The record-union., 1895-06-13
HEART OF THE HOUSE.
Kitchens of Many Centuries Pic
tufed and Compared.
The Historic Carlyle Sitting Room
English Kitchen and Yorkshire Liv-
ing-Rooms Scotch, Southern, Chi
nese, East Indian and Modern
Kitchens.

nese. East Indian and Modern
Kitchens.
The cicerone who shows Thomas Car
lyle's Cheyne Row residence in London,
invariably remarks in displaying the
area rooms; mir. Carlyle would use the
kitchen for q parlor. This is where tie
family are In the habit of sitting"
Then is thrown open a dark and dismal
apartment, with windows 30 half-covered
by the outer wall that only partial
glimpses of the reluctant London sun
may penetrate there. The city kitchen is
not a cheerful abiding place, especially
In that damp and dusk that presupposes
black beetles and that knows nothing OF
our generous fires. The prediction Tor
SO lowly and uninviting sittlng-room Is
another of Carlyle's peasant traits. Inc
environment is, perhaps, not less respoh-
sible than his dyspepsia for his thunder
Gus pessimism.
Not all English kitchens are of the
gloomy and peculiar order OF this IN
Chelsea, or of Anglican city houses liz
general. Those throughout the country
are often so pleasant that one does not
wonder at the toregatherlng there OF Lie
whole family about the open hre when
is SO common in the British Isles anu SO
uncommon here. The islanders, OF not
no chilly a temperament as are we luxury
lovers. do not mind the chill of the stone
fiaggings, which are readily washed ana
always clean. Over parts OF them rugs
are often spread; there is much hne oid
furniture of carved oak in the form OF
quaint Settles" chests and massive
tables. The tinware glitters like silver,
l. DC n
is delight to the collector, ana ABOUT the
whole fingers that ndetinable air OF do
mesticity that belongs to England as 10
no other country in the world.
In parts OF Yorkshire the kitchen has
an invisible but certain line of demarca-
tion like that in the Bofhns' home, where
the Golden Dustman had his sanded
floor and rough comfort in part OF the
room, and his wife her carpet and velvet
gown for the remainder. a piano stands
In one part of the Yorkshire Kitchen.
supported by Turkey rug, dainty
workstand and few handsome chairs.
Outside this island, as 1t were, OF elegance
1s summer sea OF Well-kept, spotleSs,
homely convenience.
We are beginning to feel intimately &C.
quainteG with all the arrangements of the
Scotch house "ben and but" as they say
in Thrums-ah, that dear Thrums! We
know the cheerful fire of peat and coal.
over which is set what we call Kettle,
and our friends Jess and Lieby name
"boiler." We know the press" OF COOK
ing utensils, and the stools and the long
form" against the wall; the clos t-beds
and the tin ''pan" and pitcher OF water.
and the oilcloth on the table in the mid
die OF the room. Then there are The tas-
cinatipg fishers cottages near the coast.
in which the kitchen has a sanded floor,
and q turf fire on the hearth. The furnl-
il of cYopla and
hung against the wall, and nets are piled
in the corner.
The kitchen of Dixie is a strange insti-
tuition, according to our Northern notions.
Nothing seems done with any idea OF ex-
petition or assistance. The Yankee
woman has learned to save steps, partly
from her natural inventive turn, partly
because she must so often do the house,
work herself and is. therefore. anxious to
acquire the quick est and simplest methods
of performing the task. To her it is be-
yond reason that the kitchen should ever
be detached from the house proper, so
that the dishes lose a modicum OF heat
and are subjected to wind and rain In the
brief run with them toward the dining
room. All the old-fashioned ways of
cooking by the slOwest and not always
surest patterns are horrid in her eyes, as
in the peculating, happy-go-lucky, ire
sponsible cook, who requires SO many
underlings, who must be necessarily
watched, who is so soon tired out and de-
mands unreasonable vacations, and whose
ideas of order are not hard TO satisfy.
The East India kitchen has been but
too graphically described by that Mem
Sahib whose simple Adventures" were
given to the world not SO very long ago.
One shudders at the subtle suggestions
of all uncleanliness In the little out
building where dishes are pressed into
fQ6 whara tarnlSh6d ClOtHR
are suspected of continued service, and
where q retinue of evil hangers-on en-
compass the tiny building.
There is q popularity of the French
kitchen which is shared by those Of the
further South; this Is the small tire, usu7
ally of charcoal-made for immediate
service, and never lasting beyond that.
Indeed, this is one of the various econo-
mics of which our French neighbors
boast; that they no more waste fuel than
food So far is the like principle carried
in some Oriental countries, as in China,
that the days provisions and firing are
bought, among the middle and poorer
classes, each morning. and there is never
anything OF either LETT over for emergen-
cies A child or servant ls seen in the
streets laden with charcoal and what has
been ordered for the twenty-four hours,
and no one thinks of laying in further
supplies. =
as are to be found in our Spanish-Ameri-
can lands, are like cells, from the thick
ness of the stone walls-Often two or three
feet deep-and the projecting, omnipres-
ent veranda, which gives grateful shade.
and which looks out on a court. The cell
esemblance is enhanced by the iron
bars at the windows and the heavy,
double doors, which look IS if they could
resist q siege. The walls are white
washed and the floors are of tiles. The
dining-room is often separated from this
room by long staircase; outside the
kitchen, in the court, will stand table
and closets. to supplement- the scant fur
niture of the small, hot apartment with
q furnace-like fire.
When one goes NEAR to natures
heart" in camping in the woods. the Gull
mary arrangements are of the first inn
portsnce, while appetites are hearty as
pine and balsam alone can make them.
An open fire is more picturesque, but an
amateur sort of stove made of sheet iron,
into bottomless box, and with a couple
of rude holes in the top, will prove more
useful. Over this all sorts Of cooking,
except, of course, baking, may be read
lily performed with the supply of wood
which the grounds will yield. Both
poker and tongs may be constructed OF
beech or hickory sticks, and a camp
broom OF hemlock twigs bound about
light handle. These makeshifts are a not
unimportant part of sylvan life and fun.
The colonial kitchens lasted in many
country houses until about fifty years
ago. There are men and women still
living who wildly describe their glories.
They were low, with heavy rafters,
lighted by small-paned windows, for
glass was a luxury in those days. The
chairs had narrow. high backs and rush
seats. There was, besides, rudely
shaped s'settee." The great wood fire
burned its prodigious back log in the