if he is in the habit of putting up half a story at the top of his houses, he will want to put it on yours. But stand up for your own ideas in these re^ spects. If he is not a man to whom you feel you can defer in regard to the execution of the plans, it will be better to drop him at once, for you are, in a great degree, responsible to yourself and family for the suitableness of the plan.

There is no reason why there should be so many badly built houses. It seldom costs more to put up a well-arranged house than one which is unhealthful and inconvenient. Why, for instance, should we not have good, high rooms at the top of the house ? A few more rows of bricks, or a little more framework, windows a little higher, and a trifle more plastering, and we have rooms instead of cubby-holes. Nothing to us seems to indicate more plainly a badly-planned house than little hot rooms with low ceilings and contracted windows at the top of a house. The comparatively small amount of money necessary to make these rooms of a reasonable height, fit for the occupation of decent human beings, would be as profitably invested as that expended upon any other portion of the house. But it is not generally the want of money that prompts the building of these low, uncomfortable rooms — it is the want of judgment.

Water in the house is such an immense advantage that it is included in all good plans wherever circumstances will permit. If there is a running stream near the house, a hydraulic ram may be constructed which will force the water all over the house : but if there is

THE HOUSE FOR THE HOJIE. 19

no such stream, a spring may be found at such an elevation as to allow the water to flow through pipes into the house without any mechanical system of pumping, or forcing. And, if there is nothing but a well, a system of pipes, through which the water may be occasionally pumped into the house, will be found of the greatest advantage. Then, there may be a bath-room, water iii the kitchen, stationary wash tubs, and a variety of the conveniences of civilization impossible, or nearly so, when the water must be carried by hand into the house.

Even more important than bringing water into the house is that of keeping water out of it. A damp house is not fit to live in. We may make our roofs and our walls tight, and yet our houses may be like grave-yard vaults, if the proper precautions against damp walls and cellars are not taken during the process of building. In the first place the soil on which the house is built should be so drained that the foundations will rest absolutely on dry ground. Then the walls above the floor level should be separated from those below it by some substance impervious to water. Otherwise we cannot always be certain of dry walls. No drains should ever be allowed to run under a dwelling, for any drain may leak, and then disease is almost certain.

These things, apparently the duty of the builder, will often be neglected, if the owner of the house does not see for himself that they are attended to.

Again, especially if the house is in the country, the question of shade should be considered, and it may be that shade without trees must be sought for. We can plant trees where there are none, but we cannot make trees grow to be shade trees for many years. Large forest trees are sometimes transplanted into lawns with success, but these cases are exceptional. A piazza is a matter more under our control, but it often happens that even piazzas require the growth of vines and the aid of trees before they become entirely reliable for purposes both of shelter and shade. Especially is this the case when it is possible only to have them on certain sides of the house. Piazzas are often of but partial advantage to the new house. In such cases it has been very sensibly suggested that if the piazzas be supplemented with awnings, which, at comparatively small expense, can be made to reach from the roof to posts set up four or five feet outside of the portico, a comfortable shade can be secured at all hours of the day. Broad flaps hanging from the edges of these awnings will greatly assist in keeping off the rays of the sun. A piazza thus protected is a constant comfort in the summer, in rain or sunshine.

When a home is built and furnished, we should endeavor, of course, to guard it from danger ; and its greatest danger is from fire. In cities we place our reliance for safety upon the Fire Department, and upon careful management and oversight of our stoves and grates. But in the country we must generally look to ourselves, not only to prevent fires, but to extinguish them after they have broken out. And it very often hajDpens that, when a house is built in the country, not the slightest provision is made for extinguishing fires. In fact, when a country residence takes fire, it generally burns down ; and the efforts of its occupants and the neighbors are confined to saving the furniture and valuables. It seems almost incredible that persons of ordinary prudence will be content to invest their money

THE HOUSE FOR THE HOME. 21

and risk their lives in a house which it may be impossible to save from destruction if a coal should fall upon the floor, if a lamp should upset, or if any of the manifold accidents should happen, which the use of fire always renders possible.

And it is the more wonderful that these precautions are not taken when we reflect how comparatively httle they cost. A trifling economy in building, the giving up of a bay window, of an ornamental cornice, of an extra-handsome fence, or of many an adjunct to a building that may be dispensed with without actual discomfort or loss, may enable one to provide the means for extinguishing a fire in his house.

These means are various. If there is a well on the premises, a hose long enough to be carried from the well to the upper stories of the house with a properly arranged force x^ump, may be sufiicient in many cases. Sometimes it may be considered best to have a cistern kept full of water for use in case of fire, or it may be preferred to build a tank in the upper part of the house, which may be kept full of rain water by means of tin spouts connecting with the roof. Bat, in any case, the recently invented Fire Extinguishers, which are always ready for use, and of the greatest service in case of fires, may be provided, and they may be relied upon with confidence. They will cost about sixty dollars each, and this sum can be included in the estimates of expenses without increasing the sum total, if it be considered that nothing is more important to a house than protection against fire. Do without something else, if you will, but do not do without some sort of fire apparatus.

In this connection we would also urge the necessity of a trap-door in the roof of every country house. These are often dispensed with because they may possibly allow rain to leak in around their edges; but if they are properly made there need be no danger of this, and their use in case of a fire on the roof is incalculable. With easy access to the roof a man may extinguish with a hose, or a few buckets of water, or some wet blankets, a fire that will be entirely beyond his control by the time he has clambered up an unsafe and insufficient ladder, or has cut a hole through his roof.

It is a very prudent thing to insure ourselves against loss by fire, but it is still more prudent to have within our own hands the means of preventing such loss.

There are many other conveniences which might almost be considered necessities, if comfort is our object, which will suggest themselves to the mind of the thoughtful builder, and which will be of far more use and satisfaction, and much less cost, than many of the tawdry arrangements with which it is now fashionable to adorn the exterior of a house. It is not always money that is needed in these cases ; generally it is only necessary to be convinced of the advantage of such adjuncts to a pleasant home. The mind that is satisfied of their value will seldom find insurmountable difficulties in the way of their attainment.

With these remarks, which are intended merely to call attention to some of the points desirable in a good house, be it grand or humble, and which are generally within the means of persons in moderate circumstances, we leave the subject of building.

The person who rents a house is, of course, in a great degree the victim of circumstances, but the foregoing remarks will apply to him in many instances. If he

THE HOUSE FOR THE HOME. 23

cannot build, it may be that he can alter, and, if he has a lease upon the premises, it may pay him admirably to make improvements on the place, such as we have suggested, even if he is obliged to leave them behind him when he changes his residence. Three or four years of comfort are not to be undervalued by beings whose earthly existence is so limited as ours.