A Christian House : Part 3

American Woman's Home
by Catharine Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe

(Page 5 of 42)

The articles used for setting tables are to be placed on the shelves at the front and side of the sink. Two tumbler-trays, made of pasteboard, covered with varnished fancy papers and divided by wires, save many steps in setting and clearing table. Similar trays, for knives and forks and spoons, serve the same purpose.

The sink should be three feet long and three inches deep, its width matching the cook-form.

The large chambers are to be lighted by large windows or glazed sliding-doors, opening upon the balcony. A roof can be put over the balcony and its sides enclosed by windows and the chamber extend into it and be therefore much enlarged.

The water-closets must have the latest improvements for safe discharge and there will be no trouble. They cost no more than an out-door building and save from the most disagreeable house-labor. A great improvement, called earth-closets, will probably take the place of water-closets to some extent; though at present the water is the more convenient. A description of the earth-closet will be given in another chapter relating to tenement-houses for the poor in large cities.

The method of ventilating all the chambers and also the cellar, will be described in another chapter.

Fig. 19 represents a shoe-bag, that can be fastened to the side of a closet or closet-door.

Fig. 20 represents a piece-bag and is a very great labor and space-saving invention. It is made of calico and fastened to the side of a closet or a door, to hold all the bundles that are usually stowed in trunks and drawers. India-rubber or elastic tape drawn into hems to hold the contents of the bag is better than tape-strings. Each bag should be labeled with the name of its contents, written with indelible ink on white tape sewed on to the bag. Such systematic arrangement saves much time and annoyance. Drawers or trunks to hold these articles can not be kept so easily in good order and moreover, occupy spaces saved by this contrivance.

Fig. 21 is the basement. It has the floor and sides plastered and is lighted with glazed doors. A form is raised close by the cellar stairs, for baskets, pails and tubs. Here, also, the refrigerator can be placed, or, what is better, an ice-closet can be made, as designated in the illustration. The floor of the basement must be an inclined plane toward a drain and be plastered with water-lime. The wash-tubs have plugs in the bottom to let off water and cocks and pipes over them bringing cold water from the reservoir in the garret and hot water from the laundry stove. This saves much heavy labor of emptying tubs and carrying water.

The laundry closet has a stove for heating irons and also a kettle on top for heating water. Slides or clothes-frames are made to draw out to receive wet clothes and then run into the closet to dry. This saves health as well as time and money and the clothes are as white as when dried outdoors.

The wood-work of the house, for doors, windows, etc., should be oiled chestnut, butternut, white-wood and pine. This is cheaper, handsomer and more easy to keep clean than painted wood.

According to the calculation of a house-carpenter, in a place where the average price of lumber is $4 a hundred and carpenter work $3 a day, such a house can be built for $1600. For those practicing the closest economy, two small families could occupy it, by dividing the kitchen and yet have room enough. Or one large room and the chamber over it can be left till increase of family and means require enlargement.

A strong horse and carryall, with a cow, garden, vineyard and orchard, on a few acres, would secure all the substantial comforts found in great establishments, without the trouble of ill-qualified servants.

And if the parents and children were united in the daily labors of the house, garden and fruit culture; such thrift, health and happiness would be secured as is but rarely found among the rich.

Let us suppose a colony of cultivated and Christian people, having abundant wealth, who now are living as the wealthy usually do, emigrating to some of the beautiful Southern uplands, where are rocks, hills, valleys and mountains as picturesque as those of New England, where the thermometer but rarely reaches 90 degrees in summer and in winter as rarely sinks below freezing-point, so that outdoor labor goes on all the year, where the fertile soil is easily worked, where rich tropical fruits and flowers abound, where cotton and silk can be raised by children around their home, where the produce of vineyards and orchards finds steady markets by railroads ready made; suppose such a colony, with a central church and school-room, library, hall for sports and a common laundry, (taking the most trying part of domestic labor from each house,) - suppose each family to train the children to labor with the hands as a healthful and honorable duty; suppose all this, which is perfectly practicable, would not the enjoyment of this life be increased and also abundant treasures be laid up in heaven, by using the wealth therefore economized in diffusing similar enjoyments and culture among the poor, ignorant and neglected ones in desolated sections where many now are perishing for want of such Christian example and influences?

About the Author

Catharine Esther Beecher (1800 - 1878) was a noted educator, renowned for her forthright opinions on women's education as well as her vehement support of the many benefits of the incorporation of a kindergarten into children's education.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811 - 1896) was a white American abolitionist and novelist, whose Uncle Tom's Cabin attacked the cruelty of slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential, even in Britain.