American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-09-28
French Houses.

French houses have mostly large fold
ing doors opening from the street into
handsomely paved carriageway. Similar
doors in the rear communicate with the
tagged court, which is large enough to
permit a carriage to turn, and is often
decorated with small fountain and flow
ers i'm pCfs or vases. Upon one side of the
street entrance is the room of the con-
cierge, who. through a glass door, can
scrutinize all persons who enter. The
front door stands open all day, but is closed
at dark. Those who pass later are obliged
to ring, and the door is then opened by 4
spring near the bed of the concierge. so
that he may admit persons at any hour.
All of the first floor is devoted to offices
or shops or is used by the concierge. The
staircase, common to all, is usually very
broad and handsome, and ordinarily in
the center of the mansion. The banisters
are of elegant wood. and the steps waxed
and polished every day. Upon each land
ing there is often divan and large mir
rOr set in the wall. The stairs are lighted
by day by circular window in the roof,
and in the evening by gas-burners on each
floor. Every story contains one or two
separate dwellings. The names of the
residents are printed and enclosed in a
frame in the lower hall. Each suite of
apartments is complete, having a square
hall, drawing-roOm, dining-rOOm,
kitchen and sleeping apartments. A store
room fitted up with every convenience
adjoins the Kitchen. but is not large
enough to contain any great stock of vege-
tables. There is, however, a small wine
cellar belonging to each family. where
vegetables may be stored if desired.
The kitchen. paved with easily-washed
brick tiles, contains a range more COM
pletc and economical in its arrangements
than any known i'm America. Adjoining
the range is stationary box in two cem-
partments, with Il lid capable of contain
ing in one part three hundred pounds of
hard coal, and in the other charcoal, of
which French cooks make great use. At
the other side of the kitchen is a sink with
water faucet, and near it a filter. The
roof of the range is so constructed as to
serve as a vent, which carries off all steam
and effluvia of cooking, and is useful as
a shelf upon which to arrange metal uten-
sis. A French range differs essentially
from an American range or cooking stove.
A Partisan hOusekeeper would faint with
horror at the idea of such an enormous
outlay of coal as an American domestic
thinks necessary to perform the most
limited culinary operations; an outlay
often very dispropOrtionate to the dishes
to be cooked. 1t contains at one end an
opening for hard coal, which is intended
to warm an oven in contact with it, and to
cook the dinner. At the other end are
two square openings. one smaller than
the other. for charcoal. These are for
making coffee and brOiling, and to pre-
pare any small dish for breakfast. The
fire for the dinner is never lighted till it is
needed. In the rear is another opening
for Charlton de Paris, a kind of slOw-burn-
ing coal used to prepare pot az teu, the
French national dish, which is soup made
by simmering beef and vegetables during
six or eight hours. Between the different
openings are porcelain tiles convenient for
the dishes destined to receive the food be-
ing cooked. Behind the range is a small
oven, designed to be warmed by hot Goals
introduced and then taken out, and prac-
tically the same as the brick ovens EN-
plOyed in New England.
Any hOuSe-mistreSS will comprehend
how much more convenient and ecOnOmi-
cal this range is than the one in use in
American households. where the same
amount of fire is required to make coffee
as to cook a dinner.
In French house each room has CRATE
with a marble mantelpiece, and over it.,
stationary. or built in the wall, a large
mirror. Most of the front rooms open by
glass folding doors upon a small stone
balcony, affording a place for flowers, and
often supplied with linen awning. The
doors of the rooms are double, one side
being fastened by a bolt to the flOOr-a
style of door advantageous when evening
entertainments are given, while it admits
less air during the cold season. The floors
are inlaid with wood of one or two colors,
or in patterns, and are kept waxed. This
operation is performed once in a week or
fortnight by f-ottcsrs. whose profession it
is, who polish them by means of brush
buckled to the foot. The cost for waxing
moderate-sized dwelling is two and a
half francs. Carpets, there are none, ex-
cept piece of two or three yards square,
of elegant design, under the comfortable.
These waXed floors are swept very easily
by means of a brush with Il long handle,
but daily they require only busting by a
piece of baiZe moved about with the foot.
October. GaIdry