The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1885-02-10

Though the houses are large and
roomy, it must not be imagined that
they possess the comforts and luxuries
of the American modern life. For all
these buildings, standing end to end the
whole length of the streets without an
inch of space between them, and lifting
their four and five stories skyward to
be crowned with a mansard roof, the
attic of which is cut up into rooms and
inhabited these houses, quite i'm
posing to look st though they are, are
nothing more nor less than heightened
tenement-houses, which, in America,
are dignified with the name "fats." In
these houses the vast majority of Ger
mans live, only the jay Goulds and the
Vanderbilts of the different cities being
reckless and comfort-lovIng enough to
have what every American signs for
and is not contented until he has-a
house of his own, occupied only by him.
self and family, standing upon ground
which he owns and surrounded by some
sort of a garden. No, the German
tradesman, even though he becomes
comparatively rich and able to
provide himself a home, is per-
fectly contented to rent one-half of
one of the stories of one of these
heightened tenement-houses and live
there without being able to enjoy any
of that privacy which should surround
the domicile of every family. For,
when your dwelling is separated from
that OF your neighbor by only the thin
nest of partition walls; when his front
door opens on the same little landing
of the winding stairs which 90, cork
screw fashion. from the lowest TO the
highest floor at the extreme rear of the
house: when. as is always the case In
Germany, your neighbours wife likes to
gossip with your servant girl and is al
WAYS eager for news, it is impossible to
be private about your own affairs any
more than it was in the canvaS-parti-
toned houses in San Francisco thirty
years ago. These German houses are
SO much alike that n description of one
will do for all of them. The following
is a true picture of the one live in:
Looked at externally it has very re-
spectacle, solid look about it, its manv
windows giving it somewhat the APP
pearance of barracks or a manufactO-
~. Its front, while not actually bare
of ornamentation. is relieved only by
the window frames and holdings, each
window having a heavy cornice and
projecting sill.
The little dormer windows On the
mansard roof give the upper part of the
building a sort Of "pop-eyed' appear
ance, as if it were suffering from bad
fright or were trying its best to look
down over the caves into the street by
protruding its window eyes as far as
possible. What color the building was
when it was first built and stood forth
in all the glory of brave new coat of
paint, Is mystery. Now it has that
chocolate-gTay color peculiar to all
houses in Leipsic which have been eX-
posed for a few months to the SCOT
laden air. Its basement, with the iron
barred windows half above and half be-
low the level of the sidewalk, suggests
a subterranean prison. But the base
ment Is not a prison; it is the residence
of that important, though humble, indi-
vidual, the hdUSsHGlfl, and his numer-
Gus family of children, from the babe in
the arms 10 the whining schOol-bOy,
creeping, like snail. unwillinglv to
school," The front door-or rather
doors, for there are two of them closing
TO the center-is massive concern
with glass panels. protected on the out
side by iron bars or scroll-wOrk. and
opens into the street hall. This latter
Is paved with small square flags and its
walls and ceilings are Ornamented with
Stencil-plate freScOes and stucco-wOrk
in browns, sky-blues and peach-tree
greens. Besides being thus orna-
mehted, the walls are generally
streaSed and striped with the marks of
dirty hands. left there by the numerous
children living in the stories above, aud
scratched and Scared by contact with
baskets. boxes and bundles. There is
a large frame hanging on the wall of
the hall containing the names and oc-
equations of the different tenants, to-
gether with the story in which they
may found-a sort of house directory,
in fact. The hall. generally placed in
the middle of the building, leads from
the street directly in the rear. Here it
divides, one part leading out into the
dirty, stone-paved court, where the ash
pit for the whole house is, and the other
turning off at right angles to the foot of
the winding, narrow-stepped wooden
stairs. Each story of the house is pro-
vided with two stair landings, Que at
the level of the floor and the other half
way up to the story above.-Cor. San
Es.U,,rtoon 0bra,-scIo