Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1851-02-06
BEST ROOMS,

Among all the iollss prevalent in the
middle classes, that OF sacrificing family
comfort aud convenience TO the absurd de-
sire of having a best room is one of the
most ridiculous. Let it not be inferred
that we consider good furniture, elegant
curtains, aud handsome carpets, as superhu-
GUS luxuries for people IN plebian state-far
from 1t. Consistent taste and prudent dis
play are to be as much admired in the house
OF the commouer as IA the saloons of a no
bleman but when room is set apart in
small domlcii as the mere receptacle O.
company, and all IN that room held sacred
to lngId ceremony aud oStentatious pre-
tensions when chars are cased IN Holland
lackets, aud the carpet puts on a pinalore "a
the same material for months together, when
the apartment is literally shut up-iudica-
ting that family comfort lies dead within it,
then may the best room be condemned as
worse than useless.
For our own part, we think there is some
thing perfectly terrifying in being asked In-
to a stately aud fine drawing room-the pei
lshcd bars shining with unnatural bright
ucss-the lire-irons arranged IN suil angles,
evidently never appropriated to their pun
pose, the table most economically studded
with glossy unread volumes Of rubbish, and
the besilked and betassclled sofas looking
as if they were intended for any thing bat
sitting on. We give an involuntary shud-
der as we are left 70 gaze on costly chimney
ornaments aud jappanuel screens, while The
lady of the house Is, most probably, making
a rush 20 execute the metamorphose of
dress and cap We would much rather
have been introduced To the common par
Ion, where we should have bcheld some
signs OF vitality, and thawed ourselves into
good humored cheerilIuess but then aud
there NC might have behed a basket Of
stockings aud sock. undergoing the process
OF repair, the Young ones might have been
Juggling The chairs about, aud left a tailless
horse and a wheeicss cart in the foreground
i've might have formed suspicious that
bloalers had been among the matn condi-
ments and @ most dire of all we might
have found the mistress IN somewhat rum
pied morning wrapper, and fright OF
cap" SIN we should greatly prefer the
risks OF breaking our neck over Noah's
ark, sitting down ou heap of undarued
hose, and encounterIug fifth rate head
gear TO the petsilling, splrit-damplng fifteen
minutes we are sentenced to SIT Ia Il best
room"
The children, if there happen to be such
humanlzlng things IA the establishment, look
on the waits with a sort of religious awe
They never "piay" ia tne best room; =
they never dream Of ciutching at the splen-
did beli-ropei they never have the mos: re-
mote idea Of making lord mayors coaches
OF the embroidered ioot-stools, aud never
think of playing at "bo-peep" behind the
richly fringed damask drapery; they never
dare to speculate as to whether, with d stout
pin, they could pick out the eyes of the
queer little man on the Indian card box
ninth and mischief are thoroughly mesmer-
lzed, aud the little Garlings SIT or stand as
though their lie-ude had been suddenly
manufactured into the best starch"
And let US confess, that we experience
no lnconsiderable sense of misery ourselves
Ia such a situation. 1t may be that a trace
of gypsy blood is IN our VEINS, or that some
natural disqualification for "gentiliiy,"
equally ignoble, marks Us, but we are GER
,ainly never quite comfortable IN room
that Is only occupied Oh grand occasions"
-ELizA Cook