Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-11-17

n EW ORk, NON6uDtT 1908.
WANTED : TWO CONNECTING ROOMS,
w with privilege of light housekeeping
Sometimes the housekeeping is light in
deed. and half-starved the light house
keepers wend impoverished ways. Again,
the light housekeeping is decidedly sub
stantial. l have known whole chickens
surreptitiously brought in and broiled over
CRATE fire. Roasting might also be ac-
complished with the aid of gas stoves or
stoves contrived for secret cooking while
ostensibly ornamental; but the process is
too long and too troublesome also, it
right be surmised, when certain class Of
restaurants will sell hot roast meats by the
plateful The housekeeping now treated
of might the rather be called "rapid house
keeping" What is done must be done
quickly, for fear of discovery, since the fact OF
light housekeeping is always surreptitious
"a secret from ones friends or ones land
lady-perhaps both.
at all events, the not uncommon ad-
vertisement above quoted gives evidence
that some adult couple or small family
yearn for home, and unable to obtain
one, wish to substitute specter for reality.
Shrug not wise shoulders contemptu-
ously. Do we not place before US the
photograph or the portrait of dead or
absent one, when bodily presence is denied
US? We do, and the visions thus called
up are near and dear.
So when the elderly couple sit down to
their light breakfast they may recall the
fact that whatever makeshifts they en-
dure, they are at least "to themselves"
So when the newly married pair, unable
as yet to have a home, resolve that the
"two connecting rooms," even possibly the
one room, shall be paradise all to them
selves, one scarce can blame them. The
girl wife, fired by domestic zeal, may
longingly look forward to an endless sue
cession of contriyances, and spend happy
hours in wondering how this or that thing
may answer for those and the other ac-
customed and orthodox belongings.
Thus, likewise, may family of parents
and daughter or two, at the conclusion
of a family council, resolve no longer to sit
opposite horrid Mr.. A, or unbearable Mrs
B, and they, too, would fain dwell in
spectral land of promise, rather than Il
veritable house of disagreeable realities.
In such ways originate advertisements
for rooms with privilege of light house
keeping, or frequently rooms are rented
and privileges taken afterwards, either I'M
known to the landlady, or so cleverly done
that she either winks at the liberty and
pretends to know nothing, or knowing
gives consent. Where the house comes
under the head of "genteel," the latter
procedure is most usual.
Then arise series of subterfuges,
marches and countermarches that might
amaze any but hardened New Yorker.
How many things, indeed, can be slowed
away-how many occupations go on in an
apartment, and yet the fragrance Of gen.
tiIity be preserved, almost passes compre-
hension. Cooking utensils are tucked
away with fairy-like ingenuity; smoothing
irons and bars of laundry soap emerge from
seemingly impossible recesses and provi-
sions repose in proximity to fashionable
fnery. Evenin closets, all may be esthetic,
since by mischance the doors might be left
open. Friends may see the bonnet, the
gloves, the new costume, but only that and
nothing more.
Equally surprising is the room within
which so much transpires. The carpet
may be a genteel Brussels, or perhaps Ak
Minister Turkish rugs may lie around in
approved fashion; the chairs, the sofas, the
ornaments may be unexceptional. You
think to yourself, "How nicely my friends
live"
Alas, you do not know that under the
sofa YOU sit upon, may lie an embankment
of bed clothes; it is possible that prettily
carved box may be an esthetic tea cannis-
ter, while behind the larger pieces of
furniture may be slowed away things of
which you never would have dreamed.
You may be in the midst of very mine of
household stores.
But some practical person may say, "This
is all very well, but there must come hours
for cooking and eating. Then what be-
comes of your gentility p
For that, too, provision is made. At
such seasons Mrs. So-and-so is not at home,
or the second room is at hand. The two
are never at the same time in ungenteel
condition.
Then, moreover, one can learn to cook
in an esthetic manner. One can learn to
live on foods which do not require cook
ing. Occasional meals can be taken out"
while each year brings improvement in
ready-cooked edibles, the latest being fish
balls spread forth invitinglY at grocers
and only needing TO be warmed up.
Should persistent questioner ask how
these various articles are brought in, the
answer is given, that all the neighborhood
are likely to see, is a genteel, ornamental
basket going in on lady's arm, or posi-
bly, a satchel in gentleman's hand; or
some articles may come in orthodox style
to the basement, and be adroitly taken up
Satisfactorily, lest somebody might meet
somebody on the staircase.
One may still wish to know "what other
people in the house think ?" Perhaps
they have never found it out Perhaps
they do the same themselves. And re-
member, too, that light housekeeping is
really work Of art. Odors are sent up
the chimney and windows are opened that
nothing may be perceptible in the halls.
The heather Chinee was never more in
genious.
1 knew an instance indeed, in which an
elderly couple carried on light house
keeping in a room destitute even Of a
closet wherein Objectionable articles might
be hidden away. Not wishing to climb
staircases, they rented front parlor and
lived by light housekeeping so cleverly
that they would have done credit to a
nihilistic brotherhood.
The visitor, on entering, saw q nicely
furnished room, having in it piano, easy
chairs-in fact, the usual appurtenances of
genteel life. True, a nicely-appointed
bureau stood on one side, and an immense
old family wardrobe on the other, but one
hardly noticed them, and the conclusion
mishf be that the occupants took their
meals out, perhaps at hotel near by, since
evidently here was no hidden repository
for ungenteel articles.
The fact that the wardrobe stood eati-
cornered to the wall was the fact of facts.
Behind it, and concealed by draPeries,
were the materials for an hours study to
the thoughtful housekeeper or the woman
ambitious of iuture domestic plots. The
rear of the wardrobe was given up to
series of tacks, and from these were sus-
pended broiler, fryiug-pan, dish
towel, one or more skillets, etc. A small
box was allotted to provisions, and small
wash-stand completed the list.
On the one subject of washstands in
truth, disquisition might be written. A