And as the most ideal thing on earth has as its foundation a most
practicable fact, the real way to make a home is to build first in that
portion upon which is to depend so much of the weal or woe of the
house. Young beginners in home-making pay much attention to
outward surroundings if their means will admit, and if they will not,
their minds are more set upon the arrangement and finishing of the
parlor than the other rooms of the home, and they arc more apt to
indulge in extravagance there than elsewhere. The basis upon which
all homes should be founded is good living, and no matter how strait-
ened the circumstances, how little there is to be spent, this can always
be secured if housekeepers will begin at the beginning — that is, in the
kitchen. That they do not thus begin is the reason why there is so
little real home-comfort in houses; so little restfulness and true
pleasure found in what ought to be genuine homes.
The getting of a house does not guarantee the possession of a
home ; it may and it may not. But the presence in the house of a
good housekeeper does, for where the physical welfare of a family is
looked after, the mental and spiritual comfort is almost sure to
follow. A cheerful kitchen, for tlie children's sake, in the first
place — for they love the kitchen naturally — should be the earliest
■38 THE hearthstone; or, life at home.
possession, and not many times can it be secured with the insufficient
help American housewives have to depend upon generally.
A way to have a good cook is to be one, and the way to make
home happy is to have a well-supplied table. A humiliating admis-
sion this to some, perhaps, but the truth is invincible, and sooner or
later this one asserts itself.
Three well-served meals each day will, under ordinary circum-
stances, secure the home-happiness of almost any reasonable house-
hold, and it certainly does establish the comfort of all.
The dining-room is the tell-tale apartment of the house ; whatever
it is, so is the parlor, the up-stairs rooms or the kitchen. Cracked
dishes, soiled covers, dingy carpets — these bespeak one kind of
housekeeper, as neat napkins, clean chairs, and tidy ornaments
another. The dining-room ought to be the pleasantest place in the
house ; it is the meeting-room where the family are expected to be
always present at stated times, and where the events of the day are
talked over while the pleasant business of eating is being discussed.
Dingy walls ought not to be tolerated in a dining-room ; they are
an eyesore anywhere, but in this place they are entirely out of place.
Tinted walls are preferable to papered ones ; but they cost more, and
are not always to be commanded. If paper is selected, let it be suited
to the size and general appearance of the room.
Page 18
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
And as the most ideal thing on earth has as its foundation a most practicable fact, the real way to make a home is to build first in that portion upon which is to depend so much of the weal or woe of the house. Young beginners in home-making pay much attention to outward surroundings if their means will admit, and if they will not, their minds are more set upon the arrangement and finishing of the parlor than the other rooms of the home, and they arc more apt to indulge in extravagance there than elsewhere. The basis upon which all homes should be founded is good living, and no matter how straitened the circumstances, how little there is to be spent, this can always be secured if housekeepers will begin at the beginning — that is, in the kitchen. That they do not thus begin is the reason why there is so little real home-comfort in houses; so little restfulness and true pleasure found in what ought to be genuine homes.
The getting of a house does not guarantee the possession of a home ; it may and it may not. But the presence in the house of a good housekeeper does, for where the physical welfare of a family is looked after, the mental and spiritual comfort is almost sure to follow. A cheerful kitchen, for tlie children's sake, in the first place — for they love the kitchen naturally — should be the earliest
■38 THE hearthstone; or, life at home.
possession, and not many times can it be secured with the insufficient help American housewives have to depend upon generally.
A way to have a good cook is to be one, and the way to make home happy is to have a well-supplied table. A humiliating admission this to some, perhaps, but the truth is invincible, and sooner or later this one asserts itself.
Three well-served meals each day will, under ordinary circumstances, secure the home-happiness of almost any reasonable household, and it certainly does establish the comfort of all.
The dining-room is the tell-tale apartment of the house ; whatever it is, so is the parlor, the up-stairs rooms or the kitchen. Cracked dishes, soiled covers, dingy carpets — these bespeak one kind of housekeeper, as neat napkins, clean chairs, and tidy ornaments another. The dining-room ought to be the pleasantest place in the house ; it is the meeting-room where the family are expected to be always present at stated times, and where the events of the day are talked over while the pleasant business of eating is being discussed.
Dingy walls ought not to be tolerated in a dining-room ; they are an eyesore anywhere, but in this place they are entirely out of place. Tinted walls are preferable to papered ones ; but they cost more, and are not always to be commanded. If paper is selected, let it be suited to the size and general appearance of the room.