The Complete Home Part 16

Five feet long, three-inch roll rim, porcelain enameled, nickel-plated double bath c.o.c.k, supply pipes, connected waste and overflow with cleanout.

Lavatory............................... 30.00

Twenty by twenty-four inches, porcelain enameled, slab, bowl and ap.r.o.n on four sides in one piece, nickel-plated waste, low-pattern compression faucets with china indexes, supply pipes with compression stops, and vented traps.

Closet................................. 35.00

Porcelain enameled, siphonic, oak saddle seat and cover, oak tank (low set) with marble top and push b.u.t.ton, nickel-plated supply pipe with compression stop.

Total for main essentials..............$101.00

Tub seat, natural oak................. $0.50 Soap holder........................... .90 Sponge holder......................... .95 Toothbrush and tumbler holder......... .75 Gla.s.s shelf........................... 1.75 Shower attachment..................... 2.00 Mirror................................ 3.00 Robe hooks............................ .75 Towel bars............................ 1.00 Toilet-paper holder................... .50 Towel basket.......................... 1.00

Grand total...........................$113.10

CHAPTER XI

CELLAR, ATTIC, AND CLOSETS

Modern city and town life, with butcher and grocer so conveniently near, has done away to some extent with the cellar of ye olden tyme--dubbed one of the aids to "successful diplomacy," the other being that very necessary adjunct, a good cook. Those were truly days of bounteous hospitality and plenty which filled the cellar with barrels of apples of every variety, bins of potatoes, bushels of turnips and onions, barrels of pork "put down," corned beef, kegs of cider turning to vinegar, crocks of pickles and preserves of all kinds, quarters of beef, pans of sausage, tubs of lard and b.u.t.ter, and--oh, fruits and good things of the earth which we now know only as "a tale that is told." But the cellar of to-day accommodates itself to to-day's needs, for though we may still lay in some commodities in quant.i.ty, we know the things of to-morrow can be had from the market on comparatively short notice. Nevertheless, the things of to-day--and some other things--must be carefully stowed away, and the deeps of the house made hygienic, for as the cellar, so will the house be also, and to this might be added that as the floor, so will the cellar be also.

THE CELLAR FLOOR

In country places, where there is no sewage to contaminate the soil, a hard, well-beaten dirt floor is not particularly objectionable, except that it cannot well be cleaned. Boards raised from the ground by small blocks nailed to the under side, and leading to bins, cupboards, and furnace room, should be laid across it to prevent the tracking of dirt to the upper rooms, and these little walks must be swept and kept free from dirt and dust. If the cellar is floored with boards, the flooring should be raised sufficiently to allow free circulation of air beneath it; but the only strictly sanitary flooring is of concrete, six inches thick, covered from wall to wall with Portland or other good cement.

Cellars, being below the street, and therefore receiving some of the surface drainage, are p.r.o.ne to dampness, and, are easily contaminated by leakage from drains and sewers, and other filth communicated to them through the soil. These conditions are largely counteracted by the concrete and cement flooring, which also bars the entrance of ants and other vermin. The communication of damp cellar air, polluted by noxious gases from sewers and decaying vegetable matter, to the upper parts of the house is responsible for many an otherwise unexplainable case of rheumatism, consumption, typhoid, and other diseases, and any outlay of time and money which can render the cellar wholesome and immune to ravages of agents external and beyond our control, must not be grudged.

VENTILATION

One who owns his home can adopt preventive measures, such as outside area ways or air s.p.a.ces, impossible to the renter; but certain ounces of prevention are available to all. For instance: if drain pipes run through the cellar, have them examined often for leaks; if there is an open drain, wash it out frequently with copperas and water, and give it an occasional flus.h.i.+ng with chloride of lime or lye in strong solution to destroy any possible odor arising from it; and see that the roof drains do not empty too near the house, thus dampening the cellar walls. Whitewash the walls semiannually, not only for sanitary reasons but to lighten the "darkness visible," and above all else--_have sufficient ventilation_! A perfect circulation of air is insured when there are opposite windows; but whatever their location, all windows should hang from the top on hinges, or be so put in that they can be easily removed from the inside; for open they must be, and that all the year round, except in the coldest winter weather, and even then they can be opened during the warmer hours of the middle of the day without danger of freezing the contents of the cellar. The cellar can be protected from invasion from without by galvanized iron netting, and wire screens will exclude the flies. Both screens must, however, be so adjusted that they will not interfere with the opening and closing of the windows.

THE PARt.i.tIONED CELLAR

The cellar which is part.i.tioned off into small rooms is more easily cared for and kept in order than that which consists of just the one large s.p.a.ce. Rough pine-board part.i.tions cost very little, and one to shut off the furnace (provided there be one) from the rest of the room is absolutely necessary, since the heat which it generates must not be allowed to spread and so spoil the cellar for cold-storage purposes, for warm, damp air hastens the degeneration of vegetables and meats.

Unless some other provision is made in the cellar plan for the coal, a strong bin, with one section movable, should be built for it in the furnace room. To the posts of this bin hang the shovels--one large and one small--used in handling the coal. The premature burial of many a shovel might have been prevented had its owner only bethought him of those simple expedients, hammer and nails. A strip of leather nailed to another post supports ax or hatchet, while near by is the neat pile of kindling which its sharp edge has made--perhaps out of old and useless boxes and barrels. These must not be allowed to acc.u.mulate, but be chopped up at once. Logs and large sticks have each their own pile, while chips, sawdust, and shavings take up their abode in a large basket or box. The ashes from the furnace go into boxes and barrels outside of the house.

ORDER IN THE CELLAR

The cellar is primarily a storing place for food, and not an asylum for hopelessly maimed and decrepit furniture. If there is any which is mendable, mend and use it; if not, consign it to the kindling pile at once, there to round out its career of usefulness. Odds and ends of rubbish collect very quickly and make a cellar unsightly and difficult to keep in order. If necessary to keep certain boxes for future packing purposes, pile them neatly against the wall where they will be out of the way, or else send them up to the attic. When there are no rooms part.i.tioned off for their accommodation provide bins, or their cheaper subst.i.tutes, barrels or boxes, for vegetables and fruits--boxes preferably, since they are more shallow and their contents can thus be spread out more. Vegetables and fruits should be looked over frequently, and anything showing signs of decay removed. Instead of placing boxes and barrels, vinegar kegs, firkins, stone jars, etc., directly on the floor, stand them on bricks, small stones, or pieces of board. When so placed, they are more easily handled and moved in cleaning, and the circulation of air beneath prevents dampness and consequent decay.

SHELVES AND CLOSETS

A swinging shelf--double or single--held by supports at the four corners, securely nailed to the joists of the floor above, is almost indispensable to the convenience of the cellar. It should be about three feet wide and from six to eight feet in length, and may be covered on three sides with galvanized wire fly netting, the fourth side to have double frame doors, also wire-covered, and swinging outward. Ordinary cotton netting can he used instead of the wire, and is of course cheaper, but must he renewed each year, while the wire will last indefinitely. And so we have evolved a cool, flyless place for our pans of milk, meats, cooked and uncooked, fresh vegetables, cakes, pastry, etc. If poultry or meat is to be hung here for a little while, wrap it in brown paper or unbleached muslin. Wash the shelves once a week with sal soda water and dry thoroughly.

A windowless closet as far as possible from the furnace, and best built under some small extension, thus giving it three cool stone walls, is the place where preserves and jellies keep best. Label each jar and gla.s.s distinctly and arrange in rows on the shelves, taller ones behind, shorter in front. If there is no closet of this kind, a cupboard, standing firmly on the floor, can easily be built, for preserves must have darkness as well as coolness; otherwise they are apt to turn dark and to ferment. The shelves of the fruit closet must be examined frequently for traces of that stickiness which tells that some bottle of fruit is "working" and leaking. Pickles keep better in crocks on the cellar bottom.

Laundry tubs and scrub pails are usually kept, bottom up, in the cellar. All articles stored there should be well wrapped in strong paper and securely tied, and it will be found a great convenience, especially at cleaning time, to hang many things from the ceiling beams. The cellar should be swept and put to rights every two weeks, cobwebs brushed down, and all corners well looked after. Here, as nowhere else, is the personal supervision of the housewife essential.

THE ATTIC

It is with a lump in our throats and an ache in our hearts that we turn our thoughts wistfully backward to that place of hallowed memories, which is itself becoming simply a memory--the attic! What happy hours we spent there, rummaging among its treasures, soothed by its twilight quiet, and a little awed by the ghosts of the past which seemed to hover about each old chest and horsehair trunk and gayly flowered carpet bag; each andiron and foot warmer and spinning wheel and warming pan! Roof and floor of wide, rough boards, stained by age and leaks; tiny, cobweb-curtained windows; everything dusty, dim, mysterious!

Where is it now? Gone--pushed aside by the march of civilization; supplanted by the modern lathed and plastered attic, with its smoothly laid floor, which harbors neither mice nor memories. And though we sigh as we say so, the attic of to-day _is_ a better kept, more compact, more hygienic affair than its ancestor; for we have grown to realize that sentiment must sometimes be sacrificed to sense. Whatever comes we must have hygiene, even at the expense of the little spirit germ which seems sometimes to develop best in the "dim religious light." For we cannot forget Victor Hugo and Balzac and Tom Moore in their attics.

ORDER AND CARE OF ATTIC

Frequently so much of the attic s.p.a.ce is finished off for bed and other rooms that what remains is somewhat limited, and cannot be turned into a catch-all for the may-be-usefuls. Indeed, only such things as have true worth should go into it, whatever its size, these to be carefully stowed away, like things together--boxes, furniture, winter stovepipes with their elbows, piles of magazines systematically tied together by years, trunks, etc. In each trunk place its own special key and strap, and when garments or other articles are packed therein, fasten to the lid a complete list of its contents. Upholstered furniture must be closely covered with old muslin or ticking. The family tool chest seems to fit into the attic, as well as the small boxes of nails, rolls of wire, screws, bolts, and the hundred odds and ends of hardware which the lord of the house must be able to lay his hand on when he wants to do any tinkering about the place. A semiannual sweeping, mopping, and dusting will keep the attic in good condition if thoroughly done, with the help of the "place for everything, and everything in its place," a precept as well as an example which has entered prominently into the upbringing of most of us. Here is another spot where corners and cobwebs like to hobn.o.b, and such intimacy must be sternly discouraged.

If old garments are kept in the attic, they should be either packed away in labeled boxes or trunks, or hung on a line stretched across the room and carefully covered with an old sheet. This line is also serviceable when rainy days and lack of other room make it necessary, to dry the was.h.i.+ng here. The modern attic is for utility only, and so its story is soon told.

CLOSETS

If woman's rights would only usurp one more of what have hitherto been almost exclusively man's rights--the profession of architecture--she would in truth become the architect, not only of her own fortune, but of the fortunes of a suffering sisterhood, whose great plaint is, "So many things and no place to put them!" For who ever knew a mere man, architect and artist of the beautiful though he were, who had even the beginning of a realization of the absolute necessity for closets--large ones, light ones, and plenty of them? In his special castle, boxes, bundles, and clothing seem to have a magic way of disposing of themselves, "somewhere, somewhen, somehow," and so it does not occur to him that his own particular Clorinda is conducting a private condensing plant which could put those of the large packers to the blush. But let him have just one experience of straightening out and putting to rights, and then only will he appreciate that closets are even more essential than cozy corners and unexpected nooks and crannies for holding pieces of statuary and collecting dust. If a woman could be the "& Company" of every firm of architects, there would be an evolution in home building which would lengthen the lives and shorten the labors of "lady-managers" in many lands. When that comfortable wish becomes a reality, let us hope that "Let there be light" will be printed in large black letters across the s.p.a.ce to be occupied by each closet in every house plan, for the average closet is so dark that even a self-respecting family skeleton would decline to occupy it, evil though its deeds are supposed to be. The downpour of the miscellaneous collection of a closet's shelves upon the blind groper after some particular package thereon, gives convincing proof that absence of light means presence of confusion; while it also invites the elusive moth to come in and make himself at home--which he does.

THE LINEN CLOSET

But after all, it is a blessed good thing to have some closets, even dark ones, and proper care and attention will go a long way toward remedying their defects. Clothes closets we must have, china closets we usually have, and linen closets we sometimes have, not always. To the housewife who possesses a linen closet it is a source of particular pride, and the stocking and care of it her very special pleasure. Its drawers should be deep and its shelves wide and well apart--not less than eighteen inches, and even more in the case of the upper ones, for the accommodation of the reserve supply of blankets, quilts, and other bed coverings. Arrange on the lower shelves the piles of counterpanes, sheets, and pillowcases in constant use, linen and cotton in separate piles, and those of the same size together. Washcloths and towels, heavy, fine, bath and hand, have each their own pile on shelf or in drawer, according to room. Shams and other dainty bed accessories go into the drawers, one of which may be dedicated to the neat strips and tight rolls of old linen and cotton cloth, worn-out underclothing, etc., as they gradually acc.u.mulate. Where no provision is made for a linen closet, a case of the wardrobe type, built along the inner wall of a wide hall, answers the purpose very well, and is not unpleasing to the eye if made to harmonize with the other woodwork. A closet of this kind may vary in width from four to six feet, with swinging or sliding doors, preferably the latter, and drawers and shelves, or shelves alone. Or there may be a cupboard above and shelves below, or vice versa.

CLOTHES CLOSETS

Clothes closets of this description can also be built against unoccupied bedroom walls, the objection to the number of doors thus introduced being offset by the great convenience of having one's clothing immediately at hand, exposed to light and to view directly the doors are opened, for we find things by sight here, not by faith.

Angles and recesses which have no special excuse for being are easily converted into closets, one to be used as a hanging place for the various brooms, brushes, dustpans, and dusters in use about the house.

Brooms, by the way, must never be allowed to stand upon their bristles, but must either stand upside down or hang. Another nook becomes a convenient place for hanging canvas or ticking bags filled with odds and ends of dress goods, white and colored, news and wrapping papers, b.a.l.l.s of twine, and other pick-me-ups.