Let the frames be plain and the pictures fine. Then for the window
ornamentation, let there be only plain white shades, and have the
recess filled, if desired, with a wire stand for a vine or a plant. The
room, however, should be large if this is added.
A clock should not be in the room, for Americans do not require
to be reminded of time at the table — they spend less at it than any
other civilized people, and there should be present on the table or
buffet the daily papers to glance over if the desire is felt. The room
ought to be sacred to its special uses, and those uses ought to be
eating and talking and reading. It depends upon the size of the
family as to whether there will be the latter, for young people and
little children put it quite out of the question. On the corner of the
buffet should be the ice-cooler and glasses, if it be summer; or the
china or glass pitcher if the weather be cold. A silver pitcher is too
suggestive of cold drink to be as agreeable as a glass one in winter,
and water is sufnciently cold in the latter, for the ice does not melt
so speedily.
A buffet is always a needed piece of furniture in a dining-room,
and it should be suitably furnished. The glasses usually stand upon
it, and also the tea-set of silv^er or china, as the case may be. Pretty
articles of glass, such as the celery-stand, the fruit-dish and the cake-
stand of silver (the latter term is applied for courtesy's sake, plated-
ware being used as a rule) may be set upon it, and the pretty treasure
of faience or majolica ware has its place in the collection. The plate
upon the buffet should be well polished, for its condition is a certain
indication of a well-managed or an ill-managed household.
In regard to silver generally, it should be remembered that it is
impossible to make greasy silver take a polish, and that, as spoons
and forks in daily use are continually in contact with grease, they
must require careful washing to remove it.
The lack of a general reception-room in a home is always greatly
felt by the growing members of the family as well as by their elders.
Children like some place to have their friends, as well a retreat
when the parlors are occupied, and the inclination for social compan-
HOME-MAKING AND HOME-MANAGEMENT. 4I
ionship is stronger than sleep or a walk, and they ought to have it. A
sitting-room should have solid attractions in the form of easy-chairs,
sofa-lounges and ornaments. All the knick-knacks ought to be
gathered there, and the room made as pretty as variety and good
taste can make it. The latest effort of the children's crayon-drawings
should be at hand, and wax-flowers and dried leaves made by the
young folk should be kept there. Books and pictures, work-basket
and newspapers — all these, and more beside ; a stand for plants and a
bird, or, better still, a music-box.
If the house is not provided with a library, there should be a
writing-desk or a table, with all the materials for writing, and any
articles of statuary or vcrtu should find their way to this cosy nook.
The clock should be here, and also the brackets and wall-pockets
that look so out of taste in a parlor and are yet too pretty to consign
to the up-stairs bed-rooms.
Page 20
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
Let the frames be plain and the pictures fine. Then for the window ornamentation, let there be only plain white shades, and have the recess filled, if desired, with a wire stand for a vine or a plant. The room, however, should be large if this is added.
A clock should not be in the room, for Americans do not require to be reminded of time at the table — they spend less at it than any other civilized people, and there should be present on the table or buffet the daily papers to glance over if the desire is felt. The room ought to be sacred to its special uses, and those uses ought to be eating and talking and reading. It depends upon the size of the family as to whether there will be the latter, for young people and little children put it quite out of the question. On the corner of the buffet should be the ice-cooler and glasses, if it be summer; or the china or glass pitcher if the weather be cold. A silver pitcher is too suggestive of cold drink to be as agreeable as a glass one in winter, and water is sufficiently cold in the latter, for the ice does not melt so speedily.
A buffet is always a needed piece of furniture in a dining-room, and it should be suitably furnished. The glasses usually stand upon it, and also the tea-set of silver or china, as the case may be. Pretty articles of glass, such as the celery-stand, the fruit-dish and the cakestand of silver (the latter term is applied for courtesy's sake, platedware being used as a rule) may be set upon it, and the pretty treasure of faience or majolica ware has its place in the collection. The plate upon the buffet should be well polished, for its condition is a certain indication of a well-managed or an ill-managed household.
In regard to silver generally, it should be remembered that it is impossible to make greasy silver take a polish, and that, as spoons and forks in daily use are continually in contact with grease, they must require careful washing to remove it.
The lack of a general reception-room in a home is always greatly felt by the growing members of the family as well as by their elders. Children like some place to have their friends, as well a retreat when the parlors are occupied, and the inclination for social compan-
ionship is stronger than sleep or a walk, and they ought to have it. A sitting-room should have solid attractions in the form of easy-chairs, sofa-lounges and ornaments. All the knick-knacks ought to be gathered there, and the room made as pretty as variety and good taste can make it. The latest effort of the children's crayon-drawings should be at hand, and wax-flowers and dried leaves made by the young folk should be kept there. Books and pictures, work-basket and newspapers — all these, and more beside ; a stand for plants and a bird, or, better still, a music-box.
If the house is not provided with a library, there should be a writing-desk or a table, with all the materials for writing, and any articles of statuary or vcrtu should find their way to this cosy nook. The clock should be here, and also the brackets and wall-pockets that look so out of taste in a parlor and are yet too pretty to consign to the up-stairs bed-rooms.