Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-12-30
A French Appartement.

Lucy Hooper writes in Lippinoott's:
A French dpparte'nent always reminds me
very much of child's puzzle, every
"piece" in it, to speak both literally and
tiguratively, being so adapted as to lit in
to every other one. A single entry twists,
snake like, round among the rooms, Civ
ing To each separate and distinct entrance
from the others. A French kitchen is IN
amazing place to American eyes. 1t is
usually a tiny room, not much larger than
a good. sized china closet Mt home. The
old-fashioned French fournedur have the
top divided off into square compartments,
each OF which will hold half dozen small
Jumps Of coal, and the cook lights only A.
many compartments rs she has dishes To
prepare. The sauce-pans, Of which quite
a variety is used, are Of copper, and must
be thoroughly secured to keep them from
corroding and becoming poisonous. In
old times there used to be an Inspector Of
Saucepans to each quarter of the city, ap-
pointed by the Government, whose func-
ton it was to see that nobody ran the risk
of being killed by the neglect of the un-
tidy cook to keep these dangerous uten-
sils in good order. / do not know whether
this important and useful functionary still
exists or not. These well polished pans
always hang in a glittering row against
the kitchen wall as a sort of testimonial
to the cleanliness of the presiding author
ity. Housekeeping In Parise on any
thing except the most gorgeous scale, is
a matter of bits and morsels, not Of
pounds and bushels The wastage of an
ordinarily profuse American household
would keep French family in ease and
comfort The system Of having two
breakfasts is sad innovation, according
to most American ideas, breaking in
as the last breakfast does upon the most
important part of the day To call on
your banker, your lawyer, or any bust
ness man with whom you may have i'm
portant affairs to transact between the
hoNrs of twelve and one and to find that
he has gone out to breakfast is rather
exaspcratng hindrance to thespeedy COM
pletion Of the matter in hand. Many
business men in Paris make u serious
affair of this second breakfast, devoting
no less than two hours to it--namely,
from eleven to one-and never less than
one entire hour The carefully -calcu-
lated expenditure Of French household
on an economical scale affords no margin
for unexpected guests. The presence, in
fact, of every additional person makes
itself felt at once. Not only has the extra
food and wine to be provided (for the old
saying: Where there Is enough for two
there is enough for three" was never
written of French housekeeping, but the
extra washing, where every piece has Tn
be paid for separately, becomes consid-
Grafton, There Is no room, either in the
purse or the dppdrtemsnt, for free handed
hospitality in accordance with American
ideas Come home and take pot-luck
with us" IS an invitation hardly possible
in the carefully gagged providing of u
French housekeeper, where even the
amount OF bread required by each indi-
vidual is calculated beforehand. Hence
come the absence Of bother and the posi-
bility OF economy in Partisan housekeep-
ing, even at the present high rate Of pro-
visions. 1t is the fashion ut home tn
waste here waste is considered the height Of
folly. A glance at the bucketfuls OF half
eaten potatoes, bitten apples, bread crus,s,
cold batter-cakes, etc, which go 10 fatten
Milesian-kept pigs in American cities
would make the hair Of Partisan house
keeper stand straight on end with horror
at the useless extravagance And we arc
extravagant in our households ut home
extravagant in space, in penishing, in
providing. For the sake of the unused
IooIHs any inc useless nails ana SlalrcaStsA
OF our houses we burden our souls with
unnecessary servants and uncalled for
cares. Till we learn TO copy the trim
compactness of a French appartemelt in
our house building, and the wise economy
OF French household in our housekeep-
ing, American matrons will continue To
be worried to death with rampant servant
galism, and American purses must suffer
under nncaled-for depletion